How To Get A Salon Level, Easy Gel Manicure At Home

I have a severe love/hate relationship with my nails. I am a sucker for a great gel manicure When they’re done I feel cute, confident, and quite frankly like I have my $h*t together! However, I can’t STAND sitting at the nail salon for an hour minimum spending too much money every two weeks, and still leaving with cut, sore, and mediocre nails.

I have been on the search for the easiest, prettiest, and most cost-efficient at-home manicure basically since I was 15. Let me tell you, folks: I FOUND IT! I’m going to tell you exactly how to get a perfect, easy gel manicure at home in less than 30 minutes AND it lasts for two weeks: Dashing Diva.

Dashing Diva is a vegan and cruelty-free artificial nail company (think press on nails and gel nail stickers) that also focus on total nail health by offering non-toxic, non-damaging formulas that are gentle to remove.

RELATED: How To Get The Best Gel Manicure At Home (Without A Lamp!)

I have been using the gloss nails for nearly six months now and have nothing but amazing things to say about their products AND their customer service! They have all the trendy shades and styles that are flooding Instagram and Pinterest right now!

Here’s my step by step on how to get a long lasting, durable, salon quality gel manicure at home in less than 30 minutes.

1. Prep For Your Gel Manicure

Nail prep is key in ensuring your gloss strips stay on for as long as possible. Mine usually last a full two weeks, but they are guarenteed to last at least 11 days!

Dashing Diva recommends to start by washing your hands and nails thuroughly with soap and water followed by the pre pad included in your nail set to remove any oils. Don’t forget to completely push back your cuticals & shape your nails to ensure you’re getting the at home manicure!

2. Sizing

While the gloss strips are still on the strip they come in, hold the different sized strips to your nail to see which is best! If you’re in between sizes, Dashing Diva recommends to size down.

Using a size too big can case premature lifting of the strips, and we do NOT want that!

3. Application Of Gel Manicure

Use the Red Therapy Base Seal for Gloss to prime your nails before laying down the gloss strip. The Red Therapy Base Seal for Gloss is also designed to to strengthen, hydrate, and protect nails while you wear your gloss strips.

I like to use tweasers to pull the selected gloss strip off the clear holder and carefully place starting at the bottom of my nail first.

Once the gloss strip is sitting on my nail, I use firm pressure starting from the center of my nail and pressing towards the edges to prevent any wrinkling.

After you’ve pressed the gloss strip firmly on your nail, fold the remaining strip over and press on the edge of your nail to create a clear border.

4. File Off The Excess

The final step is to file off the excess gloss strip by going in one direction only! Avoid using a back and forth motion as this can cause wrinkling in the strip.

5. Aftercare

You can get on with your daily routine as soon as they’re on! Just avoid water, lotion, and oils for a few hours after application to allow time for the adhesive to really set.

You can store your leftover gloss strips in an airtight container and they’ll work like new for a full year after being opened!

Also try to stay away from exposing the strips directly to harsh cleaners and chemicals.