Ohora Nails Review: Are they Worth It?
I first tried Ohora semi-cured gel nails in 2020 when it was clear I wouldn’t be going to the salon for my bi-weekly gel manicure. Set on a quest to find the best nail polish, I compared a few of the Instagram famous brands for a thorough comparison (check out the post if you want to see how Ohora compares to ManiMe). Two years later I decided to try Ohora gel nails again and my opinion has changed. Keep reading below for my complete Ohora Nails review.
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Table of Contents
About Ohora Nails
Ohora is a Korean nail brand that launched in 2019 with the first semi-cured gel nails with intricate designs on the market.
According to Ohora,
We use safe materials that are ISO quality certified. We produce toxin-free & safety certified strips.
Ohora.com
The technology is certainly impressive with one strip including the base, color, and top coat and curving to fit the nail, it isn’t the most clear what the exact ingredients of the gel nail strips are.
How Ohora Works
Ohora sets itself apart from other gel nail polish sticker companies because they ship the strips 60% cured. The UV lamp at home cures the nails 100%. The cured gel is a real gel, hard and shiny, just like walking out of a nail salon with a gel manicure.
Where to Buy Ohora Nails
There are three places where Ohora Nails are available for purchase in the U.S.
Vanity Table curates K-Beauty brands to sell in the United States, and they are an authorized licensed seller of Ohora.
Ohora now has its own website for purchase in the U.S. and offers the widest selection of designs and they also have frequent sales.
Like most things, Amazon carries Ohora nail stickers with Prime shipping.
What I Bought
In 2020 I had first tried Ohora and there wasn’t a huge selection so I picked a solid color. This time I chose two different designs since part of the benefit of using gel stickers is being able to have professional nail art done at home. Mellow is a combination of glitter, light pink, and houndstooth and Basic Nails No.11 is a sheer peach with a gold stripe on some of them. The price ranged between $13.50-$16.00 per design.
Each kit comes with an alcohol prep pad, nail file, orangewood stick, and gel strips. The lamp is separate but both Vanity Table and Ohora offer a free lamp with the first purchase.
How to Apply Ohora
After applying the gel strips on 3 separate occasions, doing research, and performing trial and error, below is what has worked best for me.
- Swipe the alcohol prep pad over each nail to ensure there is no residue.
- Select the size nail that is the closest to my natural nail bed.
- Peel the stickers off the plastic from the opposite of the cuticle side (the plastic indicates which is the cuticle side).
- Apply the nail sticker to my nail, starting at the center base of the nail. If the sides of the sticker don’t come close to the side of my nail bed, I stretch the sticker so it does. The sticker is flexible and stretches since it’s only 60% cured.
- Use the provided orangewood stick and go over the edges of the nail, ensuring the best seal.
- After applying, turn my hand over and do a rough clip of the excess sticker with nail clippers, making sure not to clip my natural nail if I want to keep the length (remember these aren’t press-on nails, you’ll need your natural nail to be the foundation). It seems like the stickers shrink a little bit when curing so keep the stickers slightly longer in this step.
- (Optional)Take a brush (I use the one from my Olive & June mani kit) and dip it in 100% acetone. Swipe the brush around the edges of the nail. More details on that are below.
- Cure each nail for 2 rounds of 60 seconds under the UV lamp.
- File the cured nail anywhere it wasn’t perfect after clipping.
I note above that step 7 is optional. My original review calls out that my hair got stuck under the nails and after trying again 2 years later, my hair still got stuck (and you know these extensions aren’t cheap). I came across ThatOhoraGirl on YouTube and she had this great trick which is step 6. Running a brush soaked in acetone along the edges of the nail strip thins down the edges and makes for a much more seamless transition from real nails to gel strips.
Ohora offers a Glossy Gel Top Coat that you apply once the nails are cured. I haven’t personally tried this but it seems like it would also help eliminate hair snagging under the nails since it is creating a totally seamless transition from gel nail strips to real nails.
Ohora Gel Nail Strips Results
The first time I tried Ohora two years ago (review of that here) I removed the nail strips after 4 days because my hair kept getting stuck and it was annoying. This time around I was a lot smarter because I did my nails on hair washing day after I washed my hair, thinking that I would at least be able to keep them on for a week.
They have been fantastic! At a minimum, I’ve taken these off after 10 days, and that’s because one or so started peeling up, but by that point, my nails had grown so much anyway I needed to remove them. The quality is impeccable and they look like a professional salon gel manicure.
Pros
- No drying time
- Polish is smooth and hardened (how the polish feels is a significant advantage of Ohora vs ManiMe)
- Perfect cuticle lines (no post-polish clean-up)
- Variety of colors and nail art to choose from
- Much more affordable than a salon manicure
- Easy process to order
- Quick removal with minimal damage
- Hides nail imperfections, like ridges
Cons
- Takes some practice to apply flawlessly
- Exposing hands to UV light
- Easily available with Prime delivery from Amazon
- Need to choose the best fitting nail sticker for each nail (not custom size like ManiMe)
- Not every art in the kit is available in every nail size so your hand design is dictated by what sticker fits the best
How to Remove Ohora
ManiMe is very easy to remove and caused minimal damage, only because I was impatient. The real way to remove is to soak the included orangewood stick in 100% acetone or nail polish remover and then slowly, gently pry it under the sticker. I was impatient and when the nail started peeling up I just kept going with it. The top layer of my nail is damaged in a few spots, but nothing extensive.
Final Verdict of Ohora Semi-Cured Gel Nail Polish Strips
Ohora looks like a professional manicure, is cost-effective, has many options to choose from, and lasts at least 10 days. The only major downside is getting that nail polish to be as close to the cuticle as possible. So, are Ohora nails worth it? For the price and how great they look, they absolutely are. I love these as an option and definitely recommend them.
If you loved this Ohora review, check out these other nail posts:
DISCLOSURE: If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission, at no cost to you. I only feature products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are my own. I am very obsessed with FTC compliance, check out my full disclaimer here.
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