Hey Fairies! Have you ever wondered which nail polish type, gel, acrylic, or dip powder, lasts the longest? Well wonder no more! We did an experiment, just for you, and tested just how long each of the three nail types lasted on our nails during normal wear. We made sure to buff our nails equally as long for each application, and applied a “normal” amount of color to each nail. We didn’t use any fake nails in this experiment: we applied each color directly to our nails. For both the acrylic and dipping powder nails, we used our own Fairy Glow “Strawberry Punk” pink color. For the gel, we used OPI’s “Mod About You” pink color. Here are the results!
Our gel polish ended up chipping in 3 different spots at around day 6. Up to day 6, it looked perfect! Overall, our nails looked like a chipped, broken mess at day 10, so we called it quits there. Luckily, gel polish is a bit easier to remove than acrylic, so it wasn’t long before we had our nails “naked” again.
Wow! Our Fairy Glow acrylic system lasted quite a long time (probably in part due to our excessive buffing). We noticed a few of our nails lifting around the 23 day mark, but didn’t have any “pop offs” until day 28, when two of our nails decided to jump ship. One of the great things about the acrylic system is your nails almost NEVER chip or break. It’s more “one mass” then anything else. I’ve found that 99% of the time the nails pop off instead of chipping or breaking down (this is also why you need to avoid applying acrylic nails over your cuticles—as they grow out, your nails will lift and pop off).
If only I didn’t use the computer so much :cry:. I’m convinced my excessive daily typing weakens my nail “hold”. Ah, wells. 34 days is pretty darn good! By day 28, I experienced one of my nails (the pointer finger, of course) lifting slightly. That little thing held on until day 34 when it finally popped off. By then, most of my nails were overgrown anyway and it was time for a new nail polish color (It’s very saddening to see a color go, but also exciting because you get to try something new for a month. Very conflicting feelings!). Nail dipping powder typically lasts longer than acrylic, partly because of the “glue” base that is used in conjunction with the dip system. Of course, we used our own Fairy Glamor dip starter kit to apply these dip nails (It’s amazing, we love it. Drys fast and lasts SO LONG!).
What a fun experiment! It took us around 3 months to complete because we wanted to test each color type as a set (it wouldn’t work very well if you got “unlucky” and had just one of the nails screw up earlier then usual!). The results were as expected, based on my own experience wearing all nail types throughout the years. I still remember the time my dip powder nails lasts 60 days a few years ago (was a different nail powder brand, Fairy Glow wasn’t created yet!). I was AMAZED at how long it lasted, and unsurprisingly, this was around the time my nail powder obsession began. What can I say? I’m lazy. I don’t want to do my nails every day, or even every week. Nail powder is the perfect solution to this 😊
Are you surprised at the results? How long do your nails typically last? Let us know in the comments!
Fairy Glamor designs unique 3-in-1 dip and acrylic nail powders in Galveston, Texas. We're a 100% family owned business that was founded in 2020 and went from making handmaking powders in our spare bedroom to shipping out of a big warehouse. We believe in both quality and affordability--that's why our powders are used by both professional nail technicians and in homes. Our unique colors are hand-designed to give you gorgeous manicures that'll make your nails feel magical.
