Swatches & review: Fuse Gelnamel starter kit

Hi everyone! Today, I have a review of Fuse Gelnamel Starter Kit. Fuse is a new-to-me brand which has recently launched in Australia. What makes Fuse stand out amongst the other gel nail polish brands in the market is the travel friendly LED lamp and the idea of having a base coat, colour and top coat all in one bottle. The lack of need to apply base and top coats definitely cuts down on the application time and would appeal to many busy women today.

As with most gel nail polishes, Fuse offers a starter kit which includes a Fuse Gelnamel, LED lamp, 12 lint free wipes, manicure stick, double sided nail buffer and cleanser.

The LED lamp comes with a long USB cord, allowing the user to easily connect it to a computer or USB adapter.

Before I began my application, I made sure to read the instruction booklet in the starter kit. I was instructed to take a lint free wipe and swipe my first nail with the cleanser to ensure all oil is removed off the nail surface. I then applied one coat of the gel nail polish Gone Fission, wrapping my tips in the process. I stuck my finger into the LED light, hit the top button and waited for it to turn off automatically 30 seconds later. I then swiped my nail with the lint free wipe soaked in cleanser to remove the top layer of sticky residue.

Because this is a pure glitter gel polish, I had to apply a second coat to get a decently opaque coverage. Repeat the application, curing and cleaning process and voilà, my first nail was completed. Fuse instructs to complete one nail at a time due to natural oil being present on the nail, which is cleaned with the cleanser right before the gel polish application.Complete the above steps for the rest of your nails and then you'll have a complete gel nail polish manicure.

A couple of things I noticed when using the starter kit:

• The gel polish bottles are not clear, but instead show an image of the nail polish inside. In the case of Gone Fission, I found it a little misleading as I thought I had a glitter polish in a tinted base.
• The caps of the bottles can be removed to reveal a smaller, round handle. This is much easier to grip when applying than the initial square cap.

I had planned to keep my nails for the promised 7 days of wear. However, by my fourth day, I found the gel nail polish had completely fallen off one of my nails. I decided to remove the entire manicure and out of curiosity, tried to lift the gel polish off my other fingers. Most of them came off with ease in one or two pieces.

On the one hand, this saved me the trouble of the longer 'buff & soak off' removal process. But on the other hand, this manicure did not last me the full 7 days promised.

To be fair, I believe this may have to do with my nail chemistry with gel nail polishes as my previous experiences with different brands have also led to the same result - the gel polish would lift and be easily pulled off. I have given my mum a gel nail polish manicure before with a different brand and she had to go through with the normal removal process. And so my quest continues as I try to find a gel nail polish which works with my nail chemistry!

Fuse starter kits retail at $49.99 and each individual gel polish can be purchased at $14.99. You can find them online at fusegelnamel.com.au or in stores at Priceline and Big W.

Have you tried gel nail polish before? What is your experience with it?

Thanks for reading.
~Sharon

Product provided for consideration.

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Swatch & review: Gelicious Little Prince George

Hi ladies. Today I have a new-to-me brand to share with you. Gelicious is an Australian based brand which specialises in hybrid gel products. I received Little Prince George along with the Mani-Pedi UV LED lamp and a top coat (see here)to review and my, what a gorgeous shade this is! It is inspired by the blue polka dot dress Kate Middleton wore when presenting Prince George to the world.

I first prepped my nails by washing them with soap and then quickly swiped them with some nail polish remover to ensure my nails were oil free. Gelicious states that base coat is optional, but I am not used to not applying one, so I took my trusty China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat and applied a thin coat.

I applied my first coat of Little Prince George and cured it for 30 seconds. The lamp doesn't have a timer so I used my phone instead. In terms of formula, I found it a little tricky to work with. The glitter tended to drag the polish around, so I had to be careful and dab it back into place. However, the second and third coats presented no issues since the base was thoroughly dry by the time I added the following coats. I finished it all with the gel top coat and then took a non-acetone based nail polish remover to wipe off the sticky residue.

All up, the entire process took me 30 minutes. You have to take into account though that I am still new to the gel nail polish experience, so I did fiddle around with it for a bit. Otherwise, I'm sure it would have taken me half the time, with rock hard, dry nails within that short time frame too! You really can't ask for more ;)

Little Prince George currently comes in a package, which includes the shade, a top coat and the mani-pedi lamp. The package is available for $129. Otherwise, if you're just after the gel polish, you can grab it for $29. Gelicious offers both domestic and international shipping - you can view details of prices on their Delivery Information page.

Have you tried gel nail polishes before? What was your experience with them?

Thanks for reading as always!
~Sharon

Products provided for consideration.

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Shine chevrons

Hello everyone! My nails were in a pretty bad shape a couple of weeks ago so I decided to pull out my Orly smartGELS kit and put it to good use. I applied Shine and wore it for a few days before adding a chevron pattern over it.

I stamped the design from Bundle Monster's new fan collection stamping plate BM-423.

I have been busy playing with the stamping plates from the latest collection, so expect to see more stamped manicures coming up! ;)

Thanks for reading.
~Sharon

Some products were provided for consideration.

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Review: Orly SmartGELS

Hello everyone! I am extremely excited to share with you all my first foray into the land of gel nails! I recently had the opportunity to try out Orly's SmartGELS and with it being my first time using gel nail polish, I did a thorough research online before making a start :P However, after trying the Orly kit, I can safely say this is pretty easy to do. Orly offers a starter kit which includes all the equipment you will need to create your gel manicure, as well as remove it. An LED lamp can be purchased in a separate kit.

Here are the materials you need to ensure you can create your own at-home gel manicure:

- LED light, which has a 30-60 second timer. Simply hit the button at the top and wait for your gel polish to cure (30 seconds for lighter shades and 60 seconds for the darker ones).
- Cleanser and lint free wipes, used to ensure the nail bed is free of oil before applying the gel polish, as well as removing the sticky residue after you have finished applying all your coats.
- Primer, base+top coat and of course, your choice of the SmarGELS colour. You can see Terracotta in the photo below.

I followed the instructions on an information booklet and I was pretty happy with the way my manicure turned out. With this being my first time applying gel, I have to say that there wasn't any steep learning curve. Yes, I can definitely do better but I do think this was a nice outcome for my first try :)

How to:

1. Buff and clean nails with the cleanser & lint free wipes
2. Apply primer to the tips. Allow to dry.
3. Apply base+top and cure for 30 seconds.
4. Apply your first layer of the SmartGELS polish. Cure for 30 seconds.
5. Repeat step 4.
6. Apply base+top to seal in your gel colour. Cure for 30 seconds.
7. Take the cleanser and lint free wipe and clean the surface of your nail to remove the sticky residue.
8. Admire your super shiny final product!

I had previously read online to wrap my tips with the gel polish to improve wear time. Unfortunately, I found that this caused the gel polish to shrink after it was cured, making my nails look like they had tip wear. Besides that though, I received no further wear or tear in the three days I had it on (and that's really something, considering I constantly wash my hands at work!).

Now, a little bit about removal. On day three, I found that I could lift a little part of the gel polish on my right index finger. After resisting for the whole day and not play with it, I decided to try if I could actually remove the gel polish by simply peeling it off my nails. And voilà! Look what happened.

The gel polish peeled off all my nails as if I had worn a PVA glue base coat. (In fact, it worked even than if I had worn the PVA because the last time I did that, the glue completely ruined my nails, causing peeling and completely weakening my nails. Oh no, never again will I use PVA glue! *shudders*) Unlike my experience with the glue though, my nails were in no way damaged after the peeling and I actually managed to avoid a much longer removal process. Hurray!

I'm not sure why the gel colour managed to peel off my nails, although I suspect it may have been because I didn't cure it long enough. In hindsight, Terracotta is probably considered a darker shade so I should have probably cured it for 60 seconds as opposed to the 30 seconds I did.

Orly's Starter kit retails at $79.95 and the LED light at $99.95. The SmartGELS can be purchased separately and retail at $23.95 each. The entire system can be purchased from Terry White Chemists, National Pharmacies and online at Orly Beauty.

I loved how easy it was to create the gel manicure and I will definitely be playing around with more of it in the near future! Have you ever tried a gel manicure before?

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

Products provided for consideration.

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