I’m officially three gel manicures into my at-home gel journey.
Well, technically two successful manicures and one failed attempt.
For my latest manicure, I chose a vibrant marigold yellow – DND Honey. Looking back, that may not have been the easiest color choice for someone still learning.
Yellow nail polish has a reputation for being difficult to work with. The pigments often don’t cover as evenly as darker shades, which means many yellow polishes require three coats to reach full opacity.
Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but gel polish comes with an extra challenge: thickness.
One of the easiest mistakes to make when you’re new to gel is applying the polish too heavily. When you’re trying to build coverage, it’s tempting to add a little more product with each coat. Before you know it, the nails look bulky, the polish can wrinkle, or you run into curing issues.
I was able to get this color reasonably opaque in two coats, but both coats were already slightly thicker than I would typically like. A third coat probably would have perfected the coverage, but I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
Instead, I let the pursuit of perfection go and stopped while the manicure still looked smooth and well-balanced.
That’s probably one of the biggest lessons I’m learning with gel nails: sometimes restraint produces a better result than chasing absolute perfection.
Overall, I’m calling this manicure a success. The color is fun, bright, and perfect for summer, and each manicure is helping me get more comfortable with the process.
Would I recommend a vibrant yellow as a beginner gel color?
Probably not.
Would I do it again?
Absolutely.