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Every time I walk the aisles of the local drugstore ‘at home gel nails’ is staring me in the face. It’s seriously the biggest trend and has been for quite sometime and while some are sick of it, I LOVE it! Everyone claims to have the next big thing and a sucker for the gel nail look that I am I will try it ALL.  It was no different browsing through Target the other day and coming across L’Oreal Extraordinaire Gel Lacque (say that ish 3 times fast) the colors kind of jumped out at me so I figured this would be my next venture into gel nails! Y’all know that I stick by my DIY Gel Nails (for $5.99) but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something else equally as affordable out there to give us the same look.

L’Oreal Extraordinaire Gel Lacque claims to be an exclusive 3-step nail system for spectacular nails like you’ve never seen before. That right there, sold me! New L’Oreal Paris Extraordinaire Gel Lacque provides high-gloss, and resilient shine while protecting nail color from dings, dents and scratches. Get the high-shine of a UV-Gel and the perfect nail shape without harmful UV rays. Score, right? Right! It needs to be noted up front that this 3-step system will ONLY work with the specific gel color polishes so when you’re browsing the selection be sure to pick one of the shades up that has a ‘2’ on it so you won’t be disappointed! The Gel-Primer & Gel-Glaze are sold as a kit for around $12.99 and the actual L’Oreal Extraordinaire Gel Lacquer Nail Polish is sold on it’s own for $7.99 with twenty one colors to choose from! They claim you’ll achieve the perfect no-ridge nail shape, high-impact glossy color, and incredible shine that is fade-free and chip-free for up to 14 days.

I was a little intimidated at first because my first go-around with this was not at all a good one but looking back now, total user error on my part and I was going way to heavy on the primer and glaze therefore making the whole thing tacky. Once I figured out a good balance I was good to go.

So it’s a pretty easy 3 step system. First you apply one coat of the gel primer onto clean nails. This is going to help smooth out your nails providing a nice surface for the color to be placed on. I let it dry for about 45 seconds before applying the color. You can then grab whatever of the twenty colors you chose (I went with ‘Fashion’s Finest) and apply two coats of the gel-color. They say these shades are richer, magnified to a new level of intensity nails are visibly thicker when you’re through.  Then let that dry for a minute or two and apply one coat of the gel-glaze which really works to bring out that gel-like shine!

That was my finished manicure! I was in love. I found it to be super shiny, my nails looked visibly thicker which was surprising because I almost laughed when I read the box saying “volumized nails” but it really happened and they had that ultra glossy gel-like gloss to them. Impressed for sure! I didn’t really see it do anything to perfect the shape of my nails but I wasn’t sure what that claim was all about anyway. So they said that “The unique smoothing primer and protecting lacquer topcoat work with the 14 day color to achieve high gloss results that last up to 14 days.” so I figured I could put it to the test (I had no delusions that I would actually keep the same color for 14 days because I get way too bored, but I was going to try my best) and see how long it would last.

Before judging the chip test I put this L’Oreal Extraordinaire Gel Lacque polish to keep in mind that I am super hard on my nails on a daily basis. I type ALL day, do the dishes by hand and most of the time I am scrubbing one thing or another in my clean freak daze. Getting any polish to day 3 without a chip is an accomplishment in and of itself. So as you can see day one was looking fab and when I checked in on day three not much had changed the gloss (even though my iPhone isn’t picking it up) was still high and shiny and we were nowhere near chipping (except my thumb and I was playing with my dog and his toys so that was not the polishes fault) which made me quite happy. It took a turn for the worse come day five and into six and you can see where it started to chip but really, that is because of the spring cleaning I had already started and you can see how glossy they still are. I’d say easily they could give you seven days of a chip-free & gel-like manicure if you’re not rough on them. I don’t think they’d go much further then that when I removed it on day 8 the shine was noticeably less then when I started but for me they were perfect.  You’re getting a 3 step at-home gel system with no UV lights for under 20 bucks. You figure the kit will last awhile and if you buy a new polish each time you’re still only paying $7.99 for gel nails at home rather then $30+ every two weeks. Worth it, in my opinion.

I know you’re going to ask about removal, and I was shocked at how easy it was! No soaking, just remove as you would any old nail polish with regular remover and it comes right off! While I wouldn’t call it an exact dupe or shellac hack it’s pretty darn close and I would recommend trying it out for yourself for sure!

HAVE YOU TRIED THE L’Oreal Extraordinaire Gel Lacque?

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