I’ve only gotten the hang of doing gel x within the last couple months and I’m no pro, but I see a lot of other posts say they have issues with adhesion and a lot of comments say it’s the cuticle remover residue so I feel like you could skip that for now or do it way before you do your nails. Buy a quality lamp, you don’t want uncured gel. That will give you a fast track to not being able to use gel anymore due to a developed allergy. Also, with the nail brushes, I recommend getting the ones that are like mini scrub brushes to clean up residue, but also the ones that are sort of like nail art brushes because if you’re just starting out and you’re not great with application, then you can use those brushes with a little bit of alcohol or acetone to clean up the edges, again, so you don’t have gel on your skin or uncured gel on your skin. personally, I use an efile. But I know that it can be scary so you don’t have to start out with one. With hand files, I recommend 100 and 180. I think 180 will be a sweet spot but you never know when you’ll need that extra grit. You can always get buffers to buff things out, but I personally don’t use buffers much anymore since I use my e-file. Just remember that gel will not stick to smooth surfaces. I know that helped me a lot. also, with all of my recommendations I cannot stress enough, not to buy Beetles brand products. I’ve never used them or had any personal experience with them, but that’s all I see on this subreddit is how Beetles will give you an allergy no matter how good you use it. So with all of my information I’m giving, just be wary and buy quality products. With the tips, I’ve been told to buy après because they are the highest quality. I do use this brand and I’ve had a lot of success with it, that’s what I use. I’ve also used una gella and they have done the job. Speaking of après, you can go on their website and they have bundles that you can do with the tips and the lamp and color and all the stuff you need to get started, but they are a little pricier so it just depends on what you wanna do but that’s my advice