I’ve long been a fan of gel nail polish. It dries quickly and lasts a long time. But I’ve always had it done in a salon, and when the budget needs tightening, it’s small luxuries like this that go first.
So I was more than willing to try out Depend’s GeliQ range when they sent it to us. They have a starter kit with a bottle of pre-cleansing liquid, base coat, top coat, and post- cleansing liquid for extra shine, along with a UV lamp, nail file, and cuticle stick. Coloured polish is purchased separately.
From 1st September 2025, TPO (trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide) became illegal to use in nail polish. This was the substance that allowed gel polish to cure and harden under UV light. Depend’s new range is completely free of TPO, which was yet another reason I was eager to try the new polish range.
It’s important to read the instructions and follow them. They state that the polish should not be used if you have “short nails where the edge ends below the skin on the fingertips.” I was a little impatient and took the risk with nails that were really a bit too short. Don’t do that! What happens is that you get polish on the skin, and when it cures, the skin and nail are “glued” together with polish. Fortunately, it turned out fine and there was no damage to the skin, but don’t try this at home.
Other things you shouldn’t do include mixing up the base coat and top coat. They don’t look different, but they are. Again, I made this mistake so others can learn from it. My right hand had the base coat as the base coat, whilst my left hand had the top coat as the base coat. I’dlove to say it was intentional, but it wasn’t.
It held up fine for three days, then the entire polish came off in one sheet, and I was able to remove it without any damage to the nail underneath. Did I perhaps stumble upon a hack for removing gel polish quickly and gently, if you like to change colour frequently? Most likely not, because the polish can come loose at any time, and you don’t want to be standing at a party with polish on only eight fingers.
Application is straightforward, but you need to be more precise than with regular nail polish. As mentioned earlier, if you get polish on the skin and don’t remove it before curing, it can bond the skin to the nail. Fortunately, mistakes can be corrected with a little of the pre-cleansing liquid and some cotton wool.
Depend says that “the symbiosis between the lamp and the polish provides a self-levelling effect where any streaks disappear during curing, even if you haven’t painted entirely evenly.” This might sound too good to be true, but it does appear to work. Since I’d got the base coat wrong on my left hand, I had to redo it. My right thumb was the one with polish on the skin, so that was redone as well. I followed the instructions, but the nails weren’t completely dry after the final coat of polish and the final round under the UV light. I applied the post-cleansing liquid to my right thumb first, using cotton wool, but it took a little colour with it.
Since I was using my left hand, cotton wool fibres stuck to the polish on the other nails, as they were a bit sticky. So I tried using my fingers to cleanse instead, then washed my hands afterwards to remove any product residue. What was interesting was that my right thumb was completely dry after cleansing with cotton wool, whilst the other nails were still slightly sticky (before I washed my hands). It seems the cleansing liquid removes excess polish without negatively affecting the result.
All in all, I’m pleased. Four fingers on my right hand have had polish on for a week and still look great. There’s a tiny bit of chipping at the tip of my index finger and ring finger, but it’s barely noticeable.
I need more practice, but I’ll absolutely be using this regularly!
