Nail care mini series: Couture Gel Nail Polish kit review

Today is day five of my mini series on nail care. I’m in Dublin right now, but today you’ll get a very special review to cap off my series this week!

I have been using my Sephora Gelshine kit for about two years, but I recently had the immense pleasure of being sent a new gel nail polish kit to review, courtesy of Couture Gel Nail Polish. New fun nail things to play with? Yes, please!

Couture is a woman-owned business (run by a mother and daughter), and was the first brand to make gel polish for use at home, so kudos to them for starting a trend I’ve readily embraced. They also make a point not to use harmful chemicals in the process of making their polishes, and don’t use materials that have been tested on animals. They also donate a portion of their proceeds to fight breast cancer. These are all factors that really make me appreciate their company!

Right off the bat, I liked the look of the kit: a nice shiny white LED lamp and a cute pink and zebra print bag popped out at me. (Bonus, the lamp can fit in the bag!) It comes with all of the items you’d need to get started: base and top coat, cleaner, remover wraps, cuticle pusher, sanding block, and a few other incidentals.

If you order the deluxe kit, you also get to pick any 3 polish colors, too. I requested Tiffany’s Secret (a shimmery aqua), Pretty Little Liars (a bright red-orange) and High Roller (a nice evergreen).

I have to say, I am really impressed by Couture’s color range, and I think that’s one of their best selling points. Most of the gel polish brands I’ve found tend to be really lean in the blue and green department, but not Couture. They have a ton of great blue and green shades! Aquas, pastels, deep jewel tones and everything in-between, including shimmer and glitter polishes, too. Impressive, like I said. That’s why I picked a dark green and a shimmery aqua, but there are several other shades I have my eye on, too.

You never know when you try a new brand how the coverage of the polish will be, although I’ve yet to find a gel polish that went on like crap. (Same definitely can’t be said for normal nail polish, ha ha!) And this was the case with Couture, as well. I’ve had the chance to wear Pretty Little Liars and High Roller so far, and both were big winners in my book.

In fact, I wore Pretty Little Liars for 16 days before removing it! Granted, a couple of my nails experienced some lifting as they often do towards the end, but the polish went strong the whole time.

From removing to curing each coat, I had no problem using the Couture kit or following their instructions (it even comes with a DVD!), and ease of use was definitely comparable to the process I’ve been following for 2+ years.

But I think it would be quite easy for someone new to gel polish to follow their instructions, too!

Like I normally do, I used 3 coats of the nail color both times I used Couture colors, because I like my colors to be as opaque as possible.

Here’s what High Roller looks like with three coats. A gorgeous evergreen!

All-in-all, I was very impressed with the Couture Gel Nail Polish kit. With their depth of color choices (and discounts for the more colors you order!), I can see why this brand is popular. I’m already daydreaming about colors for summer!

Gel polish kit provided courtesy of Couture, but all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

 

Next time…

Tomorrow I’ll round-up all the posts in the series in one place. I hope you’ve enjoyed my nail care week!