Top 10 Tools for Doing Gel Polish At Home

If you’re planning for a DIY gel polish session at home, you will need a few essential or optional tools on hand! Here is a list of what you’ll need or might need and why you need them. I’ve also included a few tips and tricks as a bonus!

Of course, the first thing you’ll need is nail polish, all three kinds: the base coat, the gel polish, and a top coat. Gel polish usually needs a base and top coat, except for a few brands.

You can use different brands or the same brand for these, but make sure they are compatible with each other and will all cure properly under the lamp type that you have.

The base coat is a protective layer of your nail, which is necessary for most gel nail polish. This covers your nail, which helps prevent damage and discoloration. It also makes removing polish easier.

Top coats, on the other hand, keeps your gel polish shiny and smooth. It is a clear coat that you apply over the gel polish once it’s dry and set.

The gel nail polish is the most important one since it will be the most obvious. This is the one that comes in many different colors or patterns, and some even have glitters.

2. Nail polish remover or Acetone

The next thing you’ll need is a polish remover, usually pure acetone. Although gel nail polish is meant to last for a very long time, you will surely have or want to remove it at some point. Maybe because your nail has grown too much and the cuticle is showing up, or you just want to change it.

For removing gel polish, acetone nail polish removers work best. However, you may have to soak your nails in it for quite some time. This is why gel nail polish is sometimes called “soak off gel”.

3. Nail File

It doesn’t matter if you’re an expert or not, but cutting your nails with smooth edges is nearly impossible. To make a smooth finish and your preferred nail shape, you’ll want to use nail files or nail drill. This will also help you remove any nail snags or sharp edges.

For square-finished nails, use a nail file perpendicularly from your finger. For a round shape, use angles around your nails as you file. For a square with rounded corners or squoval shape, only file your nails at an angle along the corners.

There are also glass or crystal files with etched patterns on them. These are more durable and gives better results. You can also use these over and over again without wearing them out like regular files. However, you have to clean them occasionally and should only be used personally.

4. Buffer

With gel polish, you have to lightly buff or rub your nails so that the polish has a textured surface to adhere on. After filing the tips, buffing also helps smooth out the surface of the nails or add shine to them.

Buffing will remove unevenness or any ridges, preparing your nails for a new coat. Some buffers are multi-sided. Use the side with fine abrasive to buff your nails, use a different one to smooth out the surface, and finally, use the silky side for shine.

Ideally, a 220 grit buffer should be used, and you should, not buff your nails too much as this will cause damage. Also, when buffing in between manicures, only buff the newly grown portion and not the whole nail.

5. Cleanser

For you to have proper gel nails, you must make sure that the surface of your nails is clean. They should be free from dirt, oil, old polish, or some other debris. Most manicure kits will come with special cleansers you use before you apply the gel.

Some people use rubbing alcohol to cleanse their nails after buffing or towards the end of a manicure to remove any sticky layers that are not completely dry. Anything from 70% rubbing alcohol works, but 91% is the best for this purpose.

6. Paint Shaker

Paint shakers are used to shake nail polish bottles vigorously to thin them out or to remove clumps. It is also a solution for polish that has started to separate, or to distribute glitter in gel polish evenly. This is not completely necessary, but will be very handy if you have one.

7. Swatch Sticks

Especially if you’re planning to do gel polish at home regularly, you could end up with tons of gel polish colors. Swatch sticks are plastic sticks with nail-shaped ends that you can paint on.

This can give you the color or shade and how a gel polish looks like before trying them on your actual nails. This is great because you can see how a polish will turn out without finishing a whole manicure session.

You can also use these to easily remember colors of gel polish that you have when deciding on which one to wear. You can even use these to practice painting designs and patterns.

8. Dotting Tools

Dotting tools are handled metal sticks of some sort with rounded or pointed tips used for nail art. They come in various sizes and are also fairly cheap. You can use them not only to draw dots on your nails, but also a variety of shapes by letting you unleash your creativity.

9. An LED or UV Lamp

Gel nail polish, the top coat, and base coat all need to be cured under an LED or a UV lamp for a smooth finish and to avoid chipping. Gel polish reacts to the light in a certain way, which makes it longer-lasting and better-looking than normal nail polish.

The main difference between the two is that UV lamps give off broad spectrum light between 100 to 400 nm while LEDs give off a narrow range of 400 to 410 nm. LED light also targets specific initiators in the polish, causing the gel to cure faster.

Most gel polish brands are made for LED, so you can also use them under UV light. On the other hand, LED lamps are exclusive for LED-specific polish. Also, UV lamps cure polish in 1 to 3 minutes while LED cures in just 30-60 seconds.

UV lamps are cheaper but you’ll need to replace bulbs more frequently. UV radiation can also have negative effects when used with no precautions. So, the best LED nail lamp will be much safer and better to use, as long as you get the right gel polish type.

10. Cuticle Oil and Hand Cream

If you’re a little extra, you could apply a little hand cream and/or cuticle oil after a manicure to counteract the drying effects of acetone on your skin and cuticles.

Gel nail polish can also cause damage on your nails, but cuticle oil, when used regularly, keeps your cuticles moisturized, nourished, and healthy. Put a few drops on your cuticles and massage them.

That’s it! You can usually find most of these tools together in kits, but you can also buy them separately so that you can nail (pun intended) gel polish at home!

Conclusion

That’s it! You can usually find most of these tools together in kits, but you can also buy them separately so that you can nail (pun intended) gel polish at home!

Gel polish may seem complicated but you can do it in the comforts of your own home! Just make sure you have all these tools.

Do you have other suggestions? Maybe I have left out on a few tools that we may need. If so, please do share them with us in the comments section.