Have you ever been sitting there with your nails under the UV light drying your gel nails and thought “there has to be an easier way!” But your mind doesn’t stop there; it goes on “I wish I could just spray my nail polish on!” No? Well me either, but believe it or not, there is a product that allows you to do just that: spray on nail polish actually exists.
Now there are some products that I try out just because they seem preposterous, and Nails inc Paint Can is one of those items. I mean, I am all for new and innovative products – but nail polish that you spray onto your fingernails from a can? Crazy!
So anyway, I thought I would give it a try and see how it performed when compared to my beloved gel nails. Should you keep your DIY gel nail kits or should you throw it all out and invest in spray on nail polish? Let’s take a look.
Cleanliness
My first thought was how can I possibly only spray this on my fingernails and keep the rest of my hand clean? Well, the answer is you can’t. It gets all over your fingers and hands, and you then need to wait for it to dry before you can wash it off your hands – otherwise, it washed right off your fingernails as well.
Of course, gel nails are the clear winner here because you need to be very precise with your brush strokes. If you do get any on your skin or cuticles, then you really should start the process again, or your gel nail polish will peel off.
Chalk one up for gel nails!
Ease of Use
When you first look at the spray can it looks like it will just be a simple job of spraying it onto your nails, then washing the excess off your skin. But that is not the case. You need to apply a base coat to your nails first so that the spray on polish has something to stick to. Without this, the finish just comes right off when you clean your hands.
The Nails inc website also recommends that you apply a top coat for a longer lasting manicure.
So, how does this compare to gel nails? Gel nails require a base coat, a color coat (or 2 or 3) and a top coat. And all of these coats of polish need to be cured under a UV lamp.
So let’s chalk this one up to spray on nail polish. The score is tied!
The Finished Look
Surely this is one of the most important factors. After all, we do our nails to look fantastic!
When I tested it, The Nails inc Paint Can produced a very inconsistent finish. No two nails looked the same, some were more sparkly than others, and the colors were never the same. And this was even though I followed the same procedure for each one. I put this down to having less control over the thickness of your polish coat due to being a spray instead of a brush.
As long as you are good with a brush, gel nail polish produces a finish that is almost identical on each fingernail, and the shine is always brilliant.
That’s two to gel nails and one to spray on nail polish.
Wear Time
The final criteria I am looking at is wear time. Nobody wants to be redoing their nails every 3-4 days. But unfortunately, that is exactly what you will be doing with spray on nail polish. Even the Nails inc website states that the manicure is only expected to last three days, and that’s when you apply a top coat!
Now, it is not uncommon for me to get three weeks plus out of a gel nails manicure. Even if you rush it and do not prepare your nails correctly, you can expect at least two weeks.
So that’s another to gel nails. Gel nails take out the series with a score of 3-1.
Conclusion
As much as I love the idea of spray on nails, I just don’t think the product is a worthy competitor against gel nails. My advice is to give it a try yourself and see what you think, but my prediction is that you will be back to your good old gel nails in no time.
Author Bio
Vanessa Steed is a mum, wife and lover of all things to do with nails and nail polish! She has worked in the beauty industry for over 10 years but she is currently an at-home mom looking after her two young kids. She also writes for DIY Gel Nail Kits.