Spoiler: I still love it!

I’ve so appreciated all the comments I’ve gotten from people about the new Sally Hansen gel nail manicure system. One sweet reader asked whether you could use other gel polishes from other companies with it, which I had never thought of but seems so brilliant. She tried it out and said it seemed to work well, so I decided to check it out for you, too.

I bought two other brand polishes: SensatioNail and Sephora’s gelshine (which is made by OPI). I gave myself a mani the other day with the Sephora color, called Already Famous. Apparently this color is “sheer pewter with medium champagne and silver glitter.” Thank goodness it didn’t have light champagne glitter; that’s just tacky.

Here it is!

It’s super pretty, isn’t it? I had a really hard time picking a color from the Sephora line. I already had the basic colors from Sally Hansen (a nude color, bright red, deep purply black, taupe), and there wasn’t a ton of selection. I finally decided on this one, even though I don’t usually wear sparkly polish. But now I’m kind of loving it.

AND, it totally worked with the Sally kit! I used the Sally Hansen base and top coats, and then just used the Sephora gel color in between. It worked exactly the same as the Sally color. And, I should add, the Sephora color goes on really nicely. It’s a good consistency, not too sticky, so it glides on thinly and is easy to work with.

I’ve used the kit probably 6 times now, and every time it just gets better. I haven’t had a salon mani since I got it! And I don’t really miss it, except for the hand massage part. And the part where you can just sit there and read while someone else does it for you. It’s incredibly convenient to be able to do it at home, though. I can decide on a whim and be done in 45 minutes or so (including the 15 minutes of soaking off, during which I do usually read).

And, I seem to be getting a good 7 – 10 days of wear out of it. At that point, my nails have grown out, and the polish looks a little banged up. No chipping or anything, just normal wear and scuffing.

True red seemed to be a trend for New Year’s. At the party we attended, several of us ladies were rockin’ hot red nails, so I took a pic. You can see my Sally mani; I’m the hand at the bottom.

Have you tried a gel system yet? Give us the deets! I’ll show you the SensatioNail color soon.

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