Things You Can Do to Nails With Gel Nail Polish

Open and close the clasp of your tight pearl necklace -- all by yourself and not enlisting the assistance of your yaya.
Wedge open a can of fruit cocktail --- by using your thumb.
Get distracted during yoga --- why are your nails shining in the dark?! Wait, that's a good thing, right?
Ask officemate #1 to scratch your nails and smile smugly when there's no effect whatsoever. Do the same on officemate #2.
Type furiously on the keyboard when you get inspired. Screw the manicure --- oh wait, it's intact.
Fiddle with a tube of Mighty Bond and glue everything that needs gluing. Act surprised that despite the glue sticking to your clumsy hands, and nails, the glue just washed off the nails.
It's the weekend -- might as well do some cleaning. Do the works -- vacuum, mop, bleach what needs to be bleached and sleep.
Get to the chore of hand washing clothes --- scrub furiously.
Rummage through your bag for your keys every night you get home. Why you always have to do this every night baffles you to no end.
Play with the guitar despite not making any sense nor exhibiting any talent.

I don't know about you but the only time a woman is a bit useless is when her nails are still wet. Like many of the female populace, I troop to the salon every week to have my nails done and every single time, I'd wait a number of hours to make sure my nails are indestructible --- and the waiting time is the time when I resort to doing nothing at all and eventually emerge with perfect Stepford wife worthy nails. That almost never happens. Despite all the quick dry formulas out there, nail polish is bound to chip even before your next mani session and it can get pretty frustrating. As for me, I get my first accidental chip when I fish my bag for my car keys. Frustrating. This is why I rarely have manicures done.

I recently had the chance to try out the newest hardcore nail polish in town --- Jennifer Lynn. By hardcore, I mean that one can be a superwoman {see list above}and still have fabulous nails!

I first heard of Jennifer Lynn when I spent the day with fashion bloggers and I was teammates with Cosmo.ph managing editor, Trixie Reyna some months ago at the Roxy style challenge {we won!}. I couldn't keep my eyes from looking at her gleaming pink nails so I asked her what brand it was. "They're gel polish, by Jennifer Lynn," she said. That was the first time I learned of gel polish that are chip-free and ultra shiny. Finally, two weeks ago, I'd been able to try me some gel polish and here are the photos documenting the journey of my nails:

As it is in every Posh Nails session, feet are prepped for a pedi in warm water {although I had my feet polished with Orly}:

Jennifer Lynn polishes look the same from the outside -- each bottle is ..

...black (right). Colors need to protected from UV light so they don't dry up. On the left is the extra stick which is usedas top coat for protection and extra gloss.

Cure time, or drying time is only 2 minutes for gel polishes, under UV light.

When I arrived at Posh Nails, I almost didn't push through with my gel polish session --- as the UV Light equipment was nowhere to be found. Special thanks to the assistant manager at Posh Nails who drove back to the office to get it :)

Eeny Miny Moo.

Which one? The nail tech had to swatch several colors on my nails because we cannot see it from the outside of the bottle. That -- and of course ...

... refer to the color wheel to choose your polish.

I eventually settled for Claire, a pretty fuchsia polish, and very #FF0066, too.

Step 1: The Extra Stick is applied as base coat.

Step 2: The polish is carefully applied, in about three coats.

Step 3: Under the UV light, the nails dry up in just two minutes.

Step 4: The nail tech wipes off the surface of the nails for any excess moisture.

And voila! Really, really shiny nails! {Excuse the dirty keyboard :D}

The color near the cuticle tends to be the area that suffers the most, with the uneven lines as seen on this picture. My guess is that the polish do not adhere well to this part. The edges are a winner though!

Look at how shiny it is!

Still perfect, if you ask me.

By Day 11, the chip on the middle finger has grown worse -- but the shine is just outstanding!

Key notes on Jennifer Lynn and the entire Gel polish experience:

A quick-drying manicure is to be honest, a sort of miracle. It was a relief not to have to act super dainty after polishing both sets of nails.
The Gel Polish's strength is that it's crazy shiny. If you have a penchant for shiny nails, this is for you!
If you're going to a special occasion where your hands will be very busy {eg.: you'll be the maid of honor at a wedding, events coordinator, AE at a product launch or a bride}, and still have to look very beautiful, this is the perfect kind of polish to get.
It is an expensive service to avail {Php 650 for hands and Php 750 for pedicures} but it's worth it if your hands would still have to do a lot of work {see above} and they have a legal way of staying chip-free.
No polish scent -- which is nice.
This is only removable by a special soak, which can be done at salons offering gel polishes. In my case, I only go to Posh Nails so yay! However, the removal process of gel polish is not your standard acetone-based polish removers. When I went to B & B, it took me 20 minutes before the entire polish could be removed.
The Color selection is not bad --- about 40-ish colors are already available. However, I'm not the adventurous type when it comes to nails {plus I am not sure how I'd behave inside the boardroom or meeting room in nail art} so I always stick to the safer choices and my signature color --- pink. That is bold enough for me and Jennifer Lynn has it so YAY!
The UV Light experience is not to be scared of --- it looks like a sci fi scene but it's not harmful -- as Paul Bryson, director of research and development at nail-product manufacturer OPI, says there's no cause for worry. "The exposure to UV from a nail-gel-curing lamp is equivalent to a few minutes of summer sunshine, not the hours that it would take to burn or do tissue damage of the sort that can progress to cancer," Bryson said.. As there are no comprehensive study yet on UV-light dryers, it is with caution that you try these. {Source}