A first impressions post as this brand new product literally just landed today, but so far I’m completely WOWed by Fuse Gelnamel. Neither gel nor polish, this is a ‘world first, one coat gel polish hybrid’. Costing more than regular polish and less than gels, it takes minutes to apply and lasts for around one week. Designed for chip-hating gals who like to switch up colours often, don’t want full-on gels and have neither the time or budget for high maintenance manis. Now I do love a gel polish and have raved on here about SensatioNail (the creator of Fuse, incidentally) often enough, but sometimes I just don’t have the time - and I do get twitchy about wearing the same shades after a week - so frankly, I’m all over this!
In the Kit
Designed to be portable for on the go or hols, everything is mini - too cute! The products in this pic are actual size to give you an idea of just how teeny it all is (besides the bottles of polish, which are actually quite large).
In the front row we have:
- cleanser
- colour polish (mine is called Na-No Way!)
- LED Lamp
And at the back:
- cuticle stick
- lint-free wipes
- double sided buffer/file
- plug
- USB cable - just out of sight
The lamp is teeny because you use it for one finger at a time. It can be plugged into the wall as normal, or into your computer with the USB cable supplied. I LOVE this as my SensatioNail lamp has a really short lead and I basically have to do my nails wherever it will reach. Not any more!
Speaking of which, the Fuse LED is designed specifically for use with these polishes to fuse/cure the 3 in 1 formula on individual nails in 30 seconds. The SensatioNail lamps will cure the polishes too, but will take longer (60-90 secs) - a matter of experimenting and apparently the same results can’t be guaranteed.
How it all works
Obviously you make sure nails are clean, filed and cuticles pushed back before starting - standard, then follow 3 steps, 1 nail at a time:
1. Buff the nail to smooth the surface and remove shine, then cleanse with lint-free pad to remove any residue, dust or grease. This helps the polish adhere.
2. Apply polish. The colours (12 available) come in large bottles with a wide-ish square tipped brush. The texture is a bit thicker than regular polish - I found it pretty easy to work with (consistency is a bit like Seche Vite). One thin layer is recommended per nail. Another can be added if you wish and I imagine opacity varies between colours, so it will be a matter of experimenting. I did one hand with a single coat and one with double.
3. Fuse under the LED light. Place finger on the little groove inside the lamp and press the button on the top to start - it automatically switches off after 30 secs. Cleanse nail again. Because there is no primer, base or top coat (hurrah!) the lamp is more powerful than regular LEDs.
That’s it! Now you’re supposed to buff/cleanse, polish, Fuse/cleanse each nail one at a time. I can understand why the Fuse-ing must be done individually, but I did the first buff & cleanse to all nails on each hand before adding colour, rather than one at a time - I’m crazy like that.
Fuse also works on toes! The roof of the LED light flips around on a magnet (see pic 4 above), so that you can put your toes underneath, as demo-ed with my pinkie! Clever.
Removal is done in the same way as standard gel polishes, but is quicker and easier minus the usual multiple layers. Soaking or the foil method using Acetone or SensatioNail Gel Polish Remover is recommended.
Swatches: Na-No Way!
Na-No Way! looks fine with one coat - above left though I’ve a bit of a thing for totally opaque nails, so did the other hand with two coats - above right. You can see that it has a thicker, more typical ‘gel’ look. Na-No Way! is a super bright almost neon pink and will be gorgeous for Spring/Summer. There are 12 shades available at the moment - including glitters and a gorgeous dark called V-amp (next on my list), which is exactly as it sounds - Rouge Noir-ish.
My Set Up
I loved the ease of an at-desk mani, with the LED lamp plugged into my laptop via the USB. This was my first attempt and took around 20 mins in total (compared to 45 mins for a regular gel mani) - I can imagine cutting this down to 10 mins after a bit of practice. I’m really happy with the results - I’ve tried scratching and chipping my nails the things I do for you ;) and nada, though time will tell of course…
The brand will soon have its own site where you can purchase the products directly, but for now, more info is available at SensatioNail or on twitter @FUSEGelnamelUK. Fuse Gelnamel Starter Kits are exclusive to Boots (choice of 6 colours) at £35 each or 12 individual colours at £15 each here.
Do you like the idea of Fuse?
