Hi!

I've finally managed to get my acrylic aplication right...well, almost right. I'm using white powder from NSI to do the french tip but the white turns out quite pale. I would like it to be really white instead. What could be going wrong? Or is it supposed to turn out more of a "natural" white color rather than the extreme white that I want?

Hi,

I'm not sure about NSI products but when i trained with creative they said that if the white wasnt white enough then it might be because there is some pink acrylic over the white or the white has been buffed too thin.

Hope this helps
lisa

Hopefuly someone with more knowledge on the NSI range can help... But it the meantime I just wanted to point out that one thing that can contribute to this is your ratio.
The wetter you go, the less pigmentation, the less 'white' it is

Hope this helps

No it's not you babe, it's definitely the product! I had been using star nails pink and white acrylic and decided to try NSI, i bought a trial kit and was MORE than dissappointed with the result. Even more so as the lady on the phone had said "Once you try our powder you'll never use any other" she absoutely raved about it There's hardly any difference in colour between the pink and white powder, even the competition "brilliant white" and "brillian pink" were SO pale :?

I do however prefer their liquid to star nails liquid, so looks like i'll just have to use star nails powder and NSI liquid until i can afford to change to Creative. :?

This is a big no no. You are not a chemist (or are you). You should never mix one company's monomer with anothers polymer. Apart from the possible reaction issue there are insurance issues here as well. They will not work correctly together.

You must know your chemicals and use them correctly.

Hmmm... that's a very fair point. However, i did a full set on myself and they turned out beautifully, so i doubt there would be a problem.

But having said that you're right, i should check this out - does anyone know how i would go about doing this?

I would advise you get Doug Schoon's Nail Structure and Product Chemistry book.

You may find that your nails appear to be fine but they may not be as strong as they could be. More importantly if your polymer has not absorbed all of the monomer due to the mix ratios being different etc. then you could be setting yourself up for over exposure problems in time to come.

If you use this mixture on a client and they have problems and look for compensation, by mixing companies products I would imagine you would not be covered by insurance.

This is something we were taught very early on. If your training provided did not tell you this then they are questionable.

I'll definitely get this book - thanks for the info Fiona.

NSI do two basic white powders, one is a natural white and one is bold white. I use the bold white and it always comes up bright.

Maybe you are using the natural

Hi Toni,

I got a trial pack of all their different powders and it was so hard to see which was pink and which was white in all of them...

But even the natural white should at least look a little white? It honestly blends in with the pink so well it looks as though you've just put on regular clear acrylic....Maybe i got a bad batch or something....? :?

Sounds like you are using a natural colouration?!?
Natural powders (at least CND's) are designed to have the pigmentation of a natural nail plate (which is kind of transparent white). Sounds like that is what you may be using as I know they do have a pretty strong white.

As for the mixing of systems... They may look and even hold up ok... but the real problem lies in the amount of initiator to monomer. If those levels are different (which I would bet my money on they are as most do differ) you will run a substantial risk of overexposure as much of the monomer may not ever fully cure (or rather it could take months for it to fully polymerise).

here is an excerpt from Doug’s book:
I met a woman a couple of weeks ago who after 8 months of going to her tek now experiences the most extreme symptoms of permanent sensitization I have ever witnessed. Her tek happened to be intermixing systems. Sad thing about this case is... the client happens to be a tek herself. This almost put her clean out of business (she now has to work with nitrile gloves to prevent breakout).

Hope this helps all

Right, i'm soaking them all off tonight and starting again!! Thanks Toni and Sam.

What would i do without this site? ops: :?

I have to say I trained with NSI and I found the L&P to be a great product to work with, it was the sales and deliveries that let me down. The BOLD white was just what it says BOLD WHITE, you must have been using a different colour