Using a pre-mixed or Gel product for making nail enhancements requires a completely different brush technique to Liquid/Powder enhancements. The way you hold the brush will be slightly different and the angles at which you work with the brush are also different. In fact the brush is different being made of synthetic bristles rather than natural hair, which would be too soft to support the product.

As with anything, there are many techniques that can be employed to make a beautiful result with gel. I will detail a couple of them but if you are working and making beautiful enhancements using a technique that is different to the ones I mention, then don’t change. If however you have not got a set routine then some of the ideas listed may help you to develop your own style and efficient way of working.

Gel products vary, as do the products in other systems. There are many gels that are generic (basically all bought from the same manufacturer and labeled by the supplier) and there are others that are branded and still another with very new technology and patented chemistry. They all have their own different ‘feel’ and characteristics and you as the technician must be adaptable to change and learn how to work differently if you decide to change from one system to another.

Some gels hold their shape, some are runny, some become surface smooth when cured under the UV lamp and others tend to pool or self-level, some are very sticky and stringy and some are not. Some gels are ‘one component’ and some are three component. This really means that the system uses one gel for every layer or three different gels to be employed for each different layer.

Whatever type of gel you use, the steps to making an enhancement of one colour are the same: The first layer (generally known as the Bonder Layer) is thin; the second layer (generally known as the Builder Layer is thicker), and the final layer (generally known as the Finishing Layer or top coat glossy layer which is thin). Each layer necessitates a different brush technique.

The Bonder Layer

The grip on the brush is as normal (as described in Brush Control Part 1 – Getting a grip) and the angle of the brush when working is similar to painting a nail.

The bonder layer is always thin and brushed well onto the nail surface. Some describe it as ‘scrubbing’ the gel onto the surface – but that description always makes me cringe at the thought of the brush doing the scrubbing! Not good for the brush! I prefer to describe the brushing technique as similar to painting a wall with a brush and emulsion paint. You never paint in one direction only, but in several directions working the paint smoothly onto the wall. Similarly, this is how you will ‘work’ the gel onto the nail plate when doing this first bonder layer. Always make sure that you have control of the brush and never let the gel touch the skin surrounding the nail plate. If you like you can finish off your brushing in one direction from eponychium to free edge making sure you also carry the gel along the sides and the free edge. Cure under the UV Lamp that belongs to your system and for the recommended time for your system.

Particular attention should be paid to making sure that every layer of gel is brushed onto the sides and free edge of the nail to ensure the entire nail is encased in gel. If you neglect this step, the gel will tend to split away or chip away from the free edge area later. Remember that gels tend to shrink or pull away from where you have placed them when curing, so you must compensate for this trait by ‘capping’ the end of the nail.

The Builder Layer

The grip on the brush is as normal and the angle of the brush when working is perpendicular or at a right angle to the nail. (Handle straight up in the air)

This is the layer where things get very different to Liquid/Powder technique. The reason for this is that gel is a totally different medium and being sticky, it is not possible to pat it into the shape you want. Instead you must ‘tease’ it into the shape you want and very delicately.

Take a scoop of gel onto your brush and then laying the bristles of the brush across zone 2, twizzle or twist the brush out of the bead depositing the bead in zone 2. The bead should be about the size of a ‘petit pois’, or very small pea, for the index middle and ring finger; slightly larger for the thumb and smaller for the pinky finger.

Your brush should be in a nice point and now holding it with the handle straight up in the air you will use only the point of the brush to move parts of the bead where you want them, leaving the bulk of the bead in zone 2 where you want the apex.