I love a good gel manicure...

But if I'm pretty honest getting them done at the salon is expensive and doing them myself with my own kit takes way too long (especially if I'm being super lazy and low maintenance). So, it got me thinking what if there was a gel nail varnish that you can just apply like normal and presto! A perfectly applied gel manicure in minutes. 

That was my exact train of thought when I received these Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Polish in the post from the Stylist Beauty Council.  I have tried a few instant gel nail varnishes before, the one I remember most was the Jelly Varnish by Barry M but let's just say that it left a lot to be desired. So how did the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel fair against my picky gel tastes?

For starters, when you first apply the colour varnish it looks so streaky! To be honest I felt like giving up there and then because it already looked past the point of return. However, I persevered and applied a second coat of the colour. Now, it looked slightly better but still not great. Not so far, not so good.

To finish your Miracle Gel manicure you have to seal the colour in with gel top coat. Crossing my fingers, I brushed the polish on and waiting with baited breath. To my surprise, the top coat really does make a huge difference. My nails were no longer streaky and had a pleasant shine to them. I must admit they didn't look as good as getting them done at the salon, but they still looked so much better than a standard nail varnish.

However, after just two days I quickly came to realise that my instant gel manicure was too good to be true because my nails had started chipping like crazy! I don't even have a very hands-on job (I'm on the computer all day!). So I really don't know how they suddenly became so chipped and badly chipped at that! 

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Polish can be found for about £9.99 a bottle at Boots, however that's more than I would normally spend on a drug store nail varnish, and way more than I would spend on a nail varnish that chips after the first day. I'm sorry friends, but I am afraid we'll have to keep searching for that perfect instant gel manicure.