Gel Nails vs. Stikily Nail Polish Stickers

– Application: 2.5 hours
– Application price: from €45
– Maintenance duration: 2.5 hours
– Maintenance price: from €30
Gel nail application and maintenance takes about 2.5 hours once a month. You also have to factor in the time spent getting to and from the salon. If there are 52 weeks in a year and you go for maintenance every 4 weeks, that makes 13 appointments and 32.5 hours spent on maintenance. That’s more than a whole day!
Additionally, you can’t ignore the financial side. Gel nails require about 13 maintenance sessions a year, costing around €390. With that money, you could get a plane ticket or even several if you plan well.
– One nail design per month – Once you’ve had your maintenance and the design is done, you’re stuck with it until the next appointment. Regrowth appears, and some nails might break.
– Requires mechanical buffing of your own nail – before applying gel, the nail is buffed so the gel adheres better. While the mechanical buffing is minimal, doing it regularly definitely damages your natural nail.
– Natural nails are weak after removal until the damaged part grows out – luckily, our nails are designed to grow out, and generally, all damage disappears over time. Once gel nails are removed, they are as thin as paper and will definitely break often.

+ 3-4 weeks of maintenance-free nails – well, this is a plus. Usually, gel nails are strong and really last about 3-4 weeks. You don’t have to do anything except moisturize your hands.
+ Many different designs – a big advantage of gel nails is definitely the variety of designs. You can choose natural solid colors, French manicures, or even embossed nails with rhinestones and other extras.
+ Ability to change nail shape – Gel nails offer one major advantage: the ability to “build” the nail. Changing the nail shape allows you to make nails longer and unify their appearance.

+ Application: 20 minutes
+ Application price: €8.90 (for registered customers / regular price €9.90)
+ Maintenance: 30 minutes
+ Maintenance price: €8.90 (for registered customers / regular price €9.90)
+ Maintenance is not mandatory
Stikily nail polish stickers are an affordable and fast alternative to gel nails. You need to change them more often than gel nails, but you can do it at home or anywhere else – meaning you already save time on travel. On average, a woman uses 2 sets of stickers per month, which makes the financial cost €213.60 (24 sets of stickers at the loyalty price of €8.90). In terms of time, spending 2 x a month on sticker maintenance adds up to 12 hours a year. Maintenance includes both removing the old sticker and applying the new one. At the same time, you have the option not to apply stickers at all – meaning the next “maintenance” isn’t mandatory.
+ no mechanical damage to your own nail is necessary – you apply the stickers directly to your nail, and buffing your own nail is not required. You just need to clean the nail of oils and dirt, and regular nail polish remover works perfectly for simply cleaning the nails.
+ Removing stickers doesn’t damage the nail – stickers can be removed with oil and/or warmth. My favorite way is this: I put oil in warm water and soak my nails in it for about 10 minutes. The warm water and oil soften the adhesive under the nail sticker, and with a little help from a wooden stick, they come off easily. After the soak, I push back my cuticles, and the home manicure is done. I’ve used olive oil, nail oil, and even regular rapeseed oil 🙈 they all work, and I couldn’t pick a favorite.
+ Many different designs – there are an average of 100 different designs available in the Stikily online store. There are designs for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and Halloween. But there are also classic solid colors and French manicure stickers available.

– More frequent maintenance than gel nails – stickers last about 10-14 days, which requires more frequent changes. If you consider that one session takes about 30 minutes and there are an average of 2 sessions per month (totaling 1 hour of maintenance per month), you still save 1.5 hours with Stikily stickers.
– Application can be tricky at first – I do my best to make applying the stickers as easy as possible from the very first step. Like anything, it takes practice. If you still find application very difficult, contact me – we’ll find a solution.
– Stickers might start to “bubble” – a situation may arise where everything looks beautiful after application, but bubbles appear on the stickers after a few days. This is usually caused by nails that haven’t been cleaned properly. Our body’s natural oils are also on our nails. Some people have more, others less. If the oil isn’t removed, for example with regular nail polish remover, it can cause the stickers to bubble. Additionally, contact with water too soon can cause bubbling. You should avoid washing dishes for about 2 hours after application. Exposure to heat too quickly – like using a hairdryer – can also cause bubbling. Let the adhesive “set” for about 2 hours after application.