In many instances, women put other people before themselves and take care of anything and everything necessary before worrying about what they personally need. Yet, all women must enjoy some time to do things for themselves too! The first place they need to hit is the salon to get their nails done! Getting your nails done is stress relieving and relaxing, where you can soak up much required quiet time. At the salon there are many options available, you may be interested in getting fake nails to enhance your look, and then you have a choice whether you would like acrylic or gel nails. If you prefer to save money and apply fake nails at home, take a look at this step by step guide to applying acrylic nails.
Aside from their beauty, there are a number of benefits to using artificial nails. They prevent biting or chewing your nails and can help fragile nails from breaking by strengthening the nail and surrounding area.
Acrylic Nails
Acrylic nails have been around for a very long time in the industry, and that has not tainted their popularity at all. This type of nail consists of using a liquid monomer and a powder polymer that goes on top of your natural nail to create a hard protective layer. This mixture hardens, allowing you to leave the French manicure look or add any type of color. These types of nails prevent you from chipping and smudging as they are completely dry before you walk out of the salon.
Gel Nails
Gel nails are rather new to the industry and have a different look than the acrylic nails. These nails have a more natural look to them, but provide mostly the same strength as the acrylic nail. However, a gel polish only hardens onto a nail once it is exposed to a UV light. Similar to nail polish, a gel manicure has a base coat, the nail polish color, and a top coat. Each of these coats has to be put under the UV light for two to three minutes. Once this is complete, you can walk out of the nail salon with dry lustrous, chip-free nails.
Which one is better?
Both of these types of nails have similar results. You can walk out of the salon with completely dry nails that have no smudges on them. In both cases, you can lengthen or shorten the nails, and make them stronger while making your fingers also appear more slender. Acrylic nails look a bit less natural than the gel nail, but the gel nails are not as thick as acrylics. Pricing at salons is similar for both acrylic and gel nails, however, acrylic nails tend to last longer and require less maintenance. As a rule, artificial nails are stronger than natural nails, and if you’ve had a hard time preparing food due to nails breaking, then it makes sense to invest in artificial nails.
The gel nails are a bit more flexible but do not last as long as acrylic nails, which are sturdier. In order to take these nails off, the acrylics can just pop or soak off, and the gel nails need to soak or be filed off, which takes a bit more time. The last thing you need to consider is if one of your nails needs a repair. If your gel nail breaks, it can sometimes shatter and there is no way to make an easy fix, you must go to your nail salon and have it redone. For acrylic nails, if they start to lift at all, you can use glue at home yourself to fix it until your next appointment.
Choosing which nail process is best is a personal preference. You need to consider all of the options available, plus how much time and money you have to invest in this beauty regimen.
