Hola! I was wondering if anyone had any problems with Retention and Creative powder. Every time I did a set using the salons choice of product I noticed everyone had lifting. Usually from the free edge up but sometimes around the cuticle area of the nail. I tried it with and without primer. I tried using it on me and same thing happens. I even went as far to getting my drill out to use on my natural nail (which I know shouldnt be done) thinking that would solve the problem because of insufficient prep of the nail with a file on my part. Still liftage. So I decided to veto acrylics at the shop til the boss man finally gave in to gettin me some Tammy Taylor goodies. Alot of the people I know dislike Tammy Taylor, but once I learned the system I've had no problem. She just came out with an xtra adhesion liquid, too...which I have to get for one of my clients whose pointer nail on the left hand always pops off. I think she does that trying to pry her mountain dews open, but she wont admit it. SMH Anywho, so... is it only me? Should I donate the Creative stash we have to our lovely dumpster in the back?

Did you have any training with CND prior to using their products? It doesn't sound as though you did....therefore I think that was you main mistake.

I don't think you can criticise a product...or despatch it to the dumpster just because you did not learn how to use it properly.
You most certainlly do not need to take an e-file to a natural nail to grt adhesion with CND products, all that is necessary I to remove the surface shine and dehydrate....did you use Scrubfresh?

Also what mix ratio ( liquid to powder) did you use....as TT is totally different from CND, much wetter. If you were working too wet with CND that could have caused your problems too....... again proper traning would have helped with that. HTH

If you have been trained to use the Tammy Taylor product and are using the Creative product in the same way then this is probably why you are having problems.

Each product has different nuances - I believe that the TT product is used very wet, CND is not, so there could be an issue there.

It is always easy for technicians to blame the products when they have problems but if you did some Creative training then you might find the answers to your problems.

If you list here your exact steps then something might jump out to those Creative trained technicians which might explain why you are having these problems.

Hope that helps.

From what you are saying "lifting from the free edge", I would describe this as separation, not lifting.

Your post actually seems like an advertisement, (we all know Creative doesn't lift when it's in the hands of a professional) .... thanks for your first post after being a member for 2 years.

hmm i have tried a few different brands of l&P and I can't master any of them I think we all have very different ways to use our hands and some find creative easy to learn and some (like me) have a hard time with it. That doesn't say anything about the brand. Lifting is all about application. Breakage, how they file, soak and so on is the product.

Creative could be the best product if you learned to master it. Since so many people use creative, there must be something to it. And I know that my problem with Creatives L&P is my problem, because I don't have the training.

I found that Brisa gel worked well for me without the training, but i know I could be so much better if I had the training....(which I will)

If you feel Creatives is too hard for you to master...yes then you should look into using another brand, but don't blame the brand.

I do believe that there are really bad products out there, but Creative could hardly be one of them, when it's so popular among the worlds best techs

Technically, Retention+ will give you twice the level of adhesion as TT as long as it is applied according to instructions. TT relies heavily on acidic primer prep - Retention+ relies on cleaning the plate. Therefore I would suspect a prep issue. Check the tutorials out for one on prep. That will help immensly.