4 thin coats, kinda streaky. Doesn't level like regular polish, but that's the point lol. I think I prefer thin coats of regular gel. I'm sure this has its uses, or takes more practice. I'm pretty good at polishing my nails though. As of this writing, it's just ok.Pic, please excuse my calloused palm, the pinky is the square container gel. The other fingers are the modelones gel sheer that I went over when trying the square box, I did those last week. You can see the brush stroke heights in the See full review