Raise your hand if you’ve heard of the gel manicure. (looking around room at a sea of jagged talons covered in chipped polish) Okay, fine. So you’ve heard of gel manicures, but have you ever actually tried one? If you’re like me, regular nail polish stays on just long enough for you to screw the top back on the bottle, right? We’re lucky if we get even ONE day out of it, right? It’s maddening! Are you as tired of this exercise in FUTILITY as I am?!!? (getting a little carried away) CAN I GET AN AMEN?!!? (being reminded by Mel that I need to calm down)

Enter the gel nail revolution.

A few of my local friends and I discovered it at a nail salon a few years ago. In short, your nails are painted with a different type of polish and cured with an LED lamp. So, they’re instantly dry. And, even better, they last … are you ready for this? … for WEEKS!

YOU: Shut up! That’s awesome, Michele. But I’d really rather save money and do my nails at home.

ME: Um, YOU shut up … and keep reading.

Kiss Products, my new friends from BlogHer13, actually sell a home gel nail kit. Yes, I said HOME. And having had a few salon gel manicures myself, I just had to try it. Which I did today.

Seriously, it’s as easy as 1 … 2 … 3. Well, I mean there are three steps that each have three parts within them. Which I realize is actually nine steps. But that makes it sound hard, and it’s really not, so instead I just … you know what? Look at the pictures below. They explain it way better than I can.

Step ONE: A) Paint nails with BASE COAT. B) Dry fingers for (I’m with Mel on this one) twice the suggested time under the LED lamp. C) Dry thumb (always double the time).

Step TWO: A) Paint nails with COLOR COAT. B) Dry fingers. C) Dry thumb. For deeper color, repeat.

Step THREE: A) Paint nails with TOP COAT. B) Dry fingers. C) Dry thumb. If nails still feel tacky after a while, soak a cotton ball in regular nail polish remover (crazy, huh?) and rub them down.

Are you more of a live action person? Are my static, inanimate photos putting you to sleep? Fine. Then check out the Instagram video my daughter helped me make.

(I smell an Oscar.)

Click here to view:

http://instagram.com/p/e8MoqOzZ2h/

It might look like a lot but I promise it’s not. The few extra minutes you spend painting your nails with the gel polish actually saves you time. How? Because you’re not having to redo your ~~freaking~~ … ~~frigging~~ … ~~useless as the popcorn setting on my microwave~~ … chipped manicure every couple of days.

Think of it this way. It’s like when people (and I say people because I’m never kitchen savvy enough to do this) prepare huge portions of some delicious homemade family favorite to freeze for later in the week. Sure, it takes longer to make more food when you’re initially preparing it, but the reward of simply getting to defrost and heat it again later in the week is killer, right? (Again, I really have no idea. “Later in the week,” my family will be eating frozen pizza from Target.)

YOU: But … but … but is it just as good as a salon gel manicure, Michele?

ME: Geez! Stop poking me. I’m trying to … just … fine! You know what? The finish and durability so far has been just as good as a salon gel mani. The only real difference I see is that the polish isn’t applied as flawlessly. And that’s really more the fault of … well, me, right?

Don’t make fun. If I hadn’t been wearing those glasses, I probably would have completely missed my nails.

So I give two decently gel-manicured thumbs up for the Kiss gel nails kit. Of course, as with anything, practice makes perfect. And, kids, listen to your teachers … because neatness counts here. Oh, and Kiss does much more than nails, by the way. Check out the Kiss website to see all their products.

Wanna try some Kiss Products for yourself?

Mel and I are giving away TWO prize packages courtesy of Kiss. Each package includes a Kiss Tornado 360 hair dryer and a pack of Kiss EverEZLashes. Your hair and your eyes will thank you for it. (Not literally though. That would be terrifying.)

CLICK HERE TO WIN!

The contest ends on Thursday, October 10, 2013. You can earn extra entries by leaving blog comments, following everybody on Facebook and Twitter and, best of all, tweeting about the contest to spread the love. There’s even a button on the rafflecopter to make it super easy. If only everything had a super easy button …