Advice on Shellac French manicure

[crystaltash]

Hi geeks. A while ago I posted that I was having a few teething problems with Shellac, in that it was chipping off clients nails only days after it was put on. It turns out that I was filing the free edges after the top coat had been cured, therefore breaking the seal. So I got it sorted. Well, with the colour anyway.

My problem is still with the French polish. I LOVE doing it cos the end result is beautiful and I love mixing the romantique and negligée,etc. However, mine never last on clients. My full time girl does them on people and they r getting the good two weeks out of them. But last week, I did 2 sets and one of the clients was back the next day cos the White had chipped off one nail!

Then another client- who is so hard to please called me and said that hers had chipped only days after too! Both of these clients were being re-shellacked by me as my full timer had other appointments, but she had done them previously.
She reckons I'm not putting it on thick enough, but I told her it's thin to win and she shouldn't be putting it on too thick. But hers last longer and they don't wrinkle or anything when they come out of the lamp so they can't be that thick.
I'm using scrubfresh and the proper lamp and when I'm starting from scratch, I do all the manicure work using cuticleaway. I've even tried doing a dry prep in case I'm not de-activating the cuticle remover properly.

So I do a base coat, romantique, cream puff, negligée, top coat, capping all edges inbetween and d:sperse followed by solar oil. The only suspect thing I notice is that when I put the White on, there are some darker patches in the White where it hasn't evened out on the nail, so I try to fill it in without making it too thick. Sometimes my whites wrinkle but the other coats smooth it out.
Could someone please point me in the right direction? Geeg u gave me some good advice last time- any thoughts?
Many many thanks

 

[geeg]

Hi geeks. A while ago I posted that I was having a few teething problems with Shellac, in that it was chipping off clients nails only days after it was put on. It turns out that I was filing the free edges after the top coat had been cured, therefore breaking the seal. So I got it sorted. Well, with the colour anyway.

My problem is still with the French polish. I LOVE doing it cos the end result is beautiful and I love mixing the romantique and negligée,etc. However, mine never last on clients. My full time girl does them on people and they r getting the good two weeks out of them. But last week, I did 2 sets and one of the clients was back the next day cos the White had chipped off one nail!

Then another client- who is so hard to please called me and said that hers had chipped only days after too! Both of these clients were being re-shellacked by me as my full timer had other appointments, but she had done them previously.
She reckons I'm not putting it on thick enough, but I told her it's thin to win and she shouldn't be putting it on too thick. But hers last longer and they don't wrinkle or anything when they come out of the lamp so they can't be that thick.
I'm using scrubfresh and the proper lamp and when I'm starting from scratch, I do all the manicure work using cuticleaway. I've even tried doing a dry prep in case I'm not de-activating the cuticle remover properly.

So I do a base coat, romantique, cream puff, negligée, top coat, capping all edges inbetween and d:sperse followed by solar oil. The only suspect thing I notice is that when I put the White on, there are some darker patches in the White where it hasn't evened out on the nail, so I try to fill it in without making it too thick. Sometimes my whites wrinkle but the other coats smooth it out.
Could someone please point me in the right direction? Geeg u gave me some good advice last time- any thoughts?
Many many thanks

Are you sure it is not the clients nails that are chipping and taking the colour with the chip? ... Shellac really doesn't chip .. I've never seen it chip .. it isn't brittle enough to chip... too flexible IYSWIM. Are you sure the client isn't doing 'something' that has abraded the end of the nail and taken the colour off? I mean, the colour coat is not indestructible after all! Unfortunately when I let my Shellacked nails get too long I do tend to whack and occasionally scuff the end of an odd nail, and I have been known to 'grate' the ends when cooking, on the food grater!! :irked:

I think you need to sort out what your clients are actually doing (cause I'm sure this is not happening on all nails across the board) and stop beating yourself up about it .. maybe your nail tech partner has better clients than you do ... maybe your nail tech partner makes her clients have a more realistic length of nail for their lifestyle than you do ... who knows .. only you. Maybe your clients are not using Solar Oil every day? And finally maybe you need to explain to your clients that you are not responsible for excessive wear and tear on their Shellacked nails.


Shellac is part of a manicure .. this is a colour coat .. this is a colour coat which will stay perfect with normal wear and tear for at least 2 weeks .. the client has to do their part in keeping it normal.

It certainly is not realistic to tell clients that their nails will be perfect no matter what they do!! You know clients .. any excuse for a freebie ... and they never want to take responsibility for what they do to their nails.

I have complete confidence in Shellac .. I wear it all the time and change it every 3 weeks .. I use my hands excessively and I do not wear gloves ... I have the odd accident but I know what has caused it ... I would never take a client's word re 'chips' etc as I KNOW how this product performs as I wear it day in and day out. I have 200% confidence in the wear-ability of Shellac as I have worn it for 6 months and given it some stick. Maybe you should do the same and then you would have more confidence and know that this is most likely clients causing the problems rather than you. :hug:

 

[fingertip49]

I would love to give it a chance, but without a lamp i am scuppered.

 

[Nail Perfection]

When doing the white, try removing most of the product from the brush. You will be surprised how much product is still left to work with. This way the brush is not overloaded with product and you should get an even finish.