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Review: Red Carpet Manicure Gel Polish Pro Starter Kit

by Amber on June 7, 2012

in nail care,nail polish,product reviews,swatches

With the lure of an instantly-dry, long-wearing lacquer finish, gel nail polish is gaining so much popularity lately! What started out as an in-salon solution to frequently chipped nail polish is now becoming an at-home venture that isn’t very difficult to accomplish. If you can paint your nails, you can pretty much use the gel systems available on the consumer market. Red Carpet Manicure offers two such kits, the difference between them lies in the light that you use to cure the product with. Being such a nail polish devotee, I tried out their kit with the “pro” light, let’s take a closer look…

The Pro starter kit arrived with:

  • Professional LED-Gel Curing Light with AC power cord/adapter
  • Prep — Max Adhesion Prep
  • Structure — Base Coat Gel
  • Brilliance — Seal & Shine Top Coat Gel
  • Red Carpet Manicure LED Gel nail polish (red)
  • Revitalize — Nourishing Cuticle Oil
  • Purify — Pre & Post Application Cleanser
  • Erase — Gel Nail Polish Remover

More photos and details…

Right out of the box, everything you need is literally at your fingertips with this RCM kit. But what this kit doesn’t arrive with, is patience! You’ll need to work diligently through several steps, applying thin coats of product, and curing each layer as you go along with the included lamp. Each curing session lasts about 45 seconds, and it took me about 45 minutes to complete my first successful gel mani. It took me two sessions for each hand; one session with my first four fingers, with the second for my thumb.

After 10 days, I had plenty of new-growth and a little tip wear.

RCM states that their product is good for about two weeks of wear, but I found it was time to retire mine after 10 days. That’s still substantially longer than a regular polish job for me, I’m pretty rough on my nails and had a little bit of lifting where my pinkie nail rests on my keyboard (and some tip wear). I have a hunch that this was an error on my part! You MUST seal the tips from end-to-end with the product, and that’s something I omitted on that finger accidentally. I still think 10 days with an at-home system is pretty darn impressive!

If there was one thing I could change, it would be the configuration of the kit. While Red Carpet Manicure offers an impressive array of shades available for individual purchase, the kit comes with their standard red polish. If you’re not a red person, or just want another shade to start with—your initial investment may be more than you had intended by about $10. And of course, you’ll need to purchase replacement product as time goes by.

Bottom Line…

While somewhat labor intensive (and a little costly) for the casual nail polish wearer, this definitely wore longer and better than traditional nail polish for me. It was on day 10 that it finally started to give out and I had to call it quits, but I still recommend the system. Make sure you get the pro kit with the LED light, the less expensive version with a lesser quality portable light might be a little disappointing durability-wise. Through word-of-mouth and reading a few reviews about the alternate light source, people consistently remarked that they wish they would have sprung for the nicer light. Removal can be a little time-consuming. I had to lightly scuff the surface of the polish, then soak my nails in the Erase polish remover when it was time to remove. This is pretty common with a gel mani, though!

Price & Availability…

$79.99; ULTA, drugstore.com, redcarpetmanicure.com

An editorial sample was provided by the company and evaluated to determine our opinion of the product in this post. Please see the Disclosures page for further information regarding our policies for using editorial samples.
  • AnnKC

    I love this kit! First off, I am not a nail fanatic. I have always had very poor, brittle nails and painting them myself has always been a pain.  I hated painting my nails at home.  I was never very good at it and I could never get them dried completely even with drying drops or quick dry spray.   I loved getting manicures.  However, that is costly, timely, and I hate acrylic nails because my nails are so damaged afterwards and take months to heal.  So, although I loved buying and collecting nail polishes, I rarely painted my nails.  

    UNTIL NOW! I love this kit! When I first saw this at Ulta I scooped it up asap! I originally bought the smaller lamp.  PAY THE EXTRA AND GET THE LARGER LAMP.  i can’t emphasize that enough.  First, it has a timer built in.  I don’t know about you, but I had to dig through my watches to even find one with a second hand!  Plus, I feel my fingers just fit better under the bigger lamp.  

    I originally bought this just so my broken, brittle nails would have time to grow.  I used to have nails that would break every day.  They were to the quick and several were split clear to the nail bed.  Now, all of my nails are long, strong and for the first time in YEARS I have had to clip them!  

    My nail polish collection is also getting a work out.  It is suggested that you let your nails breathe between two uses.  I make good use of my own collection during this time.  

    A few notes: Make sure to read and FOLLOW all the directions.  You only need to apply a thin coat of each product. I have also figured out that when making a decision what polish colors to choose, to keep in mind that the colors can appear lighter on your nails than what the color of the bottle appears. Make sure you open the bottle and look at the color.  For example, sometimes a hot pink goes on more like a bubblegum pink.

    The absolute greatest thing about this product: NO DAMAGE TO MY NAILS!  If you follow the directions when removing the polish, it doesn’t remove any of your natural nail…none!  Happy painting!  

  • http://beautyjunkiesunite.com/ Amber

    Wow! Thanks for the review! I love hearing from you all, and I know other readers will find your experience helpful too.

  • MsprissLynn

    I’ve been using RCM for 6 months and I love it. This is what I always dreamed of someone inventing, here it is! I just removed RCM’s Midnight Affair because I got tired of looking at the same color and wanted a change for an event coming up this weekend. It lasted 2 weeks and 2 days, was still performing just fine too, probably would have made it at least another week if I hadn’t tired of the color. This is the best beauty product ever and if you can polish your own nails, you can use this just fine. Read and follow instructions, which are basically just common sense. =)

  • http://beautyjunkiesunite.com/ Amber

    I’m so glad you’re happy with it too! Had I sealed the tips a little better, I’m pretty confident I could have worn longer.

  • http://www.thediarymad.com./ Alanc230

    You’ve just solved my next gift-giving dilemma. I know a lady who is going to be very happy with this. 

  • http://beautyjunkiesunite.com/ Amber

    Ooh! Lucky lady! It’s a great gift :)

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