I have had chrome nails almost continuously for years and I still get the same question in my comments every week, which is some version of "how are they still shiny". So here is the full thing: what chrome actually is, why it stops looking like that, and the handful of habits that make the difference between three weeks and one.
It's a powder, not a polish
Chrome isn't a colour you paint on. It's an extremely fine pigment powder that gets buffed into a gel top coat while that coat is still slightly tacky, and then sealed under another layer. The mirror effect comes from the powder particles lying flat against each other, which is why it only works over a properly cured, glassy-smooth base. Over anything textured it goes patchy and no amount of extra powder fixes it.
This matters for you because it explains every failure mode. If your chrome went cloudy, the seal was thin. If it lifted at the edges, the free edge wasn't capped. If it looked incredible for two days and then dull, the top coat was under-cured. Almost nothing that goes wrong with chrome is the chrome's fault.
The two things that ruin it
Hand sanitiser and cleaning products, in that order. Alcohol breaks down the top layer of the seal gradually, and because it happens evenly across the whole nail you don't notice it as damage — you notice it as the shine quietly going away. If you use sanitiser constantly, chrome is going to be a two-week manicure rather than a three-week one, and that's just the trade.
Cleaning products are the faster version of the same problem, and the fix is genuinely just gloves. I know. I resisted it for years and then gave in and my nails immediately lasted longer, which was annoying to discover.
Cuticle oil is not about the chrome
Everyone recommends cuticle oil for gel nails and nobody explains why, so it sounds like an upsell. It isn't. Oil keeps the natural nail plate flexible, and a flexible nail bends with the gel instead of separating from it. Lifting at the base — the thing that eventually lets water underneath and ends the manicure — is mostly a rigidity problem.
Once a day is fine. Twice if you remember. It won't make the chrome shinier and it will make it last.
One chip is not a removal
If a single nail chips, a decent tech will patch that one nail in about ten minutes for very little money, and most people don't know to ask. Getting a whole set removed and redone because of one bad encounter with a car door is a waste of both your money and your nail plate.
What you should not do is file the chip smooth yourself and carry on. You'll break the seal on the free edge and the whole nail lifts within days.
None of this is complicated, it's just none of it is explained at the appointment. Cap the edges, wear gloves, oil daily, patch don't replace.