Review: Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish Gel Manicure Starter Kit

Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish Gel Manicure Starter Kit

          Hi everyone! So today will be my review of the Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish Gel Manicure Starter Kit. I was sent this from @Influenster as I was a Badge winner in one of the VoxBox programs for Sally Hansen. The starter kit comes with 1 LED Lamp, 1 Gel Base Coat, 1 Gel Nail Color, 1 Gel Top Coat, 10 Nail Cleanser Pads, Acetone Remover, Cuticle Stick, File & Buffer, and Instruction sheet. You can get this kit from Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and basically any drugstore. 

          Let's see the kit before we get started!

So I used this grey polished they provided instead of the red one!

          According to the website, the product is described as:

"Professional salon results at home have never been so easy. Saving you time and money. Up to 10 salon gel manicures at home up to 2 week wear.· Salon tested· Safe· No dry time · nails feel protected· Easy removal. The LED lamp will cure (set) your manicure to a solid, high-gloss finish with zero dry time." 

          According to the website, the claims on this product is as follows:

• Up to 10 gel manicures per kit - great value vs. the salon
• Up to 2 week wear
• No chips
• No dry time
• Flawless mirror shine
• s
• s          Do I believe you can wear these for up to 2 weeks? No
•            Do I believe there is no chipping? Yes, but you do get peeling.
•            Do I believe there is no dry time? Well, outside of the steps yes, but there is allocated dry time embedded in the manicure routine.
•            Do I believe it gives a flawless mirror shine? Yes

          As for my thoughts on this product, I don't think it's anything special. I like that this kit comes with everything you need for 10 manicures. The first thing I foresee running out is the cleansing pads, however substituting nail polish remover will certainly do. I also like that when you run out of a part of the kit, it is sold separately, so you can replace it without buying the whole kit over. The instruction sheet is very easy to understand, and it also helps that the steps are also numbered on the products themselves. I will say it is a process to do your nails, but much less of a hassle than regular nail polish as you don't have to sit around doing nothing while you wait 20-30 mins waiting for your nail to dry. Though the kit is very well put together, I wish was the formula for the polish was too. 

          First thing is first, I did everything step by step to the teeth. The instructions are basically fool proof, so there is no way any error was due to user incompetence. About 5 minutes after my manicure, 3 of my gel nails lifted and I had to peel them off. Somehow, when they peeled, the gel nail was a little wet/sticky underneath. Now you might say I didn't hold them under the light for long enough, but the light is self timed, so if anything the timer should have gone for longer or I should have done a second round to be safe. Over the next few days, 2 more came off. By the time a week came around I only had 5 gel nails total and 2 were starting to peel. So for staying power, I'm not particularly impressed. As for the formula of the nails, they are quiet shining, however not as opaque as I would have hoped from Sally Hansen. I did 2 coats of the color polish on my nails and you could definitely see spots that were lighter than others. Honestly, I was not sold on this product as any other Sally Hansen regular polish performs way better than this did.

          So to summarize
          Pros:

• Shiny coat
• Quick dry time with the LED light
• Kit is complete and components sold separately 
• Instructions are easy to understand

          Cons:

• Nails peeled off less than 10 minutes after manicure
• Polish not very opaque
• Did not live up to claim of a 2 week life

My Overall Rating: 40/100

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but probably not, but if I am please let me know!