Table of Contents
About Dipwell
Dipwell offers an extensive selection of acrylic nail dip powders, sets, and tools. Exploring classic and imaginative color stories, its powders are all vegan, cruelty-free, and made in SoCal.
With 30 uses per powder tub, Dipwell is an affordable alternative to expensive in-salon manicures. The brand also makes at-home dip manis simple by way of easy-to-follow instructions and inclusive sets.
It was its ease of use that got the company noticed by publications like Elle, Glamour, and Bustle. And, Dipwell’s professional-looking results gained it quick Instagram popularity—today, it boasts over 72k followers.
In this Dipwell review, we’ll explore everything you need to know about the brand and its polishes, highlighting best-selling kits, customer feedback, and promotions, to help you decide if it’s worth all the buzz.
Overview of Dipwell
There’s something sacred about getting your nails done. The time to yourself, the happy feeling of staring at a set of fresh, glossy tips. It’s an all-around good experience that leaves us feeling uplifted and pampered. That is until you get to the register or add up your annual nail bill—yikes.
Previously, the options for at-home manis were often underwhelming, and acrylic outside of the salon wasn’t a thing. So you sucked it up, put your tail between your legs, and went running back to the salon due to the lack of other options.
In 2017, Dipwell Nails brought acrylic manicures to the home, but in a totally easy-to-follow way. The brand offers the same length, protection, and shine options you got at the salon, just in a more budget-friendly DIY way.
There is some mystery around who the faces responsible for the creation of Dipwell are, but we do know they had over 30 years of experience in the nail industry before launching this line.
But before we introduce you to it, we invite you to take a look at the brand’s highlights to get yourself acquainted with what to expect throughout this Dipwell review.
Highlights
- Over 200 color powders
- Free of 12 common toxic ingredients
- Cruelty-free & Vegan
- Tons of inclusive sets
- Offers all the tools and accessories needed for a great manicure
- Saves you $$ and offers deals & discounts
- Free shipping over $35
The next section of this Dipwell review will focus solely on the brand’s nail kits, although you can expect to find over 200 colors in its collections. Though the colors in the featured kits vary, you’ll get the same five liquids for a smooth application process, alongside three powders and three accessories.
Each kit includes:
- Bond Liquid: an adhesive for your nails and the powder
- Base: levels out your nails for a smooth and even application
- Activator: cures powder and chemically bonds to the Base
- Sealer: like a top coat that secures everything in and boosts shine
- Brush Cleaner: gets rid of residue and hardness that leads to streaks
You’ll also get three Dip Powders, one of which is a constant in all sets: the Base & Finish Essential Dipping Powder. You’ll apply this one between coats. The other two are the colored powders which we’ll introduce in the following section of this Dipwell review.
Dipwell kits also come with a 100/180 Grit Nail File to smooth out uneven nails, a Fine Grit Buffer to boost shine and get rid of streaks, and a Wooden Cuticle Pusher for a longer look.
Now that you know what you’ll get in each kit, this Dipwell review will just jump right into its selection.
Dipwell Nail Kits Review
Dipwell offers nine different nail kits, from professional and starter collections to powder-only. Below, we’ll go over some of the bestselling starter kits to give you an idea of what the brand has to offer.
Dipwell Dip Nail Starter Kit – Classic Collection Review
Bundling everything you need to get started with acrylic dipping powders, the Nail Starter Kit – Classic Collection features two of the brand’s hottest selling color powders.
True Red is the kind of red that brings to mind shiny apples, poison, and laughing lips. A daring shade, it looks equally as brilliant with a gloss finish as it does matte or with a swipe of glitter.
Throwing the ever-chic Jet Black into the mix, this kit provides endless possibilities for depth, accents, and fades. With these two hues, you’ll be able to create Halloween-worthy looks, just in time for October.
Pick one up for $55, on sale from $66.
Dipwell Dip Nail Starter Kit – French Set Review
Anything French has instant class, and a French Manicure is certainly no exception. Offering sophistication with a blushing hint of flirtation, these forever stylish manicures give off an upscale vibe. Make it acrylic, and you have yourself a look of luxury.
The Nail Starter Kit – French Set includes all the liquids and tools needed for a professional look, alongside the French White Dipping Powder, fresh as a daisy or a perfectly-pressed shirt. Plus, you’ll receive Sheer Pink Dipping Powder—tasteful, transparent, and natural.
Normally, this set is $66, but right now, it’s on sale for $55.
Dipwell Dip Nail Starter Kit – Naturale Collection Review
The natural look is one of the most coveted for manicures, offering a slightly escalated, more polished version of what’s already there. Think of these shades as your nails but better.
The Nail Starter Kit – Naturale Collection includes NA12, a pinky-beige with a touch of glistening sparkle, and NA25, a mauve-taupe blend that glimmers pink in the light.
Get the set for $55 (normally $66).
How To Do Dip Nails At Home With Dipwell
There’s a reason you pay to get your nails done. But, once you try out the process at home once, you’ll see how easy it is once you get the hang of it.
Dipwell has made the application user friendly and we’ll sum up each step for you in a list below:
- Time to prep! Push back those cuticles, file your nail plate to get a slightly rough texture, and sanitize your hands. Then, apply Bond to all fingernails.
- Apply a thin coat of Base, pull the liquid out to the tip of your nail—try not to get this on your cuticles as the powder will stick.
- As soon as you’re done, dip your nails at a 45-degree angle into the acrylic powder. Be sure to coat your whole nail bed! Tap excess powder loose.
- Dip again for more coverage and tap.
- Spread another thin layer of Base over your nails, then quickly dip the entire nail surface into Base & Finish Essential Acrylic Powder—this seals it.
- Apply a coat of Activator, to harden. Wait two minutes until dry.
Next, comes the finishing touches:
- File your nails in the shape of your choice, using a coarse buffer to smooth the nail’s surface.
- Wash your hands and nails, or wipe them down with alcohol.
- Apply another coat of Activator to harden the blend further. Let dry for two minutes.
- Swipe on a coat of Sealer in quick, thin strokes. Wait three minutes until dry.
- One more coat of Sealer! Allow three minutes to dry.
Though it sounds like a lengthy process, since you’re working quickly, the whole thing takes under 30 minutes.
Can You Build Your Own Dipwell Bundle?
Oh, you most certainly can. The Build Your Own Bundle is probably the brand’s #1 offering, and its kits include everything you need to get an Insta-worthy manicure right at home.
Including five liquids—Bond, Base, Activator, Sealer, and Brush Softener—the bundle sets you up for success. It will also send along three handy tools, a 200/280 grit foam buffer, a 100-180 grit nail file, and a double-sided wooden cuticle pusher.
With all those tools, now all you need is the powders, and with this bundle, they’re completely up to you. You have the choice of picking three or six shades—go ahead, choose any that strike your fancy.
Like to keep things bright? The Neons have your back. 4th of July? Try Classic Blue CL4 and Red CL51 with a Glitter White GL44 accent.
Make things personal when you Build Your Own Bundle for $55-$80 (normally $66-$96).
What’s The Dipwell Price Difference?
Ok, so here’s the low-down on acrylic nails. They’re applied and shaped, adding length and hardness to your existing nail.
Then, a layer of paint is applied over top. Dipwell is the acrylic and the paint in one, except it’s a lot better for your nails, easier to remove, and can be done at home.
Acrylic nails need to be filled every 2-3 weeks to stop them from looking shabby before they need to be removed at the 8-week mark. Yeah, at $40 a pop on average, that price adds up—you’re looking at more than $500 a year on nails, and that’s just the start.
With DipWell, the cost of a manicure is just $3. And since the colors last for two weeks, if you do back-to-back applications over the year, you’re paying under $80. Gasp!
Who Is Dipwell For?
DipWell is for those who often frequent the salon to get gorgeous nails. Fed up with the price and frequent 1-hour appointments, they search for something more affordable, but equally as fresh.
Enter, DipWell: the at-home salon-worthy manicure that costs 92% less than what you’d pay with your nail tech. Offering professional-looking acrylic nails in over 200 colors, the brand’s dips are ideal for anyone looking to save money, time, cut out toxic ingredients, and go with a cruelty-free brand.
Comparison: Dipwell vs. Olive & June
A fun and unique way to express your personality, nail polish has been around for decades. In that time, we’ve all accepted sub-par standards—we’re not professionals, it’s a simple at-home job.
But with improved formulas and formats, getting a fresh, glossy, professional-looking manicure can be done in the comfort of our own homes, for a fraction of the price of what we pay at the salon.
Our featured brand and Olive & June make this possible, and in this section of our DipWell review, we’ll take a look at what makes each one so unique.
Like our featured brand, Olive & June (O&J) sets out to give you salon-worthy nails at home. Its specialty is inclusive kits that include everything from nail clippers to polish remover to a notebook, along with a cute little pouch to put it all in.
To us, it looks like—though no doubt everything the brand includes in its kits will come in handy—it’s selling an aesthetic…you know, the kind you see on mood boards and Pinterest. Of course, that’s totally fine! But more often than not, those seeking at-home manis already have half of those supplies, and where does the notebook come in?
We’re not hating on Olive & June, in fact, its kits are smart, but they remind us of ones geared at a younger crowd, minus the hot pink, glitter, and occasional unicorn. Regardless of what we say, the Mani System has a 4.3/5 star rating from over 5k customers, so we may actually end up eating our words here.
When it comes to the actual product, the biggest difference between the two brands is the format. O&J makes liquid polish, whereas you know our brand is all about the powder dip. Is one better than the other? Umm…it’s a matter of preference. But since the powder is acrylic, it’s going to look more polished, hands down.
As for price, O&J polishes are about $8, while DipWell’s are $10-$12. Though we couldn’t find exactly how many polishes the competitor offers, we know it’s a lot, and it also sells tools, accessories, and a few different sets.
In the end, these two brands, though their goals align—to give you beautiful at-home manicures—the systems are different and therefore will yield different results.
Dipwell: What Do Customers Think?
There’s no question that the brand’s nail dips are stunning, but alas, we’re staring at them from behind a screen, not prettily set on our little fingertips as we write this Dipwell review. There are a few questions that popped into existence while buzzing over the brand’s bounteous collection:
- Do they look as good in person?
- Is the application process really as easy as the brand says it is?
To get real answers, we need to consult real customers. And so, in this section of our Dipwell review, we’ve rounded up a bunch of helpful comments from across the web and sprinkled them in between ratings to give you the full scoop on what they’re really like.
We’re going to kick things off with a few ratings taken from the brand’s website for its kits and individual powders.
- Dipwell Starter Kit – French Set: an average of 4.5/5 stars from 187 reviews
- Naturals Dip Color Powder NA02: an average of 4.9/5 stars from 113 reviews
- Classic Collection CL6: an average of 4.8/5 stars from 75 reviews
- Neon Collection NE14: an average of 4.7/5 stars from 92 reviews
- Glitter Collection GL27: an average of 4.8/5 stars from 109 reviews
We decided to focus on the individual powders instead of kits as the kits all contain the same products, just with different colors. Plus, users tend to go into a little more detail in the comments when it comes down to color only.
With that in mind, we considered the Glitter Collection GL27. Glitters can be tough, especially for dips, so we decided to look into what customers had to say.
One Dipwell review that mentioned the texture and sparkle read, “This is probably my favorite glitter powder so far. The texture is perfect as it’s not too thick or thin. The sparkle is gorgeous even indoors.”
Ever had thick, goopy glitter nails? The ones that feel like rocks? At 8 years old, we did too. GL27 is the adult version of that. Sparkly enough to make you feel special, but polished enough for a professional look.
Now, to check in on what one of the brand’s starter kits is like, we trotted on over to Influenster for some solid feedback. Finding a 4.6/5 star score from 101 Influensters, we’ve included the snapshot for that score below in case you were interested in how it came to be:
- 5 stars: 71%
- 4 stars: 21%
- 3 stars: 6%
- 2 stars: 1%
- 1 star: 1%
Pretty much every DipWell review for this product we came across on Influenster said how easy the kit was to do. Take this glowing testimonial that praises its convenience:
“Absolutely LOVE this dip powder kit…Directions were super easy to follow, and the kit came with everything you needed. If you’re looking to save some money, this is for you!! 10/10 definitely recommend!!” Sounds like an all-around great kit.
To see if we could find out even more about the kits (they’re the brand’s most popular product and the ones featured in popular publications), we turned to good ol’ Amazon. When it comes to the nitty-gritty details about a product, Amazon is never a let-down.
Of the Nail Starter Kit, 1,335 customers awarded it a 4.1/5 star score. We got the pleasure of seeing a couple of users’ nail pics, and man, were we impressed. One user even compared it with an actual manicure by a nail tech:
“This kit is a game-changer. It’s so user-friendly.” Meanwhile, another wrote, “I’m actually surprised how easy it was to level the nail evenly without a drill…can’t believe how nice it came out.”
Amazon users note that DipWell does take longer than painting your nails (after all, there are 11 steps involved), it’s so worth it in the end.
In the end, our questions were answered. The brand’s powders look just as amazing in person as on the screen, and the process is super easy.
Is Dipwell Worth It?
In the realm of nail polish, DipWell is very affordable. In the realm of salon-worthy manicures, DipWell is extremely affordable. We’ll admit that its 11-step process seemed a little intimidating, but after reading customer feedback, it’s really not that bad, just something that takes one or two tries to master.
So, price? Check. Ease of use? Check. Jaw-dropping results? Check. DipWell really does tick all the boxes, plus it offers over 200 powders and all the tools you need to give yourself some dazzling digits.
So is it worth the buy? Check.
Dipwell Promotions & Discounts
We’ve already been over the fact that these products save you time and money, but still, throughout this Dipwell review, we spotted a ton of other ways the brand helps you save. Take a look at what we discovered:
- Get free Limited Edition Gold Flakes when you spend over $50
- Join the Rewards Program to earn points for $$
- Give a friend $10 to use on their first order, you get 200 points ($10 value)
- Sign up for the mailing list to get 10% off your next order
- Free shipping on orders over $35
Where to Buy Dipwell
With over 200 colors, plus all the tools, liquids, and accessories you need to give yourself a great manicure, Dipwell.com is the ideal place to shop. If you can’t resist the tractor beam that is Amazon, you can find select products there too.
FAQ
Where are Dipwell products made?
In sunny Orange County, California.
Do Dipwell products have expiry dates?
The brand suggests using its products within 24 months of purchase for consistently fabulous results.
Are Dipwell products cruelty-free?
Completely. It’s only right that products as pretty as Dipwell’s have a beautiful soul too.
Does Dipwell have a rewards program?
Yes—Dipwelll totally does. When you join, you’ll get 100 points right away, plus a ton of other easy ways to rack em’ up.
Does Dipwell have a Facebook group?
Uh, yeah! It’s called Dipwell’s Dipper Club and currently has over 6k members.
Does Dipwell accept returns/provide refunds for opened products?
Once a product is open, it can no longer be considered sanitary. That’s the name of the game for pretty much any product with a shelf life. For that reason, Dipwell isn’t able to accept returns or exchanges on opened products.
Does Dipwell ship internationally?
Not right now, but you may be able to find a kit or two on Amazon that ships abroad.
What is Dipwell’s Shipping Policy?
Right now, Dipwell only ships within the USA. And if you’re lucky enough to live there, you’ll also get free shipping when you spend $35+.
From the time you place your order online, it should be sent out within 7-10 business days—a little slow, we know. But, Dipwell says it’s due to its new safety practices in its facility. Better safe than sorry.
Once your order is sent out, it will be in the hands of UPS or USPS and you’ll receive a confirmation email with a tracking link that you can use to keep an eye on your order. Shipping takes, on average, 3-5 business days.
What is Dipwell’s Return Policy?
Bought a glittery red but now you think you may be more of a matte kind of girl? No problem. You can return any Dipwell product within 30 days of purchase—although, you need to keep a few things in mind:
- Start your return within 30 days of receiving your order
- You’ll need your original order number
- You may be charged a $15 restocking fee
- Unopened products cannot be returned
To make a return, all you need to do is write an email to [email protected] with your order number and some information about the products you’d like to send back.
In most cases, Dipwell will send you a prepaid shipping label, just remember that all labels expire in 24 hours from when the brand issues them. That means you’ll need to head to the post office asap unless you want to go through the process all over again.
How to Contact Dipwell
Have any questions that weren’t answered in this Dipwell review? Shoot the brand’s customer service team an email at [email protected] and they’ll tell you everything you need to know.
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