Gelibility Gel polish review and swatches.

Hi there everyone! I have a very special gel polish Friday post today.

I was hunting for some gel polish the other month and I stumbled upon a product called Gelibility. It is a 2 part system which makes regular polish transform into gel polish.

I saw it and HAD to buy the set. Priced at USD$37.95 plus postage from USA the duo is really not that expensive. Especially when you think a bottle of OPI gelcolor is on average $25.00.

The gel arrived promptly in 2 weeks from the USA to me here in Oz. I read the instructions and had a play. 

Basically this is how the product works. 

1- Prepare your nails as you would any other gel polish. Personally I use a sans cleaner from Nail super store then I use Sensationail  primer/bonder.

2- You need to use the Gelibility Stick It as your base gel coat and cure it for the recommended time depending on your lamp.

Now from here on the way you use this gel is a little bit different.........

3- You remove the tacky layer from the base gel coat with a lint free wipe and isopropyl alcohol.

4- Ok so now you need to mix your Gelibility Fix It Gel with the desired coloured regular polish. When I first got the product the instructions said 50/50 polish to Gelibility, and to use the regular polish brush to mix on a palette then once finished and applied to wipe the brush clean and replace back into the regular polish bottle. (NOT to use the gel brush or there could end up being cross contamination) So I followed these instructions and place one drop of Gelibility and one drop of Emily de Molly cosmic forces on a palette mixed and then applied to my nail as per instructions. 

I found that the polish I had created seemed really thin and not as opaque as I expected so it took 4 gel coats of the mix to cover my nail. 

5- once applied cure as per recommended time for your lamp. Repeat until the desired effect (4 coats in my case)

6- Finally pop on a top coat of the Gelibility Fit It and cure. Wipe with isopropyl alcohol wipe.

So I did all of this as per instruction and this was the result.

Not too bad!!! I had my favourite Emily de Molly as a gel polish! But the amount of coats in total base +4 coats + top coat = 6 coats made my nails thick and lumpy as you can see in the pics.

Ok so then it hit me and also Gelibility(as they have re worded their instructions) The formula for Gelibility does not have the same formula as regular polish. so one drop of Gelibility on the palette was a lot large than a drop of regular polish and depending on the type of polish (as in holo to glitter to creme type of polish) that made a huge difference. So I decided to try again. this time on some swatch wheels and I measured the same amount of Gelibility to regular polish.(as in the size the amount of polish looked on the palette)

So for example the below polish is Celestial Cosmetics Callisto. I had to use 2 drops of the polish to 1 drop of Gelibility to get a good mix and for it to still cure fine. 

Both swatches are 2 coats. As you can see the Gelibility is slightly lighter in colour which you would expect, but really to be able to get a GOOD holo effect in a gel polish did it for me!

Here are some more samples.

Kiko 626 which is a foil polish. 2 coats.

China glaze This is Tree-mendous. 2 coats. The difference with this one I found is because I put it with the Gelibility that the textured feel went and the polish is not more shiny.

Color Club Wham pow- 2 coats. Apart from the polish becoming shiny with the Gelibility, you really cannot tell the difference.

   

Dance legend Boo- This did make a big difference. I only used 2 coats with the regular polish but I had to use 5 coats with the Gelibility. I did check my ratios and I was correct. I think because the duos generally are a fairly sheer polish to begin with made it harder to keep the pigmentation there. Tho this was by itself. maybe if I swatched it over black there would have been less difference.

Zoya Ziv- I used 2 coats of polish but I needed 3 with the Gelibility. again due to the pigmentation of the polish I think this was another type that did make a little difference when diluting it with the Gelibility.

 Over all I really think the Gelibility is worth its weight in gold!!! The fact I can now make pretty much every polish I own into a gel is amazing!

I have seen that people are also saying they can stamp with the gel and water marble. I'm not sure how that would work but I'm prepared to give it a go so watch this space!!!!

you can pick up Gelibility HERE and they ship worldwide.

Until next time.......