Makartt Ballerina Pink Rubber Base Gel - Long Lasting UV Nail Polish for Salon & Home Manicure

Three words: love, love, love. I honestly didn't think this stuff would A. Look natural in Merlot with my sun-avoidance-olive Italian skin tone but it's PERFECT or B. That it would perform well.I used it under two different sets. The 1st was with GAOY soft gel tips but Makartt gel glue. Beautiful. It looked absolutely natural before I even put color polish on. The 2nd was with Makart soft gel pump tips and GAOY gel (I combo'd bcz I'm not super organized) but again, beautiful and natural.Secondly application was easy and smoothed out issued I had in my nail beds. Once the tips were on I couldn't tell there's any damage on any nail beds (due to injury & over-filing on a couple nails). Then when it was time to remove the the 1st set, it was relatively easy & kept my nail beds from further damage. I love the protection on my nail beds.I have really sensitive skin; no issues so far into my 2nd set. I put clear polygel mixed with glitter in the tips and on top of the nail beds, clear natural pink polygel so you can still see the Merlot base coat through it. It posted a pic. Ignore that my cuticles are dry; I need to moisturize.I love this stuff. Since I need top coat I just ordered a set with another color. I would love Merlot in a set with top coat. I still have other clear base coats that I'm using as slip solutions now. This color base coat changed the game!EDIT: SUN KISSED SAND VERSUS MERLOT:Positives of Sun Kissed Sand: it comes with a clear top coat. Merlot doesn't, so that's a point against Merlot.Positives of Merlot: it's a rosy, darker shade on the rose pink spectrum. Sand is like a pink sand.Negative of Sand: it took longer to cure than Merlot and I had to use two coats. It also doesn't look as natural with my skin tone, but I'm olive toned. I knew when ordering it might be a tough call; it's good as a base coat and base color, and smoothing coat. I forgot to take a picture this time.Edit: 2nd pic is a 3rd set I did using merlot under Makartt gel full cover ballerina med tips, and an AWSM French I'd just painted. It's my favorite set.Edit; I've ordered 3× now. I like it under tips to help protect nails on top of regular base but ALSO on Peel-It-Off-Base. It's very pretty underneath sheer white shimmer glitter polish. Basically I don't do a manicure without it anymore.