Fuse Gelnamel Starter Kit in Sonic Blue-m || The At-Home Gel Manicure

In this day and age, we're all in a rush. When it comes to everything and anything, convenience and time-saving is a must. There's not a second to waste on waiting for your nail polish to dry. Thus, Sensationail has created Fuse Gelnamel, a one-finger-at-a-time, cured 30-second, LED gel nail polish system. Fuse is meant to be all-in-one kind of deal - base coat, colour and top coat with shine that lasts up to a week. 

The Fuse Gelnamel Starter Kit ($29.99 at major drugstores) comes with everything you need for a full gel manicure: 

Fuse LED Lamp, Gel Cleanser, Gelnamel, Lint-free Wipes, Double-sided Nail Buffer, Manicure Stick, Detailed Instruction Sheet, microUSB cable, wall plug 

For starters, the LED Lamp is tiny (aka "fun size" **yay!**). You could practically throw it into your purse and take it on-the-go. Similar to a phone, the Fuse LED lamp has a microUSB plug, which you can attach either to your laptop or the wall for power. Talk about a high-tech nail system! 

Disregard the state of my toes and focus on yet another cool feature of the Fuse LED Lamp. You can remove the top and twist it around to cure the polish on your toes. 

The detailed instructions that are included in the kit are extremely detailed. I must stress that following the instructions to a T will get you the absolute best results. Any deviation will be much less than perfect. The instructions are very clear and note that you should do each step nail-by-nail. I won't go through all of the details, but the whole process felt a bit tedious and inefficient when all was said and done.  

The starter kit comes with one of six colours: Intens-so-fly (turquoise), Sonic Blue-m (blue), Elec-tric or Treat (orange-red), Na-No Way (pink), V-amp (vampy red), Gone Fission (pale pink glitter)

Along with the colours in the starter kits, there are 6 more shades available individually for $9.99: E-motion (purple), Watt's Your Colour? (red), Polar Bare (baby pink glitter), Lightning Jolt (purple glitter), Lights, Camera, Re-Action! (silver glitter), Such a Laser (gold glitter)

I received Sonic Blue-m in the starter kit along with an extra polish, Lightning Jolt. Sonic Blue-m is a bright blue creme and Lightning Jolt is a glitter with hints of purple, fuchsia, and silver. I was a bit taken aback when the blue was applied. It was sheer and took 3 coats for full opacity. As expected, the glitter polish took 3 coats to opacity. 

The formulation of the Fuse gel polish is a bit different from the stuff you're likely used to. It's self leveling and much more thick. The polish doesn't dry out until you cure it. This means that if you flood your cuticles by accident, you can fix any mistakes before sealing the polish in place. Once cured, the Gelnamel yielded glossy, shiny fingertips, as promised. 

Timing: A little math - 10 seconds to buff and cleanse + 30 seconds to cure = 40 seconds per nail. 

40 x 10 = 400; 400 seconds/60 seconds = 6.67 minutes for one coat of polish for both hands. I needed to use 3 coats of polish for full opacity, so in fact, it took 20 minutes, which is way longer than if I painted my nails with regular polish. However, the benefit of Fuse is that I can go on with my day without being concerned about denting wet polish or falling asleep and getting bedsheet-marked nails.

Staying Power: The most unimpressive thing about Fuse Gelnamel was the staying power of the polish. I, as most, associate "long-lasting" with any nail product that includes the word "gel". Unfortunately, the Fuse Gelnamel did not meet the mark in this regard. 

Perhaps the blue polish only lasted 3 days until chipping because I applied too many layers. The glitter lasted 5 days, but if you're finicky with your fingers and like to pick at things, you might end up peeling the polish off before the 5 day mark. Personally, it's not a big deal if it chips to me (I change up my nails every 3 days), but if something promises to last all week... it'd be nice if it actually did. 

That being said, removal was easy. All you need to do is buff the surface of the polish then soak your nails in acetone for 10 minutes. The polish will begin to peel and you can use the manicure stick to gently separate the layers of polish from the nail. 

In summary, Fuse is a cool concept - shiny, smudge-free nails. But it doesn't come at just the click of a button, much more effort is involved. Plus, the end result is good (fabulously pretty nails) but not great (only lasts ~4 days). One thing's for sure - the Fuse Gelnamel system definitely cuts down the waiting time and saves you money from having to go to the salon for a Gel mani. In addition, it's perfect for throwing in your suitcase for travel. I'd be curious to see how some of the other colours perform, but for now... I'll stick with my regular polish. 

Have you ever tried an at-home gel polish system?

Press samples featured. 

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