Purjoi One Step Gel Polish: Swatches and Review

Press Sample

Hello Loves!  I have a brand new One Step Gel product to show you today from a new company called Purjoi Nail Studio.  I’m actually really excited about this brand.  Why?  Because it has completely changed my opinion of One Step Gels!

Purjoi’s creator, Joi, is a licensed nail tech who recognized the need for a new product that would allow techs to save time and money while still maintaining high quality services.  It is no secret that a manicure with a traditional three step gel polish system takes more time than with a one step gel.  Ok, I know what you’re thinking.  One step gel polish is nothing new.  You’re right.  However, a one step gel polish with a high gloss shine that rivals a traditional three step system IS new!  That is what makes Purjoi One Step Gel different from the rest.  It is a high quality, 3 free, professional gel that is designed for ease of application and removal with a super high gloss shine.  By eliminating the need for a separate base coat and top coat, Purjoi reduces both time and expense!  The Purjoi Nail Studio One Step Gel line consists of 50 gel colors in various shades and finishes.  You can see them all on the Purjoi Nail Studio Website here.

As you know, I put every new gel to the test.  In this case, I’ve had three PurJoi One Step Gels in my possession since mid July.  I can’t even begin to tell you how fun it has been testing these out before they were available for purchase.  I usually only have a few weeks between receiving a product and sharing my review, so having a few months gave me more than enough time to really play with these.  With that said, you might want to grab a coffee before reading the rest of this review.  I’m going to get wordy.  (Yeah, yeah…no surprise there either…I know!)

Formula and Application

The Purjoi One Step Gels are designed to be a little thicker than your traditional gel polish.  This allows them to be buildable and provide great coverage in fewer layers.  I found them extremely easy to work with.  Unlike some thicker gels that seem to be almost chalky in application, these seem almost jelly like in consistency, but super smooth.  I can’t really think of the best words to describe it.  I found that I was able to work the gel on the nail to get a solid first coat without any pooling or running.  They stayed exactly where I put them.  With no base coat required, I had no issues with shrinking either.  They are compatible with UV and LED lamps with a cure time of 1 minute per coat in LED.  Even with the longer cure time, the lack of extra steps still saves a lot of time.  Five stars for application from this gal!

Colors and Consistency

I have three colors to show you today.  I’ll talk about each in more detail as we go through the swatches.  Read to see them?

The first color is a bright green cream called Life.  I used this one as the base for some nail art in July, so it may look familiar to you.  This is two easy coats.  As you can see, the coverage is quite consistent.  Note that these are taken in a filtered light box to show the color, so the shine is dulled in the photo.  We’ll get to the shine in a few minutes.  ;)

The next color is a shimmery purple called Tip Toe.  Tip Toe is almost a frost finish, but I found it applied just as easily as Live.  It is a tiny bit sheerer, so my second coat was a little thicker than with Life to reach full opacity, but I’m still counting it as a two coater.  I should also note that there were absolutely NO curing issues even with a thicker coat.

Finally, Yeah! is a pinky coral cream.  I’m not sure what to call this one, honestly.  In some light it is a definite bright pink.  In other light it takes on definite coral tone.  I do know that I am smitten with this shade and had so much fun wearing it this past July.  Again, this one applied nicely and is opaque in two coats.  I didn’t find much variance at all between the three colors for application.

Wear

I wore each of the colors above for a minimum of one week each.  I then put Yeah! through my usual two week test.  Sadly, I had to remove the wear test of Yeah! in a hurry due to a funeral, so I don’t have photos to document the results of that one.  It’s a bit too bright of a shade to be appropriate for mourning, in my opinion.  I will say that the wear was flawless for me.  No chipping and tip wear was minimal.  I saw the same results with Live and Tip Toe – no chipping with minimal tip wear.  My nails also felt very well supported, which surprised me seeing as they had fewer layers of gel than my traditional manicures.  I credit this to the thicker consistency of the product.  I snagged a photo at the end of 8 days with Tip Toe.  Wanna see it?

Possibilities

Before we get to removal, I want to show you something that I found super fun about the Purjoi One Step Gel polishes.  The lack of a separate top coat combined with the thicker consistency makes them awesome for 3D nail art.  Before I get to the photos, let's talk about the shine for a second.  Purjoi has a built in, high shine top coat.  The shine is quite amazing, and it made it super difficult to get photos of this 3D design.  So take note of the shine in the next few shots.  It shows especially well on the ring finger in the first photo.

I can’t tell you how many people stopped me while I was wearing this manicure to ask how I created it.  It was really simple!  I applied and cured two coats of Yeah!  Then I used a fine detail brush to draw on the design.  Cured again.  Went over the design again and cured a final time.  That was it.  Instant 3D art in less time than it takes me to do a traditional 3 step gel manicure.

Removal

Purjoi boasts an 8-10 minute removal.  How does it stack up?  My removal wasn't quite that fast, but it did soak off in about 15 minutes for me.  I do want to show you photos of the removal, though.  One Step Gels tend to remove differently than a 3 step line.  I'm not 100% sure why, but I believe it has something to do with the lack of a tacky layer to bond the coats together.  In the case of Purjoi One Step Gel, the acetone breaks down the gel so that it kind of disintegrates rather than flaking off in one piece.  The first photo shows the gel after soaking for 15 minutes.  As you can see, it looks a bit bubbly.

This second photo is immediately after gently pushing the bubbled gel off of the nail.  As you can see, it removed cleanly.  :)  One thing to note:  I have discovered through testing several one step gels that the first layer needs to be a bit thicker than you might apply with a traditional 3 step system.  I'm not sure why, but a thin first coat will lengthen removal.  This applies to Purjoi One Step Gel as well.

Final Thoughts

When Joi first asked me to test out the Purjoi Nail Studio One Step Gel polish line, I was skeptical.  I'm typically not a fan of one step gel polishes.  They usually lack that mirror shine that I love and the lack of top coat limits my artistic side.  With that said, this polish has completely changed my mind about One Step Gels!  I adore the way it builds and the speed of application is a major plus in my book.

Where to Buy

PurJoi One Step Gel is avaliable through the Purjoi Nail Studio website here.  Insider tip - have your license number ready when you create your account.  While the license number is not required to purchase, it will get you some pretty sweet discounts.  ;)

Be sure to follow PurJoi Nail Studio on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest as well to see more of the colors in action!

~Michelle

*The products featured in this post were provided by Purjoi Nail Studio for my honest review.