Gel II Reaction Polish – Shark Bite – Swatches and Review

Gel II Reaction Polish – Shark Bite – Swatches and Review

I had the opportunity to try a Gel Manicure for the first time ever.  This whole experience was incredibly new to me, and was a lot simpler than I thought it would be!

Gel II™ is fused with essential vitamins and minerals that make nails stronger and healthier. These nutrients are able to directly enhance the nails because the Gel II™ system does not contain any harmful base coats or solvents.

I have 4 of these to review, but so far I’ve worn one.  Shark Bite is the first Gel II polish I tried, and it’s a Reaction Polish – also known as Color Changing!  Very fun and very pretty polish!

The purple shade on the left is the color you get when your nails are cold, and the blue on the right is when warm.  My house was on the freezing side, so I had to use hot water to shift my nails to blue for the photos.  I wasn’t quick enough so you can see them already transitioning back to purple (which I loved watching throughout the week!)

To start this manicure, I lightly buffed my nails and wiped my nails with alcohol.  This helped clean the nails so the gel polish would adhere to the nail easier.  I pulled my UV Nail Dryer out of the closet for this one (Nick bought it for me on Ebay a year ago for about 50 bucks).  I applied a thin coat of Shark Bite then put my nails under the UV dryer for 60 seconds to cure.  Then I did a second thin coat and again, under the dryer for 60 seconds.  As this point I reached my desired opacity, so I added the clear Gel II Top Coat and put my nails back under the dryer for another 60 seconds.  After that was finished, my nails still seemed sticky – and I thought I screwed up, but that’s actually a layer you need to wipe off with the alcohol again (if you don’t have alcohol you can also use Non Acetone remover).  And that was it!  My nails were done and had a gorgeous glossy finish.

I wore this for exactly 1 week, and besides some nail growth my nails still looked great!  The color change effect was gorgeous and very noticeable.

Removal was tricky (mainly because I wasn’t 100% sure I was doing it right!)  Basically I used a nail file and filed off the top clear gel layer I did over the nails.  After that, I soaked my nails in pure acetone for about 5 minutes (Somehow we were out of foil, but I’m sure the foil “alien fingers” method works a lot better).  After 5 minutes I took my nails out and used a cuticle pusher to gently lift and remove the gel.  It came off pretty easily and left no damage that I could see to my nail beds.

I still have 3 more Gel II Polishes to show you in future posts!  I’m happy with these and for vacations or longer periods of wearing the same color, I will definitely be using these!  Application was easy, the color was vibrant and glossy and I experienced no chipping or lifting at all!  It was great!

You can purchased Gel II Polishes (Reactions like what I have here, or solid colors!) on the Gel II Website HERE

Reaction Gel Polish retails for $16.99

Gel II Top Coat and Solid Colors retail for $14.99

You can also purchase the UV/LED Gel Lamp on their site for $189.00

I can’t wait to show you the rest of the Gel II Polishes I received!  I should have them up to show off soon!  Shark Bite is DEFINITELY a color I would recommend though!

***Products in this post were provided for review.  All opinions are my own***