Disclosure: I received the below products in exchange for my honest review, all opinions and experiences are 100% my own and may differ from those of your own.
Couture Gel Nail Polish
Couture Gel Nail Polish is a mother/daughter run company in Northern California. After having traveled to Europe and discovered a beautiful and fun gel nail polish, they wanted to make this fun, shiny and long lasting application available for all women to enjoy. They wanted to make it easy, affordable and convenient by creating a system that women can enjoy in the privacy of their own homes. They also wanted the system to be affordable to all women whether they were working women, stay at home mom's, students, grandmothers, etc.
Our planet Earth's health and the health of other women is very important to the lovely ladies behind Couture Gel Nail Polish, this is why they formulated their gel nail polish to be free of harmful chemicals. It is also why they insist on sourcing materials that have never been tested on animals, they believe that beauty should not and just cannot be derived from cruelty.
They also wanted to share their blessing of success, so they donate a portion of the proceeds to the fight against breast cancer, for all the women they love.
Starter Kit
I received the Couture Gel Nail Polish Starter Kit ($99ARV) to provide this review of. I am so excited for this opportunity, I jumped right in and new this would be the perfect mother/daughter for my 9 year old daughter and myself.
This Starter Kit comes with everything you need for a Salon quality gel nail polish manicure right in the comforts of your own home!
- You get your choice of 1 Couture Gel Nail Polish Color
- Base Coat
- Super Shine Top Coat
- LED Espree Salon Lamp with 30 second dry time
- Instructional DVD and brochure
- Exclusive Cleanse and Remove Products
- And a bonus salon quality manicure tool kit
- Zippered Cosmetic Case
For your choice of 1 Couture Gel Nail Polish Color you get to choose from over 100 different bold and beautiful colors. How is a girl to choose just ONE?!
The LED Curing Lamp is a professional salon quality lamp. There are settings on the lamp for 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 minutes and 30 minutes. The LED bulbs in this lamp never need to be replaced!
Our Review
I first tried the polish and LED lamp out for myself, tomorrow I will be doing my daughter's nails and hopefully I'm better at doing someone else nails then my own. I haven't painted my nails in years and I've only ever used just nail polish. With the two boys and them liking to paint things around the house with nail polish, it's something my daughter has kept at grandma's.
To start you are to apply a thin base coat... mine wasn't very thin... after 5 mins it was still drying because not only did I apply too much, but I also got black fuzz on my nail so I applied more... bad idea. As it states in their instructions brochure, A little goes a long ways! and it really does!
Once the base coat was minimally tacky I decided to add the color. Again, you can probably figure that I'm a fairly new newb to nail painting... should have waited for the base coat to fully dry. But please do keep in mind... all of this is my own fault! Not the fault of the products. With the color I did listen and applied what I believe to be a thin coat, was much thinner then the amount of base coat I had applied.
The coat of color dried much quicker then the base coat did and while drying the color I could feel the base coat sort of seal so I now know what to wait for when drying the base coat.
And finally, the top coat. I applied the thin layer of the top coat and it quickly dried under the LED lamp for the super quick 30 seconds! Seriously, I couldn't even make my one handed Facebook status update and it was dry. So much better, I need to find patients when doing things like this and I need to CLOSELY follow the directions.
My nails don't look the greatest and I did not push my cuticles back as they have always been super sensitive and I've always bitten any and every little pieces of skin around them which just makes them more sensitive. So you can definitely see how unprofessional mine look, but my daughters' nails will look much better and so will anyone else who takes their time and probably has a bit more experience then I do.
I've always been a tom boy, but with having a daughter I have to venture out to these girly activities and I knew this would be the perfect thing. She is super excited to get her nails done tomorrow and even more excited that I am doing them! Which makes me super excited and really makes my heart melt. She knows I'm bad at painting nails and she's still excited that we get to do this together. I'm sure I'll hear many ear fulls from her while in the process, but it'll be worth it in the end. I'll update with a photo of her much prettier nails.
Connect
Twitter @couturegelnails
What color would you choose? What are your thoughts about this Starter Kit?
this look like it be something my girlfriend would like. so i hope i win it
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that it dries your nails in 30 seconds.
ReplyDeleteI love this blog hope I win this
DeleteI love that there is a light to help dry the nails.
ReplyDeleteI love the dryer! I would love to have this. Thanks for the chance!
ReplyDeleteI love being able to polish my nails and have it last!!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. The dryer & light make it even better. Being able to polish nails and dry them is a great step. I get too impatient and would have to remind myself to let it dry thouroughly. My daughter would love this. I'd choose Our Madame. Thanks for your review.
ReplyDeleteCarol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
I like that it comes in one kit and I don't have to try to figure out what I would need- I would be clueless! Everything is there and ready to go and a bonus of a DVD on how to do it is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI thinks that is awesome that it only takes 30 seconds to dry your nails!
ReplyDeleteI have heard so many good things about gel polish even at home kits and would really love to have one. My nails are short but look so much better with a little polish on them.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to try this brand. I am very intrigued to test it out!
ReplyDeleteI would love to have this. I like the nail dryer. Just like a nail salon. Thank you for the entry
ReplyDeleteThey have so many colors! I don't even know where to begin in choosing one. Love that it dries so fast, too!
ReplyDeleteI would love to win this. I like that the nails dry in 30seconds if applied correctly.
ReplyDeleteI love Gel Polish cause it stays on and stays shiny for two weeks. I would pick the color Material Girl.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've painted my nails...this Gel Polish sounds really neat! I love the Drama Queen - #31 color http://www.couturegelnailpolish.com/products/drama-queen.html ! My Granddaughter & I would use this together :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll get the hang of it once you have a little practice. I've only had gels once but I do remember it lasting a very long time compared to traditionally polished nails which would last about a day for me before the chipping started. I would love to have a kit like this, who has time to go to the salon? Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool system. I've never gotten gel polishes before but, if I could do it at home, I certainly would use it. My nails are short but I've found that when I keep them polished I don't bite them. Thanks for the information & review. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried gel nails yet, but have been interested in them. I like that this brand contains safe ingredients and is cruelty-free. The color I'd choose is Persian Bleu (#75).
ReplyDeleteI have never tried these before but I would love to try the LED Drying Lamp
ReplyDeleteI love 5th Avenue though it was really hard to pick! I like how it comes with it's own carrying case.
ReplyDeleteI would like to try awesome giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI have never used this kind of polish before but I would love to try it, sounds like a great product
ReplyDeleteThis is long lasting is what I really like! I swim at the Y and have long fingernails, but I can't keep regular polish on I would love to try this.
ReplyDeleteI need to get one of those polish driers. I would also love some new polish. :)
ReplyDeleteI really like using polish - I think that it makes your hands look pretty. I need one of these dryers.
ReplyDeleteI am addicted to nail polish! I've never tried gel polishes though. My favorite is called Tres Chic (number 91).
ReplyDelete