GelishTerrific Trio Essentials 15 Milliliter Basic Care Soak Off Manicure Gel Nail Polish Kit with Foundation, pH Bond and Top It Off Gel

I recently started doing my gel nails at home in an effort to save money. My lamp is cheap but I don't like to skimp on the actual formula I put on my nails. I was looking everywhere that only sold these 3 things and this happened to be at an awesome price point! This honestly makes my nails last SO much longer, makes them shine like the salon and doesn't tear up my nails. This is how I do it:- Prep: Trim/File your nails. Push your cuticles back. Buff your nails with a fine buffing block so that there is no natural shine. Wipe very well with 91% alcohol. Apply the PhBond. It evaporates instantly. Repeat on other hand.- Foundation: Apply a THIN layer of the foundation. Be sure to get all of your nail or else the color will not stick. Wipe any excess off your skin, along the side of the nail (I use an orangewood stick). This is important to do BEFORE curing because if it bonds to your skin and not the nail, it will lift! Cure this in your light for 60-90 secs, depending on your lamp.- Color: Apply a THIN layer of color. Follow the steps from above, especially cleaning up the edges/skin. Cure for 60-90 secs. Repeat with another thin layer until you get the true color (usually 2 coats).- Top Coat: Apply a THIN layer of the top coat. I go over it a couple times with very little product on the brush just to smooth everything and ensure full coverage. Clean up edges. Cure for 60-90 secs. Immediately wipe clean with alcohol and a paper towel (do NOT use tissue, cotton pads, etc. because the fibers will stick!) If you don't do this, it will not cure correctly and will still be sticky.I like to complete the painting process on one hand before I do the other. My nails last just as long as the salon. To get the gel off, I use "nail mates" with pure acetone. It only takes 15 min and comes off after pushing the gel with a cuticle pusher. No peeling/breaking nails like after the salon! This product is high quality and is a great value. Must have for a DIYer!

Terrific products. My nails are very thin and flexible and I could never get regular polish to stay on them for more than a day or two no matter how careful I was. I had given up on having nice nails since I wasn't willing to pay $40-$50 every three weeks at the salon. For this to work proper prep is key. Look online, there are plenty of sites/blogs with step by step instructions on how to do a gel manicure. Now for me usually a manicure lasts around 3 weeks before I want to redo but when applied to well prepared, clean, buffed nails I have had a Gelish French manicure (using just this set with Sheek white for the tips) last 5 weeks by lightly buffing and reapplying another coat of top it off/topcoat on the entire nail to mask the grown out area at about 2.5 - 3 weeks. The second important thing is to avoid careless painting. If you let any of the coats run up to the skin at the side or cuticle so it forms a "ridge", it will lift. You must start at the end of the nail and work your way carefully toward the cuticle and sides stopping just short of touching the skin. Since it doesn't dry quickly without putting it under the light, you have time to be careful. I only had a nail lift once when I was helping my bartender husband at an event and was washing glasses nonstop for nearly six hours without gloves. So, if you have your hands in water a lot, you should wear gloves. This stuff is an absolute miracle!

Sorry this review is so long, but I made almost all of my gel polish choices based off of reviews on Amazon so I wanted to be detailed enough to help the next person. :)This three pack is great for those new to DIY gel nails. I ordered this set together with another Gelish color, my UV light nail dryer and a couple of other gel colors from different brands to do my nails at home for the first time. It arrived within the shipping time estimate.The PH bond is very thin and evaporates almost instantly after applying. It helps hydrate and clean the nail for the gel base.The Foundation Base is very thick and comes with a short stubby brush. It goes on smooth. After curing, it's very tacky and requires cleaning. Tips: After applying the base, go over the whole nail a few more times with the brush to make sure the coat is thin and even. If I don't do that, after curing the polish and cleaning the nail, I find random spots on the nail that don't have the base on it. When I find them, I just touch up those spots and cure them again, and I haven't had any issues with the manicure after, but it's just easier to prevent it in the first place. Regarding cleaning the nail after curing, the instructions on the bottle call for a "dry clean of the surface" with a lint free wipe. No matter how hard I tried, I could never get the surface clean with a dry wipe. It would leave smear marks and stay tacky. Rubbing alcohol works perfectly and I haven't had an issue from using a cleanser.The Top It Off has a more standard nail brush and liquid consistency. The liquid is very smooth, almost slick. This coat is also tacky after curing and requires cleaning with rubbing alcohol. No matter how many coats of polish I put it over (I've done up to 6: 1 base coat, 3 coats of color and 2 coats of chunky glitter), I've only needed one coat to make my nails perfectly smooth and shiny. When you rub them together, they even make the clacky noise you get with professionally done gel nails or acrylics. Every time I do the final cleaning, it's still hard for me to believe that 7 coats of nail polish dried in less than 2 hours. When you add in how long that manicure is going to last, it's pretty awesome.So far, I've made it to 2 weeks with only a very small chip that was just in the shine, not the actual polish color, so it was almost impossible to notice. My biggest problem is that I get bored with colors on my hands pretty easily. When the nail grows out too much, I just start over, instead of trying to do upkeep so I don't know how long I could try to keep the same manicure going. When I get brave enough to try French manicures, I'll probably try to extend it.Other tips:This process does take time. I didn't do regular nail polish manicures that often because of how long they didn't last, so I wasn't very handy wielding a nail brush, especially with my non-dominant hand. But I've already seen a marked improvement since I started doing gel nails, and the time it takes is going down. So don't start this if you don't have a chunk of time without interruptions to do it. Also, because your nails are supposed to be a clean, oil free zone, eat before you start. I have a drink with a straw on the table ready to go so I can stay seated once I start.I do my cuticles directly before starting each hand to make sure I can cover as much nail as possible. I soak my finger tips in warm water for a bit, dry, then push back and trim my cuticles. When applying the gel, you don't want any on your skin before you cure it. Having polish on your skin can break the seal on your nail and lift up the polish after a few days. I use a wood stick to clean up the nail edges. I was doing my entire hand at a time when I saw a comment from a nail technician that stated it was easier to do the four fingers and the thumb separately and she was so right. I like to fully complete the four fingers on each hand first so I can use the thumb on either side to pull back skin on other fingers to fully paint the nail or to tidy up an edge I'm afraid to use the wood stick on, then I do my thumbs separately.Gel polish can shrink, some more than others, so it's important to make sure to cap the tip of your nail with each coat so it'll fully shrink onto your nail. I start painting my nail doing this step so I can smooth out the edge after. I also come up a little under my nail tip to help solidify the color. You're supposed to cap the nail with each coat from base to top coat, but I've found that if you are using a chunky glitter and you cap the tip, after it cures it feels like an uneven nail edge. I learned that on my first hand, so on my other I didn't cap it as much, didn't go under the nail at all and pushed back any glitter pieces that were on the edge and it turned out perfect.I wouldn't buy this particular set again, but only because of the Ph Bond. There's nothing wrong with the product, but you can do the same thing with rubbing alcohol (which is the main ingredient in the PH Bond) and you can buy it in a large bottle for a couple bucks. So next time, I'll definitely just buy the base and top coat. But the Gelish brand hasn't let me down yet. I've also been able to use the Gelish products with IBD and Fingerpaints gel polish with no problem.