Axxium soak off - the final verdict

So, what happened to the Axxium soak off gel lacquer that was underneath it all the whole time? Well... The below photos are shot one week afer application.



Yep. That's what is left after one week, after using polishes and remover and just plain ol' wear. Which is all of it.

The shimmer is still just as lovely, as you can see. I don't own the corresponding nail polish, but I took long, hard looks at Sara's bottle, and I feel the shimmer is even better in the gel- after all it has the same esthetic properties that a jelly polish does.

I had absolutely no tip wear, and I can't say for sure if it had something to do with the extra coating of polish I did on and off, but my guess is it's just the sturdiness of the gel itself. It literally stayed the same through the whole week. The matte flecks you can see if you look closely are all man made by buffing, and is not a result of wear or remover use.

Like I mentioned yesterday, Polishing on top of the Axxium is very easy. The polish sticks without any basecoat, and stays put. When I was sick of my polish color, the wiping off was completely pain free. It went very easy, and underneath the gel was the same as before.

As for the removal, I reckon that is the downside. You get this product off by soaking in a strong remover with acetone content, such as OPI's own Expert Touch which I was advised to use, for about 15 minutes. After that time, what had happened to my manicure, was that the sealing top coat had started to break down, and I was able to scrape the gel off (I used the spatula on my cuticle trimmer for this). The rest has to be filed and buffered off. I felt this process was a little too time consuming for my personal taste, and if I in the future would go to a salon to have an Axxium manicure applied, I would also go back to the salon to have it removed. Simply because I'm lazy like that.

Since I had clear Axxium nail enhancements underneath, I also felt there was an extra amount of work to be considered, such as trying to shape up the nail and do some extra rounds of buffing. Filing off the gel lacquer will of course leave a high amount of scratches and ridges in the artifical nail, and if you have tips attached to your natural nail, they will start to dissolve while soaking. This part was the least attractive one for me. I believe I would rather have an Axxium soak off gel manicure done on my natural nails, if in good shape, in the future, as a to-go base for a vacation or a stressful time.

To sum it all up, the pros in my opinion are the durability and the overall look, and the pure relaxation of being manicured all the time without effort. The cons, well, the con, is the removal process. I know the ladies who do nail enhancements are used to a higher level of nail maintenance and you may be just fine with this too, but if you're rocking natural nails and have a patience problem- just go to a salon for the removal as well.

And yes, I would get an Axxium manicure again, but not too often. I have terribly weak natural nails and need to resurface them from time to time to do thorough treatments. But next time I'm leaving home for more than a weekend, I think I'll treat myself to another Axxium manicure.

Swedish word of the night:
lättja -noun laziness
Because I'm suffering from it.