Sensationail Starter Kit

Hola Dalimoos,

As you know I am an avid nail polish fiend and my biggest bugbear is nail varnish chips and for some reason nail varnish chips so easily on me.  I know it doesn't help with the constant washing of hands and an active "home life" but to chip within an hour of painting gets to me.  The thing is I absolutely love doing my nails I just wish I could appreciate my efforts for longer!

So when just before Christmas the Sensationail Starter Kit was Boots' star buy I had to have it.  I got my other half to buy it for me for Christmas.  Now obviously I had to wait until Christmas to get it!

I got the sugar plum starter kit.  The kit came with:

• Two nail polishes:  Sugar Plum and Tag me Taupe
• Gel Cleanser
• Gel primer
• Gel base & top coat
• 1 pack of 12 lint-free wipes
• double sided nail buffer
• manicure stick
• removal tool
• LED lamp 
• £3 off voucher towards a new nail polish.

On Christmas morning I opened the box and started straight away.  It came with easy to read instructions including pictures so there was no going wrong!  I decided to stay festive and use the Sugar Plum nail polish which was a pinky/purple red colour.

It was so easy it seemed like I was doing something wrong.  My nails were completely done and dry within I would say 5 minutes.

The day after boxing day I decided I wanted to add to the "collection" and bought Blue Yonder and I used my £3 off voucher.

 I didn't leave the Sugar Plum on long enough to test out the longevity of it as I was over excited!  So I removed the Sugar Plum and painted my nails with Blue Yonder.

A week exactly worth of growth

The following Friday speaking with someone on twitter I tweeted them the above picture showing them that it had held up brilliantly after a whole week.  Not a chip in sight.  It didn't even dawn on me until that conversation how well it had held up.

On Saturday I decided to change up the colour again.  The slight nail growth showing at the top and started to bother me.

Below I will show you how I got the varnish off and how I used the lamp:

I first used the double sided nail file to file the top layer of gel off my nails, this makes it easier for the remover to work its magic.

Sensationail do a removal kit which I haven't purchased (yet!) and decided to do a bit of a DIY foil removal.  I put acetone nail polish remover on a cotton pad and put the pad over my nail and then wrapped it in foil.  I left it for about 5-10 minutes and then used the removal tool to peel the varnish away from the nails.  I had to scrap a little bit but I don't know if that is the remover I was using or whether I hadn't left it on long enough.

(sorry forgot to photograph then next couple of instructions)

I lightly buffed my natural nail with the softer side of the file and then washed my hands.  I used a lint-free cloth with some gel cleanser on it to clean my nails.

I apply a coat of the gel primer and you need to leave this to air-dry (not sure why!).  Once this has dried you apply your first coat of gel top coat and cure it under the lamp for 30 seconds.

You then apply your first coat of your colour.  I decided to use the other colour in my kit and that was taupe tulips.  You cure this for 60 seconds.  Then apply a second coat of the polish and cure for another 60 seconds.  NB:  What I like about this lamp is after 30 seconds it beeps and you can do your other hand after 60 seconds the lamp turns off completely.

Then you need to protect the nail by using another layer of the base/top coat and cure your nails for the last 30 seconds.

Once you have done this you have one final step to do and that is use some more gel cleanser to wipe over your nails (I used the same lint-free cloth) to remove any moisture layer and tada your nails are done and dry as a bone!

finished nails

The biggest tip I can give to you when doing your nails is less is more.  You really need to be careful about putting too much product on as you don't want to get it on your skin or over your cuticles as it sets rock hard and you cannot pick it off no matter how much you try!

The only negative thing I can say are the prices for the individual nail polishes.  Boots are selling them for £15. However you can get them direct from Sensationails' website for £12.50.  I am gutted I have just found out about the polishes being cheaper on the website because I bought Blue Yonder from boots, I know I got the £3 off but still how can you sell it for a higher price?? But worse still if you are in the US you can buy the nail polishes for a mere $10 which makes it roughly £6 a bottle!  I did have a rant on twitter about the cost difference in the US to the UK and they did tweet back explaining that import costs, custom fees and VAT hikes the prices up so I suppose they're not really able to keep it at the price of their US counterparts!

That little rant aside, I absolutely love this product and have been looking at their website for some new colours.  They have a deal at the moment that you can get 12 polishes for the price of 8 (£100) which works out about £8 a bottle which is personally  more affordable, it is just paying the £100 up front...I don't know what to do.  Should I or Shouldn't I buy some more colours.....oh what to do?!

The starter kit is now full price (£69).  You can still get them from Boots or direct from the Sensationail website.

 Anyway my lovelies, until next time.

Ciao for now xxx