Yes, I’ve heard a LOT of enthusiastic comments about Seche Vite. Must give it a try.
My interaction with UV Gels might not be completely over! One idea I may still try out is to do my nails with the Sally Hansen ‘Miracle Gel’ colour coat to mask the ridges, wait several hours for it to lose its volatile gases and then apply a UV Gel topcoat for durability. Apparently some people swear by this method. Worth an experiment, anyway! 
Oh no @PleasureDrone! It’s gutting when you’re looking forward to something and it turns out to be not as expected isn’t it. I think gels either really suit people or not - I also like being able to change my colour whenever, and it’s always a spur of the moment thing so don’t like the taking off aspect of gels. However, some people really love it and it works well for them (and looks amazing). At least you’ve given it a go! I’d be tempted to say try another polish though at some point - you definitely shouldn’t be having to keep them under for that long and from my experience gel polishes are always much thicker (so your description of it being runny doesn’t sound right?) 
@SexInTheCity - yes, I was surprised at its runny-ness. Cheapskate that I am, I suspect I just bought crap gel polish! 
Right… on to the 2nd installment:
SALLY HANSEN ‘MIRACLE GEL’ POLISH & TOPCOAT
I’d been recommended to try this by a member of a nail polish reddit group I’m on. Bought the colour and topcoat on eBay, from two different dealers. Both arrived the same day with free postage, and the whole lot came to less than a tenner. Yaaayyy! 
The shade I chose is called “Purplexed”. On the dealer’s webpage it looked a really vibrant purple, but IRL it’s a fair bit deeper than I was expecting. Still a good shade, though, and I’ll know to take this into account for future purchases.
Straight out of the bottle, it is really thick and goopy - which made a nice change! It kinda wants to stay on the brush: is in no rush to form a big droplet (although it will do if the brush is seriously overloaded - fair enough!) …and oh my, it goes on SOOOO EASY. I was amazed. Something about the goopiness of it and the shape of the (satisfyingly broad) brush-head ensures that it goes exactly where you intend it to, with no tendency to pool or run into the cuticles: it just sits there on your nail surface. Consequently, getting a good clean finish is a pretty easy, first-time affair.
SH claim that each coat dries in just 5 minutes. NEWSFLASH: IT DOES. I’ve never known a ‘normal’ nail polish to dry so fast. None of that awful waiting around for ages, trying very hard not to touch anything. Wow!
After the 1st coat had dried, I was a bit disappointed to see that it didn’t appear to have disguised any of the ridges in my nails. HOWEVER… they do say in their blurb that in order to get that thick gel effect you must apply two generous coats of the colour, so I dolloped on my 2nd coat good and thick. Result: ridges almost completely invisible - I mean, you’d have to know they were there under the surface and be deliberately looking for them to see any traces. Dammit, Janet… this stuff ACTUALLY WORKS! 
A bit of minimal finessing with the corrector pen, and that was the colour coats done. The colour by itself dries to a smooth but not gel-glossy finish. The topcoat is a bit runnier in consistency, so thin coats are recommended by SH. It dries just as quickly as the colour coat, and stone me, is it GLOSSY! Easily as glossy as the UV gels I had on recently - and once it was on and dry, I couldn’t see my ridges at all. RESULT! 
Of course, it doesn’t have the durability of UV gel polish - I’ve had it on for 5 days now, and I have had to do a couple of wee re-touches - but it’s definitely tougher than ordinary polish, and in terms of its behaviour during application and the finished effect it’s astonishingly good. It’s (IMHO) soooo much easier to deal with than “real” gels. I am seriously impressed with this stuff. This picture is pretty colour-accurate, but believe me when I say that IRL the effect of the topcoat is even glossier than it looks here. I’m off to eBay again, to buy some more shades now!
Love that colour! 
@PleasureDrone my first and only experience with doing gel nails at home was disappointing, too. The process was quite relaxing, but each coat took ages under the LEDs to dry, and peeled off one by one two days later.
I suspect I just bought a cheap kit and maybe I should have roughed my nails up a bit to get the base layer to stick.
Still, next time nail varnish can be described as an essential shopping item I shall give the Sally Hansen ones a go - thanks for the recommendation.
Thats a shame to hear you haven’t had a great time with the gels @PleasureDrone and @MsR. I got a new swisher lamp for Christmas and new set of polishes and I have to admit I’m really pleased with them.
The lamp was still not huge expensive - only £20 ish. The polishes were about £25 for 15? Maybe! They were a brand called Beetles of Amazon and I really liked them.
The first time they did peel off quickly but I did a fair bit of research and this time they seem better.
Fingers crossed if you try again it goes better 
@Forever_his my lamp, with a couple of colours and the top and base coat (and a boat-load of stuff I have no idea how to use for special effects etc) was about £15 from the same place.
I’ll certainly give it another go when I get chance - maybe buy a different brand of colour.
But I really get why people go to salons when they can - no interruptions, kiddies, dogs etc - much easier to relax and to feel like it’s a treat when someone else does all the work!
Today the world is so dark, grey and miserable that I decided to brighten things up. Whatever the weather might do, I figured at least my nails will be cheerful! 
I had a rummage in my collection and fished out a bottle I knew I’d never worn before - in fact, I have no memory of even buying it! Most likely it was one of those impulse buys from the bargain bin at TK-Maxx. It’s a lustrous, slightly metallic red called “FOMO” from Nails.Inc - PRODUCT LINK
It went on really well and looked (IMHO) fab colour-wise. The only downside is that It dries to a smooth but fairly dull sheen, which was not the effect I was after, so I also decided that this would be the day I tried out the “putting UV Gel topcoat over ordinary polish” trick.
I waited for a couple of hours for the polish to lose its volatile gases (who knows whether that was long enough? It’s anybody’s guess!) then got to work with the UV topcoat. Long story short: the topcoat went on really nicely, baked solid with 2mins exposure, and the end result is cheering me up no end - I love it!
I’ve uploaded photos, but I’ll have to wait until Monday for Brenna to approve them. Patience, grasshopper… (showing your age there, PD 
)
As soon as they’re ready, I’ll add a link to them.
I’ve found this with a couple of my Nails Inc ones too, they’re not as shiny, although sometimes I quite like that!
I’m really missing my nail salon at the moment - I know it’s a small thing compared to what’s going on in the world but nails are usually such a huge part of my identity. I have however painted both hands and feet today and loving the colours 
I feel just the same. Last bastion against insanity.
Pictures required! 
Love that pastel blue colour
I haven’t done anything with my fingernails for ages, but the glitter on my toes is still doing well. I occasionally put on another coat to hide nail growth, but I think I might be able to make it last all winter!
Twinkle, twinkle!
The staying power of glitter is just next level isn’t it! A pain when it comes to trying to remove it but great when you want something long lasting!
My photos are live now.
https://lovehoneyforum.com/t/nail-polish/260445/90?u=pleasuredrone
Since they were taken there has been a bit of wear at the tips of some nails, which is disappointing - so I may have to improve the way I apply the topcoat: make sure it overlaps the nail tip.
Great colour!
So, is it ordinary nail varnish with a gel (baked on with LED) topcoat?
Yup - that’s it. I think if I can learn to make sure the topcoat overlaps the tip of the nail and goes under the edge (tricky without getting it on your skin), there’ll be less abrasive wear in that area.
I’ve seen nail techs do that - it does make it all last longer.
Yes, it’s called capping the nails i think. I try to do it, it’s part of why i always end up with polish everywhere haha
@Mrs.John - are they newly done? Lovely job if they are. Haven’t you got amazingly symmetrical feet! *
*mine aren’t - my big toes look like I’ve borrowed them off two different strangers!