2014 Holiday Gift Ideas: My Favorite Gel Polish Brands & Colors
Hi everyone! I get a lot of emails and messages requesting recommendations for things like gel polish colors, lamps, starter kits, nail art tools and the like. Since the holiday shopping season is just around the corner, I thought I’d write a few posts to highlight some of my favorite things to help with the creation of your wishlists or shopping lists.
Today I’m going to feature some of my all-time favorite gel polish brands & colors. I can’t tell you how often I am asked about what brands I like and my top color picks. I must warn you that my favorite colors are often influenced by my mood, the season, new findings, etc… and they change frequently. A month from now I could have a completely different list. I was going to try to do a Top 10 list, but there’s no way I can limit my favorites to just 10. LOL My list will likely show you that I gravitate towards blues/teals, purples, and pinks… and I love shimmery finishes.
I’m going to group my favorites by brand and show thumbnails of the color swatches. You can click in the images to see larger versions of the pictures. Below each picture is a link to where the color can be purchased (mostly Amazon affiliate links). These are in no particular order!
LeChat Perfect Match
I just recently started using LeChat Perfect Match and I absolutely love the quality of their polishes, and that each gel polish color comes with a matching lacquer. Many of the polishes that I’ve tried recently have absolutely gorgeous finishes, and immediately jumped to the top of my list of favorites. All of these sparkly beauties are must-haves in any collection. LeChat also has amazing Mood polishes that change color with your body temperature, which are always fun to wear.
To find a local distributor of LeChat Perfect Match, please visit the LeChat website. I have also provided links below to the products on Amazon.com. Please note that LeChat products purchased on Amazon may not come in the original packaging.
Gelish
I’ve been a long-time fan of Gelish and I own almost all of their colors, so it’s no surprise that the majority of my favorites are from this brand. Of course I like several purples and blues… Mali-Blu Me Away was my go-to color this past summer. I love the duochrome effect of Big City Siren. Good Gossip is just a good old classic sparkly red, and Vegas Nights is my favorite sparkly topper.
DIY Hard Nails
DIY Hard Nails has a limited color selection, but they have some pretty unique polishes. They have the color changing gels with glitter in them, and the DIY black and white are the most opaque ones that I own. And Pink Crystal is just gorgeous!
ibd Just Gel Polish
ibd Just Gel Polish is a good quality brand that’s affordable. They have a good selection of colors. My ibd stash is still pretty limited, but I’ve been trying to get more of them over time. Midnight Martinis is just a totally unique gorgeous color. Dockside Diva is my go-to nude/neutral shade. And I’m No Damsel is my favorite light pink cream.
Miscellaneous
These are a few colors from other brands that I like. I was just introduced recently to Revel and Kiara Sky and I haven’t had a chance to swatch many of their colors yet, but Revel Hysteria stood out to me as a unique shade. And Kiara Sky has some really unique glitter polishes that look like a nail art effect. And I also included Gelaze 108 degrees because it’s one of my favorites for summer.
Pink Gellac
Last, but not least… Pink Gellac. I admit that this is a shameless plug. I curated this collection so of course I love the colors! I’m selling these at my boutique at shop.chickettes.com and also on Amazon.com. I’m planning to run a great Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion next week, so keep an eye out for that!
Could you tell me the benefit of having a matching laquer? I do not have any gels yet but I am starting my wish list for Christmas so I will be following your next few posts closely! Thanks!!! Love all your posts!
I like to match my toes to my hands, but I don’t like wearing gel on my toes :)
I love using Gel on my toes, they never chip or peel. I’ve had good luck with that, especially in the summer time when I’m in the pool a lot.
Thanks! That makes complete sense! I like to have mine matching too and I didn’t think about having to do the whole gel process in my toes!
Just wondering if you’ve experimented using different base and top coats from different brands on other brand colors (i.e. use gelish base and top coat for lechat colors). Just wondering if it really matters. Thanks!
Yes, absolutely. You can mix & match brands in most cases. Once you find a base & top coat that work best for you, just use those with all of your colors regardless of brand.
How does Ibd’s Dockside Diva compare to Pick Gellac’s Natural Taupe color in your boutique?
Where can I purchase the DIY Pink Crystal?
The link is below the picture. It looks like that color is sold out right now.
Hi!
I am looking for a good white gel polish for French manicure, the one that doesn’t chip, shrink, getting dirty or yellow etc. I set my eye on the Pink Gellac one in your store together with the pick camouflage color. However I cannot find any thoughts about this brand anywhere in your wonderful blog! I understand that you might feel a little awkward singing song to the brand you actually carry in your store but how else are we gonna find out about it if it’s not wildly known an popular, right? I assume it’s good brand but a little more info about it’s pros and cons would be great. :-)
I have written about Pink Gellac a few times, but I haven’t conducted a formal review. I’m leaving that to other bloggers because people might think my opinions are biased. Manic Talons and The Dalai Lama’s Nails have done reviews so far. I’m going to do a classic French mani with a video using Pink Gellac once my nails grow out a little too.
Oh, great, thank you so much! That’s what I’ve been looking for! And though I didn’t find the white color there I found so many other beautiful shades that my wish list is growing and growing and growing :-) Plus the glare on the top coat absolutely stole my heart!