The Battle of the Gel Manicure

From Left to Right

OPI Gel colour 15ml 16.95 for colour, 17.95 for base and top coats ¦ CND Shellac UV Nail Polish Faux Fur - Winter Wonderland Collection 7.3ml 2012 Our Price: £13.95 ¦ Harmony Gelish UV Polish 15ml - All tied up...with a bow Our Price: £14.95 ¦ IBD Just Gel UV Polish - All Heart 15ml Our Price: £12.95 ¦ Jessica GELeration UV Gel Nail Polish - Blush - 15ml Our Price: £15.95

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The great thing about Gel Polish is that it lasts forever and with the right maintenance can leave your nails healthy, strong and incredibly long, no more gluing bits of plastic onto your nails in the desperate bid to have long talons. I've been looking at gel polish for some time now and I was first looking at harmony gels, as a friend from work has a set and swears by them and I always notice her nails look great.
So google helped me find them and I was directed first to the salon site where I'm guessing everything is at bulk buy prices, I couldn't see the price as I'm not a beauty professional and it required some sort of proof to show the prices. Then I searched again and KayDeeCosmetics came up, and unbeknown to me they had more brands of gel polish and I started to compare straight away.

Comparison posts are a bit of my thing, because we're all trotting off to boots and superdrug in a plyt for better hair, skin, nails and makeup and paying the same prices time after time, if boots or superdrug would be not so kind to hike these up what are us belles supposed to do then? Have unsightly hair, skin, nails and makeup. GOD NO.

So like my Ben Nye post I'm gonna break down the ones that I think seem the best deal.

It wouldn't be a nail post without the biggest Brand contender would it, so it's unsurprising that OPI is the most expensive out of all of the lot, coming in at a whopping £16.95  for a bottle of coloured formula, but then again compared to its other products that is very good value as its fact that Gel lasts longer. The Top coat and Base coats come in at £17.95 and these are a given essential for Gel Nails as colour can stain. I've had OPI Gel nails in the past when I used to have silk overlay and it didn't half last, brilliant brand.

I've heard that CND Gels need no lamp which is great for the novice like me, but for the guys that can splash out a little more on UV lamp from Argos for £20 these are a great paint and go phenomenon, however these little bottles are half the size of the OPI, and only £3 cheaper. It all depends if you wanna invest in lamp and have more product or be a nail blower and have the convenience, choice is up to you my friend.

These were the guys that drew me to gel nails in the first place, super light weight packaging made of plastic and not glass like OPI, which is better for any broken bottle mishaps, reasonably priced and loads of looks, colours, textures, vibrancies and effects on offer. One thing that I have noticed about these is they aren't as opaque as I thought they would be, but 15ml nonetheless.

I haven't got a jiffy what these look like or perform like as I've never had an encounter from this brand but its 15ml like the rest except CND, the only thing I can say is these are the guys that I have seen grace every salon I've ever been into. So they seem like big contenders to me, the packaging is so simple, I don't really like it, but the great thing is you can see the colour. Whether its a true representation or not, you tell me. In the comment box, please. It is the cheapest of all the brands.

The Gels for this brand are the exact same colour as their none gels which I think is a bit pointless because I'd rather buy the Gel in every colour, they are one of the most expensive brands in the lot I've chosen and because I don't know that much about them I'm gonna try on of their colours and evaluate at a later date, furthermore if any of you lovely peeps have tried this brand feel free to leave a comment as I would surely like to know more.

Thank you very much for reading guys, if you're a fan of the comparison posts I do (see my BEN NYE one here) please tweet me @ Kewteepye, or leave a comment.