Gel Pedicure: How to Do It at Home, Plus Toe Nail Colours and Designs

A gel pedicure is a regular pedicure finished with gel polish, cured under a UV/LED lamp. Because toenails grow slowly, it often lasts several weeks. You can do one at home with your gel manicure kit, three extra tools for your feet and a lamp that fits over your toes.

This guide covers each step, the best toe nail colours and designs, and the nail problems that need a podiatrist instead of gel.

How long does a gel pedicure last?

A gel pedicure often lasts several weeks, longer than gel usually lasts on fingernails. Toenails grow much more slowly, so regrowth takes longer to show, and feet escape the knocks and frequent washing that wear down a manicure. A toenail is also thicker than a fingernail, so it bends less under the gel.

Regrowth at the base of the big toenails usually ends a gel pedicure, along with chips where the tips rub inside closed shoes. Once an edge lifts, soak or file the gel off; peeling it strips away layers of the nail.

How to do a gel pedicure at home

You need the kit from our guide to applying gel polish at home, plus straight-edged toenail clippers, a foot file and foam toe separators. If you have diabetes or poor circulation, read the safety advice below first.

1. Wash your feet and smooth hard skin with the foot file, a little at a time. Keep any soak brief: a toenail that absorbs water swells, and gel applied over it can lift as the nail dries out. Dry your feet completely, including between the toes.
2. Cut straight across, roughly level with the end of each toe, using several small cuts on a thick big toenail. File the tip straight and just take the sharp points off the corners: rounding them into the sides is a common cause of ingrown toenails.
3. Push back the cuticles. On dry nails, ease back the skin with a rubber-tipped pusher, then glide it flat over the nail to clear the dead cuticle, since gel lifts wherever any is left. Never cut living skin; our cuticle care guide explains which skin to leave alone.
4. Remove the shine with a few light passes of a fine buffer, then brush away the dust.
5. Cleanse and dehydrate each nail with Prep Booster, then brush an acid-free primer onto any nail where gel tends to lift.
6. Apply a thin base coat with the separators in, stopping a hairline short of the skin and capping the free edge. The skin often presses against the sides of a toenail, so use very little gel there and clean off any on the skin before curing.
7. Add two thin coats of colour, capping the free edge and cleaning the skin before curing each one.
8. Seal with a top coat, capping the free edge. Diamond Top Coat is high-shine and no-wipe, so the nails come out of the lamp dry and you can put your shoes on straight away.
9. Finish with cuticle oil around each nail.

Curing gel polish on toes: lamp tips for feet

A lamp with a removable base can sit over the foot; otherwise, choose one your toes can slide into flat. Cure one foot at a time, keeping it still.

Paint and cure each big toe on its own, before the gel can creep into the side walls, then the four small toes together. The smaller toenails often tilt sideways, so angle the foot towards the light, and give the little toe an extra cycle if it sat at the edge. Follow the curing time in your gel's instructions; our guide to UV and LED nail lamps shows how to spot under-cured gel.

Toe nail colours: how to choose your pedicure colours

Toes can take brighter or darker colours than you'd wear on your hands, since they spend the working week in shoes. Sheer and milky shades show every ridge on the nail underneath, so smooth ridged big toenails first with a rubber base.

Red toe nails

For a red pedicure, match the undertone to your skin: warm, orange-based reds suit golden, olive and tanned skin, while blue-based reds such as cherry flatter fair, cool skin. Red shows every flooded edge and can stain a bare nail, so never skip the base. Our red nail designs include ideas for matching hands.

If your big toenails are ridged, B021 Rouge Capucine, a warm red builder gel, adds colour and smooths them in one thin layer, as it's thicker than gel polish. If it feels hot in the lamp, slide your foot out for a few seconds, then put it back for a full cycle. Builder gel comes off by filing rather than soaking, so at your next pedicure, file it back and infill the regrowth.

Summer toe nails: coral and fuchsia

Coral sits between pink and orange and shows up best against tanned, olive and deep skin, especially with gold sandals or a gold anklet. A pink-leaning coral such as 004 Coral Pink suits fair skin too; allow two or three thin coats, as corals can be sheer. Our coral nail ideas show more ways to wear it.

Fuchsia is the cooler option, a vivid purple-pink that flatters cool undertones and stays bright on deep skin, where pale pastels can turn chalky. With a saturated pink such as 090 Fuchsia, any gel on the skin is easy to spot, so clean the edges carefully before curing.

Nude, peach and pastel toe nails

A nude pedicure is the discreet choice for open-toed shoes at the office. Pick a nude with your skin's undertone but a shade or two deeper, so your toes don't look washed out. Between nude and pastel, 186 Peach is a velvety peachy pink for fair and medium skin with warm or neutral undertones.

Pastels and pale peach shades streak easily, because every change in thickness shows. Keep the first coat thin and float the second over it without pressing.

Navy toe nails

Navy is a softer alternative to black and looks crisp with white linen or denim. For a blue a little brighter than navy, choose 113 Sapphire. Dark pigments let less lamp light through, so keep each coat thin; the base underneath also stops deep blues from staining the nail.

White and milky white toe nails

White toenails stand out against a tan, on holiday or at a summer wedding. Opaque white is hard to apply evenly, so build it up in two or three thin coats; a thick one can wrinkle and stay soft underneath. For something subtler, 021 Cloud is a milky white with a sheer finish.

Gel pedicure and manicure: matching or contrasting colours

Matching hands and feet is the traditional choice for a wedding. Otherwise, choose a clear contrast, such as a nude manicure for the office with fuchsia toes, or coral fingers with navy toes. A pedicure often outlasts a manicure, so red, nude and navy toes are practical: they go with most hand colours. If you do both on the same day, start with your feet and save the cuticle oil for the end, as oil on your fingers stops gel from bonding.

Toe nail designs: easy pedicure ideas

Because most toenails are small, the designs that wear best keep the detail on the big toes and the others plain.

French pedicure

A French pedicure works best on short toenails cut straight across, since the white tip follows that line. Over the cured base, apply two coats of Cloud or a sheer pink, curing each. With a fine liner brush and white gel polish, paint the tip about two millimetres deep on the big toes and finer on the others, working from each side towards the centre. Cap the edge and cure before the top coat.

Big toe accent nails

For an easy accent, paint all ten toenails in Sapphire, then brush a line of silver glitter gel across the base of each big toenail, a hairline from the skin. Cure and seal with top coat. A rhinestone set in gel works too, but keep it for sandal season, as it catches on socks and tights.

Ombre toe nails

The simplest ombre on toes runs across the foot, one solid colour per nail. Paint the big toe in Coral Pink, the middle toe in Peach and the little toe in Cloud, then mix equal drops of the neighbouring shades on a palette for the toes in between. A sponged gradient is fiddly on small toenails, so keep it for the big toes.

Flower toe nail designs

Over cured Coral Pink or Sapphire, dot a daisy of five petals in opaque white gel polish on each big toenail, slightly off-centre, with a medium dotting tool. Reload the tool for each petal so they match, and cure before the dots spread. Add a yellow centre with a smaller tool and a tiny white dot on each small toe, then cure and seal with top coat.

Chrome toe nails

Chrome powder gives a mirror finish but exaggerates every bump, so smooth the layers underneath and keep it to the big toes. Over the colour, cure a no-wipe top coat such as Diamond Top Coat, rub the powder on with a silicone applicator and brush off the excess. Seal with more top coat, capping the free edge, and cure. Silver chrome over Sapphire gives a metallic blue, and pearl powder over Cloud gives a glazed finish.

Are gel pedicures safe?

On healthy toenails, a gel pedicure is generally safe if you follow four rules.

• Leave the corners alone. Never dig into the corners or under the sides of a toenail; an ingrown toenail needs a podiatrist.
• Keep blades off hard skin. Callus shavers and razors can cut the living skin underneath, so use a foot file instead.
• Keep gel off the skin. Uncured gel on skin is the main cause of gel allergy. If the skin around your nails becomes red, itchy or swollen, or blisters appear, stop using gel and see a doctor or dermatologist.
• Use clean tools. Clean and disinfect metal clippers and pushers after every use. Paper files and foam buffers can't be disinfected, so keep a set for your own feet only.

Gel can't treat a nail problem and only hides it, so never apply it to a toenail that is discoloured, thickened, crumbly, painful or lifting from the nail bed. These can be signs of a fungal infection or another condition that needs a podiatrist or doctor.

If you have diabetes or poor circulation, leave nail cutting and filing, hard skin and cuticle work to a podiatrist, as small cuts on the feet can heal slowly and become infected.

Frequently asked questions

What does a gel pedicure include?

A gel pedicure includes everything in a regular pedicure: a short foot soak, smoothing hard skin, shaping the nails and tidying the cuticles. The difference is the finish: a gel base, colour and top coat, each cured under a UV/LED lamp instead of polish that air-dries.

Are gel pedicures better than regular pedicures?

For wear, yes, as cured gel often lasts several weeks on toes. Regular polish suits you better if you change colour every week or two, since gel has to be soaked off or filed.

What is the healthiest pedicure to get?

The healthiest pedicure keeps blades away from living and hard skin, cuts the nails straight across and uses clean tools. Gel suits healthy nails, but thickened, discoloured or painful toenails need a podiatrist first.

What is the downside of gel nails?

Removal is the main one, as scraping or heavy filing can thin the nail. Uncured gel on the skin can also cause an allergy, and on toes, gel hides the nail for weeks, so check your bare toenails at every removal.

For your next pedicure, choose your colours from our gel polish collection and seal them with one of our top coats.