Gel polish lasts between 2-3 weeks at the minimum, while the regular polish is lucky to go a week without chipping. With light wear, your gel nails last at least twice as long as a normal polish, but realistically they get you four to six times a standard manicure mileage. In terms of retained wear and tear, the gel polish will not chip the way “Thermochromic nail polish takes advantage of leuco dyes, which use either temperature, UV light, or pH to change from one color state to another,” says Christy Rose, founder and product developer for KBShimmer. “Leuco dyes are chemicals that are placed into micro-encapsulations to prevent them from reacting with other chemicals. According to celebrity manicurist and Smith & Cult ambassador Jessica Tong, gel nail extensions are more of a category than a single technique. "Gel nail extensions can mean many forms of extensions," she says. " It can be a tip glued to the nail with gel over it, a sculpted gel extension on a form, or an LED poly gel press-on extension." It’s not complicated at all as long as you use 1) a no wipe gel top coat and 2) a peel off base coat! Regular polish TOTALLY works with gel top coats. The gel top coat basically turns any regular polish into a perfectly glossy, no-chip nail polish. Hope this information helps someone!! Yes I know every brand of gel polish has "buffing to remove shine" as the first step, but it is a step that is damaging and unnecessary. You can remove the shine by using rubbing alcohol(90% or higher) or by Using a nail dehydrator. To help your gel polish stay longer, use nail dehydrator, then a nail primer/bonder made for UV gels. After the second coat, if you can still see your nail through the paint or if the paint looks streaky, do a third coat. Remember, you can only use gel polish with a UV lamp. And if you have gel polish, you can’t use it unless you cure it under a UV light—otherwise, it’ll stay tacky and won’t dry. aSt8G.