Having a good manicure is like having on the perfect pair of shoes. With that said, manicures have come a long way from ordinary drug store nail polish. You now have more choices and with choices comes confusion. Getting your nails done shouldn’t be stressful, it should be relaxing. That’s why having some insight into acrylic and gel manicures can be helpful.

Going to the salon to get your nails done should be exciting. The only hard part should be choosing the perfect color. However, the nail industry has come a long way and with that, there are two popular manicure styles. This includes gel manicures and acrylic manicures. At first glance, they can seem like the same thing but their application process and products are completely different. A gel manicure simply speaks to the type of nail polish used. You see unlike regular nail polish, gel polish needs to be cured in LED or UV light. Gel nail polish needs the UV or LED light to dry. When applying a gel nail polish you will need a nail dehydrator, a topcoat, a UV or LED lamp, and your gel nail polish. Gel manicures typically last for 2 weeks but can be worn for longer. Once you are ready to change your nails, you will need to soak off the gel polish in acetone.

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Now even though an acrylic manicure is also a nail enhancement, it’s not ordinary nail polish. With acrylics, you don’t need a LED or UV lamp. All you will need is acrylic power, a nail dehydrator, nail premier, an acrylic liquid monomer, and an acrylic nail brush. Once the nail has been prepared, the acrylic brush will be dipped into the liquid monomer. The wet acrylic brush is then used to pick up the acrylic powder which can be placed on the natural nail or on a nail tip. After the acrylic has been placed, it needs to be filed. An acrylic manicure can last up to 2 weeks. When you are ready to remove it you will need to soak it off with acetone.