Gel polish for the toes?

[kdl]

Hello ladies,

Going to the Philippines for 3 weeks of diving next week. Has anyone attempted gel polish for the toe nails for such a long trip? A runner friend of mine says it works great for her consistently wet toes.

Thanks and Happy Diving in 2015!!!

 

[morecowbells]

The gel polish has amazing endurance. No matter the brand or quality of regular nail polish, the sand and dive booties always seem to beat up my conventional nail polish within a few days. A few years ago I decided to give gel polish a try. Amazing difference. No chipping, peeling or cracking. There are two downfalls to the gel polish. 1) Removing it is a huge PITA. It involved wrapping and soaking my toenails in acetone soaked cotton strips and aluminum foil, followed by vigorous scraping and sanding. It left my existing nails brittle and prone to cracking. 2) Although the color remains uncracked and intact, the new growth becomes obvious in about 2-3 weeks. My solution to this is to push back my cuticles periodically before my pedicure in order to reduce the pushing and trimming of cuticles by nail salon. I have also tried color matching with old school polish to buy time. Alas, who wants to pack nail polish?

For a one week vacation, I would probably stick to the conventional nail polish. For a three week vacation, I would definitely go for the gel nails!

 

[Wingy]

I personally wouldn't be too bothered - why not take advantage of super cheap few peso manicures and pedicures every few days if you feel you need to have perfect toe nails? Have never used gel polish but sure you will find plenty of hair and beauty salons (usually run by ladyboys for added entertainment) around to pamper your toes if you cant find the gel polish you are after. South East Asian nail polish generally would substitute well for auto paint, doesn't come off that easily and has never damaged my toe nails.

 

[kdl]

Thanks ladies. Morecowbells - I did my nails once with gel also and will never do that again, but might try the toes. Figure they will be in boots the rest of winter anyways, so I can live with the brittle toe nails until spring rolls around. Wingy - funny and all good points. Problem is I typically never find time to run around town, my dive vacations are dive, eat, sleep and repeat. Thanks again for your replies! Happy Diving!

 

[KathyV]

I regularly have my fingernails polished with gel and it lasts and looks great and I use regular polish on my toes in a matching color.

Our dive trips are often for 2 weeks and my polish usually lasts well during the entire trip - even liveaboards when we are in the water a lot. I bring the regular polish with me and use it to touch up any problems that develop on my fingers and toes.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I gell both toes and fingers before all my trips. Toes last verrrry well. Fingers not so well but still better than regular polish. I do my toes in a color because it lasts so well and my fingernails in a more clear color so that as they grow out it's not as noticeable. Unfortunately, when the seal of the gel polish isn't perfect on the fingernails, I've found that there can be some polish pealing due to water getting between the polish and the nail. Still worth it to me due to the clear color i chose. Wouldn't like it at all if i used more colored polish.

 

[opheliafae]

South East Asian nail polish generally would substitute well for auto paint, doesn't come off that easily and has never damaged my toe nails.

Hahaha! So true! And this whole time I thought I was buying weak nail polish remover. I painted my toenails with the Coronia brand nail polish over a month ago and it hasn't budged. Plus, I put glitter on top, so imagine how hard it will be to take that ​off.

---------- Post added January 9th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ----------

kdl, just noticed you're from New Braunfels. I spent many summers playing at Schliterbahn

 

[ThePetiteRunner]

I do the "at home" gel manicures (without those UV lights) and my pedicures with the gel polish hold up extremely well. The trick to getting them off is to get the "pure acetone" (meant for removing acrylic nails) from Sally's beauty supply. It comes in a huge bottle for about $5 but that will take gel off like regular nail polish. No more crazy aluminum-foiled finger tips or scraping off the last bits of nail polish!

 

[kdl]

Hi ladies. Day 5 of diving (3-4 dives a day) and so far so good. Just one tiny chip on the big toe nail. Will report back after day 20.

 

[kdl]

Hello ladies. Home from the Philippines. The polish lasted the entire trip! I'm sold. It was so nice not to have to worry about it and they looked nice for three weeks with 49 dives!