Last week I wrote you all about gel nails and I thought I'd give you an update on the longevity of them. I have found that gel nails (at least the DIY kind I've been doing) look great for one and a half weeks. They can, however, last longer with a great application. 

I would consider the application I did to be "good" with a few nails qualifying as "great." Probably the worst finger is my left middle finger, which you can see below. It looked great for the first week/week and a half but has been lifting on the side of my finger for a few days now. You can also see lifting at the top of the gel polish (near my cuticle) on my index finger. However, I would consider my ring finger and pinky finger to have a "great application," as there is no lifting on either finger. 

If all of my nails had "great" applications, then my manicure could last 2+ weeks. With the lifting, they become a little annoying as the area with the lifting tends to grab hairs when I am finger-combing my hair, and since I'm growing out my hair to donate, I fool with it a lot because it's never been this long. In addition to being annoying, dirt and germs can get trapped under the lifting, so it's a good idea to remove gel polish once you notice lifting.

I would argue that while some gel polishes claim they can last 2+ weeks, you don't want to keep them on longer than 1.5-2 weeks because of the growth.