Lately, my Instagram feed has been full of solutions for supposedly doing the perfect nails at home. I have been going to the nail salon every two weeks for the last I don’t know how many years, and I’ve honestly grown tired of it. It’s expensive, time-consuming and quite frankly the idea of being able to take care of my nails from the comfort of home is extremely appealing. So I gave in to the ads and bought two different kits. To save you the trouble, and the money, here’s my full review of the Manucurist and Sassy Saints home nail kits.

The Manucurist

I ordered the nail prep set and the super starter kit with the premium lamp for their semi-permanent polish. With the discount offered on first orders I paid 142 EUR and the kit arrived just a few days later. Although the price seems quite steep at first, my logic was that if I paint my nails 3 times at home (and if it’s a good quality) the kit is already paid for.

My first impression of the kit was fantastic. The packing was beautiful, and I was super excited and confident about my choice. I waited until I had a moment alone (which is few and far between with 2 kids at home), laid out the entire kit, put on some music, and was ready to go. I read all of the instructions, prepped my nails, and got to work. The color selection on offer is beautiful; I ordered five different colors and chose Violeta for my first attempt.

The kit is super easy to use with buttons on the lamp for each phase of the process so you can’t really mess it up. When I finished my nails looked salon level and I was super pleased with the outcome. However, just hours later my nails began to chip. As I assumed I must have done something wrong, I removed the color, which was as easy as they promised; you just put a bit of their remover on cotton, use the clips they give you to secure the cotton, and in just a few minutes the polish just peels off.  Afterward, I made a second attempt. The second attempt also initially looked beautiful, but by the next day, my nails were already coming apart. I went on to make various other attempts at using the kit, but always had the same result. At some point, I realized that my nails were not drying properly so I tried to leave them under the lamp longer but the results were the same. 

I left a review on the site talking about my issues and disappointment, which was answered by email almost immediately. The customer service representative gave me a lot of tips about what could be going wrong. The problem is that I was already doing all of the things she suggested. It was also implied it could be the health of my nails as this can impact the success of the application. I took their quiz and I didn’t seem to have any issues. After I let them know that I was using the lamp for longer than the times suggested, I was told this could be the reason. However, I was only doing it because my nails were super wet if I used the suggested times (which is the exact opposite purpose of semi-permanent polish). At first, I was really impressed with the customer service, but afterward, I continued to receive emails explaining all the things I could be doing wrong and asking for photos, etc. This became really annoying and at some point, I stopped answering. The truth is if there are so many things that can prevent the nail polish from working properly, then it’s not the kit for me.

What I loved: Great color selection, fast shipping, easy nail polish removal process! Maybe it’s not for me, but works great for others?!

What was not so great: the polish didn’t dry in the time it was supposed to, chipped nails after a few hours/days, and quite a hefty price tag for something that didn’t work and will collect dust in my drawer.

Conclusion: I won’t likely make any more purchases from the Manucurist. Maybe it’s me, but if it’s so complicated to make it work, then I’d rather just go to the salon where I’m sure to have a manicure that lasts 2-3 weeks and keeps me looking polished and feeling confident.

Sassy Saints

I ordered a Sassy Saints kit after being disappointed by the kit I ordered from Manucurist. I was drawn to Sassy Saints because they offer a refund if you’re not happy after your 3rd manicure which felt reassuring to me. I paid 85 EUR for a starter kit which included 3 colors and all you need for a manicure. I also really love the color choices they offer and there are many special colors with glitter or other small details. It took almost 3 weeks for my order to reach me which meant by the time I received the package my excitement had died down slightly. Regardless I immediately gave it a go. 

The kits are powders that you dip your nails in after applying a clear polish. The process itself was fairly simple. However, I did empty the bottle of nail primer all over myself as the tube is double-sided and I assumed the brush was on the other end thereby losing all of my product on try one…oops.

My first attempt was a bit messy leaving me with some clumpy nails, but they warn you of this so I didn’t want to give up. The one thing I didn’t look up before making the purchase was the removal process. After I made a mess of my nails on attempt number one, I immediately looked at how to remove the polish and realized it was not that simple. You should put rice in a bowl, cover it with water, heat it up, then pour the remover into a zip-lock bag with some cotton inside. Then you need to seal the bag around your hand (or they warn you the acetone can escape and it won’t work) and with one hand start rubbing the cotton on your nails until the polish is removed. I immediately wanted to remove the mess I had made, but the process meant I didn’t have time for the removal. 

Eventually I removed the nail polish and made 3 more attempts. On my 4th attempt, my nails were near perfect. Additionally the time to do them decreased significantly. I’m super happy with the product now. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some new colors! 

What I loved: the colors, the money-back guarantee,

What was not so great: The removal process is not super simple, slow shipping, a learning curve.

Conclusion: I’m definitely team Sassy Saints!