hI LADIES
my friend offered her nails to me to practise on i am doing a home learn gel course so of course i sacked betty the trainer hand and said yes !!
So today was the day when i looked at them they were really badly bitten not even enough f. edge to file for the tip, anyway i did everything as i should really made sure i preped them well.

when id finished i was really pleased with how they looked gave her the care lecture bla bla and so on !!
a coulple of hours later she txt to say 2 had come off and a few were cracked HOW ???
CONFUSED as to what went wrong was the gel to thin (applied 3 coats) cured for 3-4 mins each time did i over file help please hugh loss of confidence going on now !!

If enhancements come off that quickly ... they were never on in the first place.

Now if they were never on in the first place, that means there was no bond between the product and the plate.

If there was no bond between the product and the platre, then it is down to PREP not being sufficient or your technique when trying to create the bond.

It is really important that the plate is free of all cuticle, moisture and oils. If that is done correctly then it is equally important that your first layer of gel is 'worked' well onto the nail. If you just gently paint it on to the surface of the prepared plate ... it is not enough.

You must almost 'scrub' that first layer onto the surface.

So ... is anything standing out to you there that you maybe didn't do?

See if you can get her in to take pictures! It helps if we can see what happened. Some more info would help, too. How long were the gels? What was your prep? If you walk us through your service I think we might be able to help more. Nails don't usually just fall off, so we'll help you get this figured out!
Keep your chin up!

there was cuticle left i went over them twice to make sure with a cuticle knife, i didn't press the gel in on the first layer i applied it like a varnish, when i applied the tips there were no air bubbles and they blended really well also she had them quite long..im racking my brain now going over it

when you put the first layer on the dvd says thin like varnish but nothing about working it in ! could you please explain this to me ?? thank you

Were the tips on properly hun?
What I mean is on a nail biter you have to pull the side walls back at the free edge end so that you can make sure the tip is fitted properly, as they tend to have bulbous(sp?) side walls where they've been bitten at.

What length did you make them?
For a nail biter you should keep them short.

she is coming back thursday!! ok the prep..
1. washed our hands then sanitised mine and hers
2. cleaned hers with gel prep/residue remover
2.pushed back cuticle and nipped off excess, cleaned dry cuticle off with end of hoff stick then again to make sure with cuticle knife
3.buffed off shine and etched the surface gently.
4.brushed off dust with manicure brush
5.sized and applied tips
6.filed in seam with 180 file and buffer.
7.Applied first layer of gel like varnish and cured for 4 mins
8.Applied 2nd builder layer cured 3-4 mins
9.filed wasnt happy so applied futher layer of gel
10. refiled and applied last layer like varnish
11.cuticle oil
12.washed hands hand cream applied and clear varnish..

Between steps 6 & 7 did you cleanse/remove dust etc from the nail??

You need to use a nail dehydrator once you've finished cleansing the nail plate and applying tips.

..
hi yeah i pulled the walls back to check 2 of them were a little bulbous not to bad though i also they were quite flat so i followed the shape and filed the tips smaller to accommodate

oh my course didn't say that or put one in the kit !! i have used the gel on myself they are still on and look good !!

yeah i have a nail brush, the kit comes with a residue remover on the dvd it says you clean the nails with this, is it a prep as well or just residue remover??
it doesn't say prep but that is what they say to use!

Did you use a primer or bonder? I don't know what line you're using but Akzentz has something called Affixit. It goes on AFTER cleaning off the dust and BEFORE the Bonding Gel. When you do your Bonding Gel wiggle your brush on the nail to kind of "scrub" it on. You want it to look like it has fuzz on the nail. (I guess that how to put it!)

Here are some good tutorials. Gina does a great job with gels.
Tutorials

if they fell off then there will be no gel left on the nail at all....and as Geeg says, not on properly. If there is gel still on the nail but the tip has come off then they broke off, not fell off.

If they broke off i would guess that due to lack of experience that were not built up correctly or where too long for her.

Nail biters are the most challenging of clients....i would try practising your skills on a decent nail bed first.

yeah not a great choice for a first set !! there is no primer in the set, i will do the srub on the first layer and see how i go on thursday! thank you everyone x