Best At-Home Gel Nails Kits

If you want something done well, do it yourself — and if you want to stop paying $35 every two weeks to do your gel nails at home, buy some at-home gel nail kits and learn to do your own manicure without the fuss. Regular manicures can be a very important part of your self-care routine, but the price tag that comes along with getting the shiny gel nails often isn’t feasible, even for those with a bit of disposable income. A couple of years ago, after paying $65 for a pedicure and a gel manicure, I hit a wall.

I logged on to Amazon and proceeded to spend two hours sifting through the best at home gel nail kits. I didn’t want to completely overspend — after all, I’m trying to save money here — but I also wanted to buy nice materials that would give me the same quality as a salon manicure. I ended up piecing together what I think is a pretty much the perfect Amazon gel nail kit. I bought a total of six products, but I also had an existing cabinet full of cotton balls and nail files. That said, if you don’t have the basics, you may need to invest slightly more money.

My first go-around was tense. Painting your nails is generally a low-pressure activity when you can just wipe off the polish with some remover, but gel requires a whole new level of precision. If you mess up, the fix may require you to completely file off your polish and start from scratch. I’m not terrible with a polish brush, and I made it all the way to the topcoat layer until really screwed up. I’m a topcoat fanatic, so I heaped healthy dollops on my thumbs . . . then watched the viscous liquid slide down onto my skin and instantly harden under the UV lamp. However, I clipped off the excess and filed down the shellac, and my thumbs looked near flawless. You can see the finished product above — not bad for my first try, hunched over my bathroom sink, eh?

To save you hours of research time, ahead, I rounded up the best at-home gel nail kit items to unleash your inner artist. From the Gelish nail polish that you absolutely need to add to your cart, to the 12-piece nail file set that will become your new best friend — all bases are covered. Whether you’re looking to create the best home gel nail kits from scratch or you just need to stock up on a few items, keep scrolling for the best options.