HOW TO DO GEL-X NAILS LIKE A PRO *EASY AND CHEAP*

Hello, welcome back to my channel, or welcome if you've never been here before. The video you all have been waiting for. If you don't know who I am, I post lots of different videos, but one of the types of videos that I post is nail videos. I've been doing nails for almost 10 years. I started filming videos of dip nails, and I slowly transitioned into gel x-nails. And gel x-nails are the best things on the planet. I love them. Pretty much this entire video is going to tell you how to be a pro at gel x-nails. I'm going to tell you how to make them last. Mine can last up to four weeks. I'm going to give you all my tips and tricks about how to make them grow out so they look seamless. Absolutely everything. Everything I use is going to be linked in the description. And here's a sneak peek. I do really, really cute design. I'm very excited for you guys to see. These are actually my birthday nails, but yeah. Enjoy the video. I love you. We're going to want to start off with some nail care. One major thing to get these nails to last is nail prep. So I start out by pushing back my cuticles. This is the point in time where you would clip your nails if you want to do that. Cleaning out under your nails, making sure they're clean. On my natural nails, I only use a crystal nail file now because it's just a lot more gentle. I'm just making sure all my nails are smooth and don't have rigid ends. So then I'm going in with my cuticle nippers and just removing that excess dead skin and making sure our cuticles look nice. I'm going in with this cuticle eraser, which is just like another step to make our cuticles look nice. And then I take another cuticle pusher backer and you can see the dead skin right there coming off. I rub it down with some rubbing alcohol just to get rid of all that stuff that we just had on our nails. Going in with some nail dehydrator, putting that all over the nail and then we're taking our primer. You only need a little bit of this. You don't want to drench your nail in it because that can actually make your nails pop off. Now we're moving on to the actual application of the gel extensions. I use soft gel tips. These are really great because they break down with acetone. So if you want to soak your nails off with acetone, they're going to fully come off and it's very easy for removal. I'm going in with some medium almonds today. You want to size all of your gel extensions to your nails and make sure they fit from sidewall to sidewall. If they do not fit perfectly, you can actually take a file and shape them yourself, but you want them to fit because if they don't, that can lead to them popping off and not lasting as long. One step that I love to do is I'll take my nail drill and just shave the inside of the gel extension where you're going to apply it to your actual nail because this roughens it up and it makes it so it adheres to your nail way better. This is by far my favorite gel I've used just because it's on the cheaper side and it works just as good as the more expensive ones. This has lasted me up to four weeks before. You're going to put one coat of the gel on all of your nails and cure that for 60 seconds. So now you're going to take your gel extension and there's different ways to apply the gel to the nail extension, but my favorite way is to put one thin layer of gel where my nail is going to go and then I glob a little bit near the cuticle. I kind of shove it into my cuticle a little bit and you start pushing down at the cuticle and you slowly press down to the tip of the nail. You hold it in place and flash cure it. I am using a gooseneck lamp and these are amazing because you don't need to try and maneuver your way under a lamp and it makes it so easy. You want to hold it there. I usually hold it there for about like 25-30 seconds and one thing with this, you want to make sure you're applying the right amount of gel. If you apply too much, it's going to squirt out around the cuticle and it's going to squirt out on the tip of the nail and it's just super messy and if you apply too little, it's going to lead to air bubbles and then they can pop off. So it just takes practice but once you get the hang of it, it's like you know how much to use for your nails. With practice, you can get very very quick at application. I've done this a bunch of times now and I can do this so quickly. So after I have applied all of my gel extensions, I am going to cure them in my big UV lamp for 60 seconds just to really make sure the gel has cured. So now I'm going to take my drill with kind of a pointier nail bit. I'm going to be drilling around the cuticle, kind of fading the gel extension into my natural nail. So with the grow out process, they look very seamless and this really prevents lifting to happen. Like you know when you press on the tip of your nail and they start to lift? This is how you get that to not happen. So I'm going to take my crystal nail file and file these a little bit because sometimes with the gel extensions, there can be little like rough parts. I'm just making sure they're super smooth. I'm going to take a buffing block and just buff off all the shine on the nails. This is just an extra step to do that will help your gel polish really adhere to your nails and it prevents peeling. And that is it for the gel application. Now we're going to be moving into the design. These were actually my birthday nails so I wanted to do something kind of fun. So first I'm going to be taking this peachy nude shade and doing one coat of that on all of my nails. Curing it for 30 seconds. And then I'm taking this milky-ish pinky color and doing one coat of that on all of my nails. Curing it for 30 seconds. I love this base. It's just super simple and looks super natural. So then I took a bunch of colors that I'm showing. I actually mixed a bunch of colors. Like I mixed the blue and red together to make purple because I'm currently not in my house with all my supplies. I did some French tips. You're going to see I did a lot of swirly design. This is more something just to watch. I went in with a long nail art brush for most of this because once you practice with this you learn that you have like way more control with it. And another tip is if you get it on your skin or if you get nail polish anywhere that you don't want before you cure it, take a nail art brush with some acetone on it and just clean it right up. It's super easy. Then you want to make sure everything is cured and then I go in with my top coat. This is my favorite top coat ever. It's a little bit pricier and you can totally use a cheaper one. But I can tell like my nails never chip or peel and I feel like one of the main reasons for that is because of this top coat and it's definitely worth it. So I put that on all of my nails. And then if you have a problem with your nails being sticky after you cure them, that means you need to rub them down with rubbing alcohol. So that is what I'm doing right here to get rid of the sticky coat. And then of course after you just put your nails through all of that, you want to go in with some cuticle oil. This is one of my favorite cuticle oils by Sally Hansen. Put that on all my nails, massage it in, and that is literally it. Guys, this is so easy and yes it might be pricey to buy it all right away, but then you can do like 20 sets of nails. When you add it up, it is so much cheaper than going to a nail salon. If you're seeing this and you aren't doing your own nails, this is your sign to start doing your own nails and save your money.