We hope you love our recommendations! Some may have been sent as samples, but all were independently selected by our editors. Just FYI, BuzzFeed and its publishing partners may collect a share of sales and/or other compensation from the links on this page.
1. A 1-Minute Artificials treatment many reviewers use as a top coat to keep their polish in check for weeks.
Promising review: "I purchased 1-Minute Artificials because it was on sale and figured I would give it a try. I was very pleased with the product because it helped me go from no nails to having the longest nails I've had in years. I liked that I could use it as a top coat and helped the nail polish last longer. After continued use on my nails, without taking it off, it did begin to turn yellow, but once I took it off and put a new coat on, it was fine. Putting several coats on over and over was probably not a good idea because I used it every day, not every three days as the bottle stated. I would recommend using this product if you have problems with nails like me." —Mom505
"This product is awesome. My polish lasts for two weeks now. Even through washing dishes, workouts, and washing hands a lot." —KA
Get it from Amazon for $3.88.
2. LONDONTOWN Illuminating Nail Concealer gives you a no-mani mani that you can quickly brush on before an event. And then because it looks like a non-mani, it won't be a big deal if it chips a little bit — unlike a glossy red or another color.
Promising review: "As much as I would love to have nice, manicured nails, i don’t spend money on manicures. Gels are damaging and regular manicures last a couple of days before peeling. I get regular pedicures bc they last but my hands have looked pretty unkempt for much of my adult life. Until now.
I was definitely skeptical that this polish could be any different from one of the countless neutral Essie shades out there that I’ve tried since the '90s — Ballet Slippers, Light as Linen, etc., — but I decided to give the milky shade a try and I’m so glad I did!!! My nails look incredible. I’m not even sure how to describe why but they look very natural and clean. It’s been a week of wearing two coats and there isn’t one bubble or lift forming on the edges. One coat actually looks great also. I am sold on this stuff. Hopefully it will never be discontinued. So so happy." —Jann
Get it from Amazon for $14+ (available in four colors).
3. A LEGIT top coat reviewers say extends their at-home manis by about a week. (Yup, this reviewer's mani is 8 days old at this point in the pic.)
Promising review: "My nail polish usually chips and needs to be redone by day two. When I use Seche Vite, I can go a week or longer without seeing any chips in the paint. Also there is no smearing of the paint underneath when applying this top coat. I wash my hands about 300 times a day and do the dishes daily. I highly recommend this nail polish." —VS
Get it from Amazon for $7.71.
4. A clog-proof nail glue under $6 that one TikToker said helped their press-ons stay on for 25 days! Yes, you read that right!
Promising review: "Got tired of spending $$$ at the nails salon, so I decided to try glue! My nails have lasted for 15 days and are still going strong! They are not budging yet!" —Lor
Get it from Sally Beauty Supply for $5.99.
5. A speed-dry manicure extender with UV protection in it to help prevent yellowing that you may experience with other top coats.
Promising review: "I have been looking for a product like this and I found it. I work a very hands-on job and so I pretty much gave up on having pretty nails. With this topcoat, my manicure lasts for at least a week with little or no chipping. This is quite amazing considering that I work with dogs every day. I highly recommend this topcoat!" —amber4w
Get it from Amazon for $9.95.
6. LONDONTOWN Kur Instant Smudge Fix, something I wish I knew about eons ago because I'm forever smudging my at-home AND salon manis when I decide to actually put in a lil' bit of effort.
7. An acrylic nails–mimicking base coat lends you the strength of the salon option without the price tag or trouble of squeezing in an appointment. Reviewers in a post-acrylic phase praise it — along with reviewers with naturally brittle nails.
Promising review: "Absolutely Love this stuff!! Decided to try it and see if really worked and it does! Two weeks later and barely a chip and no peeling. Normally I wouldn't leave polish on that long but just wanted to see how it would last. Best base coat ever!" —BwdGirl
Get it from Sally Beauty for $7.49.
8. Dashing Diva semi-cured gel nail strips bring some fun nail art into your life without applying a decal or making a salon visit. These stick on like thicker decals and then are cured with a (separately sold) quickie LED lamp for a hard-as-press-ons design that travels well. Not to state the obvious, but the strips (and the light) together cost way less than a mani with nail art.
Out of all the nail art products I've tried (and I've tried LOTS), these reign supreme. They do require a little more work than simply gluing on some press-ons. But if you feel comfortable shaping your own nails, you can use these pretty easily. You can easily size them to a nail, peel them off a plastic backing, press firmly, then trim with clippers or nail scissors (nail scissors are a bit easier) to fit the strip flush with the shape of your nail, pop your finger under the LED lamp (which you can also get with a kit) for 45 seconds, and then run a nail file over the edge of the nail to seal on the look. I like to also put on a top coat, though that's not required or recommended by the company. When you're done with the look, you can easily pop them off like press-on nails. I always wear these for vacation now and easily pack backup strips and the UV light (about the size of an Apple mouse) in my carry-on for touchups.
Get them from Target for $12.99 (available in many more designs).
9. If you're a Sally Hansen gel devotee (it's really good stuff, btw), the new Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Color Grip Primer makes your color last even longer.
Promising review: "This product has made my colors last longer and they remove just as easy. Definitely reccomend if you use this brand's gel colors.
It drys in seconds so you can use your colors. It was worth every cent. Three days in and I haven't chipped the paint like I did before." —Tabatha J Pitts
Get it from Amazon for $8.24.
10. A cuticle oil does your personal beauty counter, cuticles, and skin good. The skin *around* your nails deserves the royal treatment too and if you keep it looking great, then you can get away longer without a full-on mani!
I own this stuff and with the combination of taking a hair/skin/nails vitamin and daily use of this before bed, my nails grew SO long and SO fast! Also it smells lovely.
Promising review: "This Cuccio milk and honey cuticle moisturizer is truly a cuticle saver. Applying one drop to each cuticle and massaging it in completely will leave your cuticles and hands feeling soft, looking great and the smell is divine. I use it on both my hands and feet and I’m comfortable showing my fingernails and toenails this summer because this product has made it so easy to feel confident knowing I won’t have crusty cuticles." —Rina C
Get it from Amazon for $6.15+ (available in two sizes and four scents).
11. Or a nail and cuticle oil that reviewers rave about but comes in a much smaller bottle for easy transport!
Promising review: "This product is amazing. I've always had acrylic or dipped nails because my real nails have always been brittle and always break and peel. I decided to give my nails a break and wanted to try and grow them out. I can't even believe the outcome! They are stronger than ever and growing! I really wish I had taken a before pic to show the difference!" —JOE D.
Get it from Amazon for $8.50+ (available in two sizes).
12. Kiss Impress press-on nails give you a gel-like mani that won't chip like nail polish in about five minutes. I can vouch because these are my hands and I've used dozens of sets of them over the years! (They're the brand I keep going back to.)
I'm quite adept at painting my own nails (the only time I get a professional manicure is when I want gel before going on vacation), but these press-on nails have me feeling super lazy about painting my nails because they're so easy to use! And that's OK! Each set costs you less than 10 bucks and rather than fool with a bottle of nail glue that ends up anywhere but the nails, each nail has a peel-off plastic that reveals a super sticky surface you press onto your real nail. I find that all the nails stay on about three days when I do stuff like hand-wash my dishes, pet glorious dogs, and scratch many layers of dry shampoo on my scalp. You'll get 30 nails with each set, which helps you find the right sizes BUT I've also found comes in handy when a pointer or middle finger nail pops off (those are the first to go in my experience) so I end up getting about a week's use of wear out of each nail set. Friends have seen me with the nails on and all have believed they're the real deal!
Get them from Target: marble/glitter set for $8.59 or similar red set for $8.59 (available in lots more styles)
13. A psychedelic set of fake nails pair nicely with those flares you've been rocking lately.
Promising review: "Looks just like the picture, a little long for me but they were still super cute." —Sabrina Merrill
Get them from Amazon for $6.48+ (available in 12 styles).
14. And if you're ready to REALLY go for some bold length, a set of ~wild~ printed coffin press-on nails even if your definition of a wild night is sitting on the couch and watching House of Villains.
Scandal Beauty is a trans/womxn-owned brand, inspired by the founders' Cait and Jai's passion for their love of beauty, nail art, and an early-'00s aesthetic to start the brand.
Get them from Scandal Beauty for $15.
15. A professional nail care kit so all your essentials are all in one very pretty spot when it's time for an at-home mani. If you're going to DIY it, you might as well use the right tools.
Set includes toenail clippers, nail clippers, diagonal nail clippers, multi-purpose scissors, cuticle trimmer, ear pick, single-edged double-sided push stick, eyebrow tweezer, peeling knife, nail file, blackhead needle and loop remover, and V-shaped push stick.
Promising review: "Seriously, the size of this thing surprised me. You read measurements, but until you're holding it in your hand, you don't realize how hefty it is. Which I guess is good, because it is a solid set of tools. The case is sturdy and a pretty shade of rose gold. There are so many more tools than in your standard travel nail kit and these are definitely more well made than my previous kit. If you need something to toss in your go-bag, you should definitely get this set. It has everything you could need in your home away from home." —Avid Amazoner
Get it from Amazon for $13.99 (available in two carrying case colors).
16. A gel UV lamp you'll wanna invest in if you're serious about your at-home manis. (LBH, if you're reading this you likely are!) This'll help prevent all sorts of unsightly smudges.
17. A top and base coat set that just might be the thing that'll convince your nosiest of friends that you went to the salon for that mani.
Promising review: "First time using gel, and I absolutely love this base and topcoat. I bought some cheap $2 gels a while ago bc they were on clearance, then after I noticed how horrible the reviews were (peeling easily), well with this base and topcoat I had absolutely no peeling, not even one chip on any of my nails! They stayed on perfectly and shiny till two weeks when I soaked them off. Love this stuff. Very impressed." —Lisette
Get them from Amazon for $7.99.
18. A dishwashing spray anyone without a dishwasher (or even with one!) will adore so they can avoid any scrubbing for 1) laziness and 2) your nails. This spray works so you can spray, swipe off caked-on food, and rinse instead!
I live in an apartment without a dishwasher, and I honestly use that as an excuse to order takeout food instead of cooking. But, as soon as I got my hands on a bottle of this stuff (regular Dawn is my go-to dish soap, BTW), I put it to use on both a saucepan I used to make homemade enchilada sauce *and* the casserole dish I baked those enchiladas, which had a ton of caked-on food. It really does work like I say it does! Like, scary well.
Get a starter set (one spray bottle and three refills) for $17.50.
19. And while we're talking about dishes, some dishwashing gloves create a barrier between your paws and scalding hot water.
Like I said up there, I don't have a dishwasher so I hand-wash everything. I've used these and they stay put, last what feels like a long time, and insulates my hands from hot water.
Get two pairs from Amazon for $9.92.
20. Plus a drill brush cleaning kit you can attach to your drill/driver for an informercial-like cleaning sesh at the flip of a switch so you can put some distance between your nails and whatever surface you're cleaning.
Useful Products is a US-based small business established in 2007 by car wash owner, electrician, and former bodybuilder Anthony LaPolla that specializes in drill-cleaning brushes and attachments.
Each of the different brush colors indicates which tasks the brushes are meant for based on their bristle type, so be sure to check which one is best suited for whatever you need to for! Yellow is the “all-purpose” medium bristle, but some are softer and harder depending on what types of surfaces you’re cleaning (but none of them will scratch!).
Promising review: "I’m in love with this. I manage many apartment properties and finding people to do the cleaning has been tricky business, so I end up having to get in and clean these horrendous filth pods tenants lived in and left me to deal with when they move out. The ovens and stove tops are usually the worst, and I absolutely hate cleaning. I came across this drill attachment set, and let me tell you, it helped me tremendously! I still had to get in with a putty knife on some of them but it really cut down my elbow-grease time. If it wasn’t for this drill attachment, I think my arms would have just fallen off trying to clean it as good as I did! My only con would be that it doesn’t have any extension of any sort, so I really had my drill all up in that oven, but well worth it." —alicia haats
Get it from Amazon for $14.99 (available in six color combos).
21. A press-on nail storage box because if you love press-ons (like me) then it can start to get a little too much to keep up with all of 'em in their individual packaging. These will keep your reusable ones in pristine condition and ready to be worn again (with the nail glue at #4 so you can enjoy them for 20+ days).
Bambo NailsArt is an Etsy shop specializing in press-on nails and products.
Promising review: "This storage container for my nails is awesome. I’m a nail fanatic, and this is just what I needed. I can keep each nail,item from different vendors separate so when I want to reorder I know exactly which vendor it’s as. So organized!" —Nancy Stwora
Get it from Bambo NailsArt on Etsy for $10.99+ (available in two sizes).
Putting the finishing touches on a two-week mani:
