I don’t usually guinea pig myself much but when I heard that there is a nail polish that lasts for three weeks without chipping and still good for your nails, I just had to get a little adventurous and give Bio Sculpture’s Colour Gel a try.

No, this is not the tacky chunky gel nail that is popular with strippers and Snookis. It’s basically a nail polish in gel form and it’s not rough or damaging on your nails. It’s free of toluene, formaldehyde, phthalates and parabens so there is no stinky smell or fumes during the application.

APPLICATION: I opted for “Berry Medley,” a nice bright fuchsia. The application was basically the same as a regular manicure: base gel, colour gel and top coat, the only difference was that each step had to cure under the UV light. Unlike the application of the gel nail, there was no filing of the nail needed.

RESULT: My nails looked amazing! They were not Snooki chunky and looked really natural. The colour was bright and shiny and it went almost three weeks without a single chip. I even experimented by painting over my gel with regular nail polishes (see picture) and the gel is so resilient that the polish or the acetone didn’t hurt it a bit. To match your gel exactly, you can purchase its nail polish twin by Bio Sculpture. Towards week three, I did notice some bubbling but by that time my nails had grown considerably and it was time for removal anyways.

REMOVAL: Bio Gel is a soak-off product (if you do this, make sure your salon knows the difference between the different types of gel products). First, the gel was filed a tiny little bit without the file actually touching the nail itself. Then individual nails were soaked for 10 minutes in Bio Sculpture Gel Remover to break down the bonding of the gel to the nail. The gel then easily peels off your nail and voilà! Easy.

COST: My application cost $55 at my salon here in Vancouver (Bling Nails & Beauty Lounge). The removal is $10 if added on top of a regular manicure.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! Especially for those with busy lifestyles or those heading on longer vacations. Let’s face it: who wants to waste time painting nails in a hotel room?

There are also similar soak-off applications like CND Shellac and OPI Axxium that are getting rave reviews. Michelle from Beauty Editor prefers loves loved Shellac and Janine from BeautyGeeks is gaga over OPI Axxium.

www.biosculpturenails.com

PS. Please excuse my chubby baby hands. When I was modeling over a decade ago, a photographer told me that my hands didn’t match my face or my body! He was right, LOL.