Help, what am I doing wrong with Gelish application?

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

carolinemaki

New Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
1
Location
Fort Worth
I wanted to start doing gel polish at home because I think spending 50 dollars every 2 weeks is a very bad investment.
I started off with the sensationail system and my polish would peel off immediately, so I thought okay, this is because it's cheap.
So I bought with the system that my nail salon uses which is the CND Brisa lamp with Gelish foundation and top coat.
This is the steps I take:
Push back cuticles
Buff the nails
Clean with alcohol
Gelish pH bond
Very thin coat of foundation- cure 30 seconds
Wipe with lint free pad
2 thin coats of gel polish- cure 1 min each
Top coat- cure 30 seconds.
Clean with alcohol.
(I cap after every layer)

Then once again immediately after, the polish will come off in one huge piece, like a press on nail. What am I doing wrong?

PS my nails are in great condition.
 
I wanted to start doing gel polish at home because I think spending 50 dollars every 2 weeks is a very bad investment.
I started off with the sensationail system and my polish would peel off immediately, so I thought okay, this is because it's cheap.
So I bought with the system that my nail salon uses which is the CND Brisa lamp with Gelish foundation and top coat.
This is the steps I take:
Push back cuticles
Buff the nails
Clean with alcohol
Gelish pH bond
Very thin coat of foundation- cure 30 seconds
Wipe with lint free pad
2 thin coats of gel polish- cure 1 min each
Top coat- cure 30 seconds.
Clean with alcohol.
(I cap after every layer)

Then once again immediately after, the polish will come off in one huge piece, like a press on nail. What am I doing wrong?

PS my nails are in great condition.




Sounds like the bad investment was you buying all of
these products & not knowing how to use them.

Unfortunately , I don't think you will Get any help From anyone here. Everyone here is a trained professional & you saying that going to a professional to get your nails done is a bad investment does not come accross in the best way.

You say your nails are in great condition, probably because you were going to a professional who is trained in nails & knows what they are doing & how to use the products.

Good luck!
 
Oooh girl so much sass. I didn't mean to come off as insulting. I meant it was a bad investment for my personal income and budget. The total cost of the lamp and gel polishes were $250 dollars. That's around 5 gel manicures vs. a significant more at home.
And actually- my nails are in great condition because I haven't been able to get a gel manicure in several months, again due to my income.
I came to this forum to be educated, can you really fault me for wanting to learn and do a better job at something that's a hobby for me and that I love to do?
 
If I couldn't afford to go and get gels done I would just paint my nails with regular polish!
There is a reason it costs more for a gel manicure.
 
Sounds like the bad investment was you buying all of
these products & not knowing how to use them.

Unfortunately , I don't think you will Get any help From anyone here. Everyone here is a trained professional & you saying that going to a professional to get your nails done is a bad investment does not come accross in the best way.

You say your nails are in great condition, probably because you were going to a professional who is trained in nails & knows what they are doing & how to use the products.

Good luck!

No offense was taken here. What's the point of having the "ask a pro" category if no one wants to answer her simple question.

Not everyone can afford salon visits every few weeks, and I'm sure she knows that doing it herself will not be as good as getting it done professionally without a lot of practice/training. I don't see the harm in her question. My clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves (about half of them are or were licensed nail techs, and cosmetologists), they come for a pleasant environment and to take time for themselves.

[pro advice removed]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oooh girl so much sass. I didn't mean to come off as insulting. I meant it was a bad investment for my personal income and budget. The total cost of the lamp and gel polishes were $250 dollars. That's around 5 gel manicures vs. a significant more at home.
And actually- my nails are in great condition because I haven't been able to get a gel manicure in several months, again due to my income.
I came to this forum to be educated, can you really fault me for wanting to learn and do a better job at something that's a hobby for me and that I love to do?

I don't mean to sound rude but I think the point is, why should we pay hundreds-thousands for our training, then help you for free?

You've spent all that money on your kit, why not take a class so you know what to do with it?
 
The point of Ask a Pro is to get help with queries about a pro service you've had or may be considering or something along those lines [emoji4]

It's not so that DIY-ers can ask for step by step advice on application basically saving themselves the hassle and cost of some proper training and to save visiting a professional at all.

And if your nails are in great condition because you've stopped having gel manicures, I'd advise visiting a better tech next time[emoji15]
 
This wasn't in the ask a pro section! It was moved here after I replied.

Unfortunately, when I read it, it came accross to me in a rude way. Obviously not everyone read it that way, but I did.
 
Last edited:
No offense was taken here. What's the point of having the "ask a pro" category if no one wants to answer her simple question.

Not everyone can afford salon visits every few weeks, and I'm sure she knows that doing it herself will not be as good as getting it done professionally without a lot of practice/training. I don't see the harm in her question. My clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves (about half of them are or were licensed nail techs, and cosmetologists), they come for a pleasant environment and to take time for themselves.
As a rule here, we do not give instructions to diy's.
 
No offense was taken here. What's the point of having the "ask a pro" category if no one wants to answer her simple question.

Not everyone can afford salon visits every few weeks, and I'm sure she knows that doing it herself will not be as good as getting it done professionally without a lot of practice/training. I don't see the harm in her question. My clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves (about half of them are or were licensed nail techs, and cosmetologists), they come for a pleasant environment and to take time for themselves.


Wow that's great. I shouldn't have bothered with training. Could have just came here and asked for your help. Silly me.

So what would you do if all of your clients decide to DIY from now on?
Will you give them a gel mani & explain the process to all of those too?
[emoji19]
 
Wow that's great. I shouldn't have bothered with training. Could have just came here and asked for your help. Silly me.

So what would you do if all of your clients decide to DIY from now on?
Will you give them a gel mani & explain the process to all of those too?
[emoji19]

This is getting so funny. My clients often ask questions about the process and I have no problem explaining it to them. Like I said my clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves, they come to me for an enjoyable experience and my creativity.

I also don't market myself to people who cannot afford my services. So if someone wants to do it themselves I have no problem showing them, it's not a client lost to me.

We are ONLY taking about the correct application of gel polish here (and the intructions are usually listed on the packaging anyways lol).
There are a lot of other bennifits to professional training such as sanitation, nail extensions, anoatomy, business, etc. So I'm sorry to all of you if I made your training feel pointless by explaining a very tiny aspect of what we do for people.
 
This is getting so funny. My clients often ask questions about the process and I have no problem explaining it to them. Like I said my clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves, they come to me for an enjoyable experience and my creativity.

I also don't market myself to people who cannot afford my services. So if someone wants to do it themselves I have no problem showing them, it's not a client lost to me.

We are ONLY taking about the correct application of gel polish here (and the intructions are usually listed on the packaging anyways lol).
There are a lot of other bennifits to professional training such as sanitation, nail extensions, anoatomy, business, etc. So I'm sorry to all of you if I made your training feel pointless by explaining a very tiny aspect of what we do for people.
Perhaps next time, you could very helpfully PM your free advice to the DIYers.
 
This is getting so funny. My clients often ask questions about the process and I have no problem explaining it to them. Like I said my clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves, they come to me for an enjoyable experience and my creativity.

I also don't market myself to people who cannot afford my services. So if someone wants to do it themselves I have no problem showing them, it's not a client lost to me.

We are ONLY taking about the correct application of gel polish here (and the intructions are usually listed on the packaging anyways lol).
There are a lot of other bennifits to professional training such as sanitation, nail extensions, anoatomy, business, etc. So I'm sorry to all of you if I made your training feel pointless by explaining a very tiny aspect of what we do for people.

Didn't make me feel like my training was pointless.
However what gets me is you give advice like this, diyers get hold of pro products,do their own gel manicure. Don't apply or remove it correctly, blame the products and then tell every Tom, Dick or Harry that it was a particular brand that was the problem & it ruined their nails [emoji19]
 
I had no idea this was a forum for professional seeking advice for professionals. I thought it ask advice TO professionals, I obviously did not navigate this website very well. I'm asking not asking for your secret tips. I'm not going to put nail salons out of business by asking for advice for one single technique. I do this for fun because I really enjoy it and I find it to be therapeutic. I figured I could come here for some info but HOLY hell, there are some strong reactions. From what I gather, I believe that I would benefit from training, which I was interested in before so I'm going to look into it!
 
No offense was taken here. What's the point of having the "ask a pro" category if no one wants to answer her simple question.

Not everyone can afford salon visits every few weeks, and I'm sure she knows that doing it herself will not be as good as getting it done professionally without a lot of practice/training. I don't see the harm in her question. My clients don't come to me because they don't know how to do it themselves (about half of them are or were licensed nail techs, and cosmetologists), they come for a pleasant environment and to take time for themselves.

Thank you so much for your kind response! I would absolutely come visit you and I love that it started as a hobby for you! This is a fascinating industry!

[pro advice removed]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As mentioned above, the Ask a Pro forum is for salon professionals to ask for advice from other salon professionals who are trained in a particular field that they are not.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that detailed and technical information should be given to non professionals who are untrained.

OP - there are lots of other forums on the WWW where those without training can ask for general advice, but sadly it's not here I'm afraid.

I shall now close this thread.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top