GELLENProfessional Extension Poly Gel Soak Off UV Builder Gel Set Acrylic Nail Kit, DIY Home Gel Manicure (15ml, 4 Colors), Peach Clear Pink Lavender

Hands down, this is a must have if you want that expensive downtown NY nail look.I save around $75 to $125 with the stones and more for this French look. Biweekly - $250 plus tip = now going into my savings.It’s easy to use with a milky creamy consistency just like the picture. I previously purchased the beetle brand in the tube with the nail forms and it’s very thick and you MUST use the slip solution. It is very very messy as while you are working on the nail bed - underneath the nails starts to bulk and slide and you have to cure the top and the bottom - but by the the time you finish with the top - underneath looks like a brick. Gets really hard and very very hard to file. I LOVE THIS BRAND AND WILL ONLY USE THIS ONE. I also purchased the Gellen Nails - No More Forms. I will say, get the Gellen nail glue. I cured the nail on with the light pink Gellen gel and to get this look, I then used the light pink Gel with the white for the tips for a light sleek French . I’m going to use ALL PRODUCTS GELLEN.lol…. Took my husband to the nail salon to get a pedicure, my nail tech was like “you ready where you been”. I said saving my money doing my own nails. He ain’t seen me in 3 months… ADD IT UP $$$$

I’ve been using it and I love it, it does its job and removes the nail polish easily.

=== UPDATE 2024-SEP-28 ===Now that I have been using this builder gel for the past 9 months I will say that it is a fantastic product! I still have yet to run out of any of the four jars.This builder gel does indeed soak off and I do so using the baggie method. It does take longer to remove than dip powder but I expect that, When I am removing this i use my e-file to remove the bulk then I soak using the baggie method for 10 minutes and use a wooden cuticle stick to remove. Many times I do need to a few iterations of this approach for removal so it does take longer than 10 minutes. During removal I will use a manual 180 grit nail file shortly after removing from soaking and that does help too. Sometimes I will use my e-file on 1K RPM and a 240 sanding band to help out as well. I would say that for a full set removal it typically takes me 30 minutes,I have not once had any issues with this builder gel cracking or chipping.=== ORIGINAL REVIEW ===I love the colors, they are beautiful and fantastic. Applying the product for me is a little tricky, but, I am just a DIYer and not a nail technician. It takes some time to apply and I had to use some slip solution to help me get it where I wanted as just floating the brush only worked for a very short time for me. However the builder gel is fantastic. It seems to be mostly self leveling and conducive to apex building.Despite having bought this months ago I have yet to apply this to my nails. The reason for this is because of the mixed reviews and Q&A here on the topic of soaking this product off with pure acetone.Right now my bottom line take is that this builder gel is not soak off. But to be fair, most builder gels are not. With that said I have three other brands of builder gels (a solid, one with a viscosity similar to this product and a liquid builder gel in a bottle) and all three of those do not soak off just by exposure to 100% acetone. However all three of those, which again to be fair, I have used on my natural nails, can be removed with an acetone soak and a cuticle pusher tool and some light filing. I also have to repeat that process for full removal several times.Based on my limited experience with other builder gels I do not expect this builder gel to be soak off only. I expect that it will be a similar experience as the other builder gels I do have experience with.Once I do apply and remove this product to my nails I will update this review. I do plan on keeping one of the colors in this kit on my nails for awhile and use it as a base for more frequent changes of dip and soft gel color and glitter selections. So to accomplish that I will wind up applying a gel top coat to this builder gel and then build on top of that for new color selections and combinations. Doing so will help significantly reduce the risks of frequent entire product removals in terms of natural nail and nail plate potential damage and nail structure stress.So today I got to running a little experiment which I go over next and for which the photos I have attached are relevant. The point of this trial was to try to get an idea of how easy this product may, or may not be, to remove. This is also the reason why I have no other sub-ratings on this product as say for longevity because I cannot speak to that since I have worn this on my nails yet.ApplicationOn the top of a full cover clear nail tip I applied the beautiful pink color of this builder gel. I applied a gel base coat (different brand), cured for 60 seconds, applied the first layer of this product - thinly - cured for 60 seconds and then applied a second coat of this product - thinly - cured for 60 seconds and then wiped off the inhibition layer using a cotton pad with 91% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to remove the stickiness. Note that I did not apply top coat and this was intentional. Next I applied the same gel base coat to the entire underside of the full cover clear nail tip and cured for 60 seconds. I followed with applying a gel top coat to the entire underside of the tip and cured for 120 seconds.RemovalI grabbed a baggie, threw in some 100% pure acetone into it, heated up a bowl of water to as hot as I can usually stand it in the microwave on my regular dip powder removals, tossed the nail tip into the baggie and sealed it. I let it the baggie sit in the bowl of hot water for over five minutes. There was a small chemical reaction that occurred that was observable to the naked eye while watching it and was evidenced by bubbles emanating from the underside of the nail tip. So I figured I might have not entirely sealed off the entire nail with any product whatsoever. I removed the nail tip from the baggie using a pair of tweezers. Upon removal of the tip I placed into another small container that I use only for acetone and water and poured in some tap water. Another five minutes later I removed it and let it air dry for a few minutes.ResultsThis product did not even blink at being soaked in pure acetone for five minutes and subjected to temperatures of over 120F (probably more like 140F but I did not measure that). No top coat, just completely unaffected from that soak (picture #1). Meanwhile the underside of the nail tip that had only a gel base and top coat was indeed affected (picture #2). Finally picture #3 is after using a 100 grit manual nail file in attempt to remove the product from the nail tip. As you can see not much progress and you cannot see the clear nail tip itself.This leads me to conclude this product cannot be soaked off purely by exposure to 100% acetone alone. Product removal will, as I mentioned earlier, most likely require several iterations of filing with a 180 grit nail file, a few minutes soak in 100% acetone (with some coconut oil), and gentle and gradual removal using a steel or plastic cuticle pusher. For the soak I will approach that the same as I do with my dip powder nails when I remove those: toss in some acetone, a little coconut oil and a cotton ball and heat the acetone up by placing the baggie - with my hand - in a bowl filled with water as hot as I can stand it and constantly rub the product with the cotton ball during this period of soaking time. This method of removal is the best and fastest method that I know of to remove dip powder and maximum natural nail and plate safety, health and structural integrity.

I was surprised at the level of hardness once the product was cured. Easy to shape. Only stays on a few days at a time. Not sure if its because I get my hands wet too much or not. Very easy to apply and cure.

First of great packaging ... LAMP CAUSES BURNING SENSATION IN SKIN.My biggest issue in 6 months of using it twice a month is the things I have learnt about what I should do to use this kit at home and for a process to be successful all the elements should be considered.I started noticing that my skin was a bit darker when I used the UV lamp and not only that I started to have a burning sensation, a mild burning but steady sensation every time I used the lamp -had to wear finger gloves to use the lamp when I am drying my polish. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.I also noticed my nails needed more cuticle oil and at least 4/5 days of recovery between each time of usage because I felt the surface of my nails to be more prone to scratches and my nails started to feel brittle.The absolute worst of it all, this again could be poor quality nail polish but that's only part of the problem the removal is such a nightmare I cant even begin to tell.T he acetone soaked cotton pads and wrap each finger in foil method does not take 10 mins!! it takes 60 mins + and you absolutely inadvertently scratch off your nail a bit with the polish scraper, not once in all the times I have used this polish and this method have I been able to take the polish off easily, not even once. I have tried the best acetone and gel polish remover and still nothing. They do not come with the kit.All in all, the end results are nice, polish lasts for close to 8-10 days which is good but the long term effects of the lamp and the whole ordeal of removal makes this so not worth it and I think there is not enough discussion around how bad this is for your nails or at least the DIY process of this specific application + removal.Will not recommend. I wish I could return the kit.