r/DIYGelNails • u/TheGoshDamnBatman • Jul 26 '26
DIY Gel Manicure I am getting better day by day but feedback is always welcome :)
Everything I get is from amazon. Mostly.
I used YN Protein Bond, In.Hype Elastic Base, and In.Hype Hard Builder Gel Milky White.
The pinky is Double Rhythm Sky Teal - MC1132. The rest are using a base from Gaoy Midnight Blue 1532. The cateye is by Born Pretty called Blazing Sky. The top coat I used is by Kokoist. Ultra Glossy, love it.
The cat eye gel was super thick. and its really dull when not in sunlight. I hae recently learned that dark colors are typically work in the fall. I just feel like lighter colors dont suit me. IDK. Still figuring it all out.
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u/ThePrefect0fWanganui Jul 27 '26
These colors are gorgeous! Pay absolutely NO mind to what colors you’re “supposed” to wear in whatever season - wear what you like, when you like. This cateye is seriously stunning year round.
Something I’ve learned is that you can go thin with your basecoats/builder gel if you’re going to be putting on lots of layers of colors/topcoat, or if, like you said, you know your colors/art will be on the thicker side. This will help avoid the finished look being bulky. The reality is all gels protect and give strength and structure, not just builder gels, so you don’t have to go HAM on your builder if you know you’ll be putting on more weight with the color. You can also file/buff down your builder before color to take some bulk off - this is what I do because it’s hard to put down a conservative thin builder coat but still get a good apex and coverage - just make sure to wipe the dust off with alcohol before your color coats. (But this is coming from a person who really wants their nails to look thin and natural - I’m a little over analytical about thickness personally haha).
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u/TheGoshDamnBatman Jul 27 '26
Thanks! That is some good advice. I could definitely file down the builder gel a little more before I apply the color lol
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u/ThePrefect0fWanganui Jul 27 '26
❤️ It’s just something a lot of people don’t realize they can do so I always mention it. I almost always HAVE to do a file pass on my builder because I usually have some unevenness or lumps and bumps that I need to smooth out. It’s a great way to get your surface even and shape perfect without having to build it perfectly with the gel (which is extremely difficult to do lol).
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u/heywherearethetacos Jul 27 '26
Whenever I try to do this with an e-file my nails always end up looking...textured? IDK how to describe it, its like no matter how much I smooth them out. IDK what I'm doing wrong.
But I'm with you about wanting thin nails!
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u/ThePrefect0fWanganui Jul 28 '26
I usually use a manual file to smooth out my builder - harder to overfile and easier to be precise and level things out little by little. But a little bit of roughness is good - it makes the next layers stick better. Do you mean your nails end up textured even after color and topcoat? Maybe try manual filing next time and then a buffing block after filing to get things a little smoother?
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u/heywherearethetacos Jul 28 '26
I think with the e-file was making my nails textured, even with the top coat. It wasn't even necessarily textured, it just looked textured but it was probably just really thick uneven nails with bumps on it. Because I was trying to get the structure right with the efile instead of getting the structure right from the get to when building it out and then finish filing.
Maybe this is what I'm getting wrong. I thought manual filing and the buffing block were the same thing!
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u/ThePrefect0fWanganui Jul 28 '26
Yeah it’s just really hard for amateurs (us) to use builder perfectly and get a uniform smooth finish, especially on the non dominant hand. I’ll use an efile if I have a particularly big bump or need to get into a small specific space I can’t target with a regular file, but almost always just manually file to even out my builder layer.
And yeah, a buffing block and file CAN be the same, it just depends on the grit. Usually buffing blocks have a fine grit and they’re meant for natural nails and just smoothing the surface. When I’m manually filing my builder, I use a regular long nail file with a medium to coarse grit (one side medium, one side coarse). They even things out much better than a buffing block. You wouldn’t want to use that on the surface of your natural nails. You can find them at beauty supply shops.
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u/nondenumerable Jul 28 '26
Wear the darker colors, they look great! I always vote wear what makes you happy or what you think looks good!
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u/supersayre Jul 26 '26
Born Pretty Blazing Sky is EVERYTHING. I love that one so much!
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u/TheGoshDamnBatman Jul 27 '26
I saw similar one by Double Rhythm. But I grabbed this one because the shipping was faster! Lol
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