Spa nights: Pink Gellac at-home gel polish system

Tired of spending so much money on gel manicures?

Gel manicures are the surefire way to have a long-wearing manicure. The polish is cured onto your nail with the use of an UV or LED light and usually lasts anywhere from 10 days to two weeks (or more).  I have gotten this type of manicure done a few times in a salon previously, but when so many brands are releasing their own versions of this system for at-home use, I’ve been taking advantage of doing it myself for way less money.

I’ve tried a number of these at-home kits, but was sent a new one recently. Pink Gellac is very popular in Europe and is available to shop online here in Canada. The brand sent me their Gel Nail Polish Kit, which includes everything you need for an at-home gel mani. Included in the box is the primer polish, a nail colour, the LED lamp, the base coat, the ultra shine coat, a nail file, an orange stick, 10 cleaner pockets, and 10 remover wipes.

Pink Gellac at-home gel manicure kit

For the most part, all these kits work the same way. You first start by buffing your natural nail to get rid of of any shine and oil. Then file your nails down to the size you want them to be and then use the orange stick to push the cuticles back.  Finally, before the polish, use one of the cleaner pockets to prep your nails for the colour.  Now, for the actual nail painting part, first apply a thin layer of the base coat and cure the polish for 15 seconds (the light beeps so you know when time’s up), then paint a thin coat of the colour, cure that for 30 seconds, then add another coat and cure it again. Finally, apply the top coat and then cure that for one minute.  Then you’re done!

Some kits you have to use another cleaner to get rid of any tackiness, but that isn’t the case with this one.  Once you’re doing curing the topcoat, you are good to go with shiny nails. I’ve used this system twice now with two different colours and I’ve had the same experience both times. I’m left with super shiny nails that look awesome… and then they peel off the next day.

This system is billed to leave you with polished nails for at least 10 days and for some strange reason, the polish just seems to lift off my natural nail the next day. Not sure why this is happening, but considering how much time you invest into actually doing your nails, it’s very annoying that this keeps happening to me.

Pink Gellac Dynamic Pink swatch Pink Gellac curing Led light

Like I said, Pink Gellac is billed as a best-selling system in Europe, so obviously it’s working well for some people. I had really high hopes for this, and honestly, I just thought I did something wrong the first time, but when it happened again, it must be either my nails or the kit itself.  I also want to note that the colour seems to lift after I take a shower, so maybe there is a connection there with the water? I dunno…

Anyways, I do still feel like these at-home gel manicure kits are worth it since usually the price of the kit equals on gel manicure in a salon, so this will definitely last you a lot longer.  If you’re on the fence about this kit, it retails for $50 and it looks like it’s free shipping with a 30-day guarantee, so I would give it a shot and if you find it does the same thing that happened to me, then just take them up on that guarantee offer.

Have you tried Pink Gellac before? What about other at-home gel manicure systems? What was your experience?

Like what you read? Check out these related posts:


Sephora.com, Inc.