If You Love Gel and Acrylic Manicures, Shoppers Say You Need This $29 Nail Strengthening Kit

Gel, powder, and acrylic manicures mask short and brittle nails, halt bad biting habits, and require less maintenance than regular polish. But the long-term damaging effects of prepping your nails for these treatments (not to mention wearing them for weeks on end) can quickly show up once they're removed. Breakage, peeling ridges, thinning nail plates, and painful cracks are all possibilities — but with the right tools at your fingertips, they don't have to happen at all.

The Dermelect Natural Nail Repair Kit comes with a nail-restoring base coat, a protective top coat, and a dry cuticle cream that work in unison to nurse nail beds back to health — and right now, the kit is on sale for $29. Considering that just the two polishes normally cost $34, this discount is an absolute steal.

Whether you're experiencing the after-effects of a salon manicure, are noticing yellowing from extended polish wear, or have naturally thin and weak nails, the protein peptide-infused formulas are designed to help prevent future chipping, splitting, and discoloration. Ingredients such as vitamin E, sunflower seed oil, vitamin A, hyaluronic acid, tremella mushroom, and shea butter fill in and smooth ridges while strengthening nails and encouraging growth.

Shop Now: $29 (Originally $47); dermelect.com

The kit has earned approval from dozens of Dermelect shoppers. Many have noticed a "big improvement" on their natural nails after just a couple weeks of use. "I use two coats of each and it lasts for days and gives a natural pink shine to my nails," shared one reviewer. "I am on my way to healthy nails!"

A reviewer who has always leaned on acrylic nails to hide their "dry, bittle, and unsightly nail beds" said this repair kit helped them finally embrace their natural fingertips. "I don't have to wear polish to hide my nails [now]," they wrote. "The transfix is a neutral color that doesn't show through if you later use a colored polish, but it is colored enough to cover minor imperfections of the nail bed. It helps nourish the nail bed and keep my nails from feeling dry. The expedite top coat is thick and helps provide some strength to prevent them from snagging and breaking."

The brand recommends applying one to two coats of the transfix base coat to clean nails before colored polish (if desired), followed by the expedite top coat to seal in the ingredient's nutrients for the ultimate growth treatment.

The Natural Nail Repair Kit, which includes the strengthening top coat, base coat, and dry cuticle cream, is on sale for $29 at Dermelect right now. Wondering what else there is? Dermelect has a bevy of equally worthy nail care treatments to peruse.