I received two UNITY colors, the No-Sanding Base and No-Wipe Top to try. I did two different wear and removal tests with one of the UNITY polishes. I wanted to try it on its own, and with the base and top coats. Bio Seaweed Gel recommends only using UNITY on its own when used on your toes, but they do recommend using the base and top coat on your fingernails for best results. One of the bottles that I received has this information about expected wear on the label:
- Just UNITY: Lasts 1-7 days
- UNITY + BSG Base Gel Polish: Lasts 7-14 days
- UNITY + BSG Base + BSG Top: Lasts 14+ days of high shine chip-free wear
Application
For my first wear test I applied BSG UNITY #126 Magenta directly onto my nails. The application was a dream. The color went on perfectly from edge to edge with no shrink back issues, and this particular color was opaque in just two coats. The UNITY gels also do not have any tackiness after curing, so you don’t have to wipe them clean after your application. The picture below shows the end result of my first application. Even without a top coat, the UNITY gel had a good shine. (This is my left hand, the wear test was conducted on my right).
On my second wear test I also applied the base and top coats in addition to two coats of UNITY Magenta. I also had no issues with the application of the base and top coats.
Wear
Test 1: Just UNITY
As I mentioned, I first tried UNITY on its own without a base or top coat. According to the label, this should have lasted 1-7 days. My manicure stayed in good shape right up until day 3 or 4, and then I noticed a few little cracks on some of the nails. I’ve heard about gel polish cracking, but never experienced it until now. I think the cracks occurred because my nails actually bent. They didn’t feel very strong with just the two coats of color on. Even with the cracks, the color still stayed in place up until day 7. On this day I did some gardening and house cleaning and at the end of the day I noticed that the cracks were more severe and I actually had a couple of small chips. The finish also dulled a little. Here is what they looked like on day 7:
Test 2: UNITY + BSG Base + BSG Top
I had slightly better results while wearing the base and top, as expected. Unfortunately, my nails still didn’t feel very strong. I was able to bend them, which I don’t typically experience with gel polish. They wore great up until day 5 when I bumped my middle nail on the side of my sink while wiping the counter tops. I could feel the nail bend and I thought it had broken, but the nail didn’t tear. I did have a visible crack though where the nail bent, which you can see here:
I continued with the test and over the next few days my tips did begin to show some wear, and by day 10 I had a couple of small chips, and a few more cracks. Now it was time for removal.
Removal:
BSG advertises 5-minute removal, which had me super excited. Normally soak-offs take at least 10 minutes or more, so I was hoping this stuff would just slide right off. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I was also surprised that the removal experience was almost identical in both tests. I used my Nail Mates and pure acetone for the removal process, which is now the method that I use for all of my soak-offs since it’s easier and more effective than the foil method. After 5 minutes of soaking my nails looked like the picture below. They were basically unchanged. The scuff marks that you see are from me filing through the top coat. I tried pushing the polish off with an orange stick, but the polish wasn’t ready.
I continued soaking for another 5 minutes before checking again. When I removed the wraps they still looked the same, but this time I was able to scrape some of the polish off. It seemed to want to come off in layers and not all at once. This is what they looked like after scraping.
I continued soaking for another 5 minutes. Once again they didn’t look very different, and I did some more scraping. Most of the polish did come off, but it felt and looked like I had a film on my nails. I was also very uncomfortable with the amount of scraping that I had to do. I was worried that my nails might be getting damaged. This is what they looked like after 15 minutes of soaking and scraping.
At this point I decided to take a buffer to my nails to finish the removal process. After buffing off the remaining gel and cleansing, my nails were back to normal as seen in the photo below. I had a small layer chip off of the top of my index fingernail (you can see the little crack in the photo above where it was coming loose). And you can also see the visible cracks in my middle finger nail where I bumped it. The nail wasn’t ripped, but it did bend easily where the cracks are. I ended up reinforcing this nail afterwards with the acrygel technique to keep it from breaking.
Summary
I was very impressed with the ease of application with this product, and I also thought the shine on the UNITY gel without a top coat was good for a one-step. The No-Wipe Top provided the extra shine that I would expect in a gel. I thought the wear was average; I had cracks and chipping even with the base and top coat and my nails didn’t feel as strong as I would expect with a gel. The removal process was below average with the total process taking about 20 minutes with lots of scraping.