Can You Use a Regular Nail Polish With a Gel Top Coat

can you use regular nail polish and gel top coat

One of the easiest ways to make your regular nail polish last longer and shine is to apply a UV gel top coat over it.

Can you use UV gel base coat over regular nail polish

Now, you shouldn't use UV gel on regular nail polish. This is because regular nail polishes do not adhere well to gel base coat.

You see, the role of the base coat is to stick the nail polish to the nail bed like glue. However, since the chemistry of gel coats is completely different from regular nail polishes, they don't combine well.

As you can see, UV gel top coats are not easy to damage and are very resistant to peeling and chipping, making them very durable. This means, depending on the brand you use, they can last your regular manicure for 10-14 days

How to Apply Gel Top coat Over Regular Polish

The first thing you need to do is prepare your nails as usual,

I usually do this: Push my cuticles back, file my nails, and clean them with a cotton pad dipped in rubbing alcohol.

Next, apply your regular nail polish, as usual I usually apply two thin coats of polish.

But you need to let the nail polish dry completely before applying the gel. I recommend letting the polish dry for 4-6 hours before applying the top coat.

If your nail polish is not completely dry before applying the gel, your nail polish will shrink and wrinkle.

Now, once your polish is dry, you can apply a thin layer of gel to the polish, just make sure you cover the edges of the polish

Finally, let it cure under UV or Led light. Don't forget to wipe off the sticky layer with rubbing alcohol after curing.

UV gel polish base coat and regular nail polish

I've seen people recommend the gel sandwich technique, where you can sandwich your regular nail polish between a gel base coat and a gel top coat.

I tried this method before, but it didn't work very well. After only 6 days, my nails started to fall out. When I just use a gel topcoat and regular nail polish, I get a full two weeks.

You see, the primary role of the primer is to create an attachment surface on the deck for the nail polish to adhere to.

Why use a gel topcoat with regular nail polish

You see, gel nail polishes are great, they look good and are very shiny. What's more, they are super durable and can be used for a long time. Some brands can be used for 3 weeks without peeling, peeling, or fading.

By comparison, regular nail polishes and top coats are not as durable. Depending on how much you exercise, you can only last 5-6 days on average.

But gel polishes also have some drawbacks. Gel Polish:

They are expensive compared to regular nail polishes.

They don't have many colors to choose from.

They are also harder to remove.

Now, the gel base coat is formulated according to the formula for gel nail polish instead of regular nail polish. That's why I suspect that using a gel base coat and regular nail polish won't work well.

So I would suggest you to apply a regular base coat or apply regular nail polish directly on the nails.