Cloudy Acrylic - I need help.

[bean]

I am inexperienced and am in need of peoples help:

Can anyone explain to me why when i have buffed up the acrylic it is cloudy?

What size brush is best to use and what sort?

Brand of false nails? Long durability and snap resistant?

Please i need help xxxxxx

 

[ValencianNails]

How long have you been trained for and which company's products did you train with?
Your profile doesn't say and it's always helpful to put as much info as possible.

 

[bean]

HI,

I trained at my local college all the products they used there were Millennium.

I qualified in June this year and started the course in September last year, i no i cant be perfect, i have been trying to get as much practice as i can, but it's just annoying after spending so much time on doing them then they fall off a few days later!

xxxx

 

[geeg]

It could be your product .. it could be you or a combination of both.

Best training is company training with a GOOD brand.

You are probably finishing with a file that is too coarse if it looks cloudy or it may be the product just looks like that as, with respect Millennium is not a high end product.

If the surface is shiny but the product looks cloudy then it is the product. If the surface is not shiny then that is one reason it looks cloudy!!

It is best to use a brush that you are comfortable with and can control. Large brushes give a better finish in my opinion and you will use larger brushes as you gain experience.

Nails only fall off if they were never on in the first place so I think your PREP needs to be looked at carefully ... you are obviously not going far enough in removing cuticle and other contaminants.

If you have completed the NVQ or VCTC you are eligible to convert to CND (Creative Nail Design) products by arranging a conversion class which IMO are the best products available ... call 08452106060 to talk to an academy advisor or have a look at Welcome - Sweet Squared

 

[bean]

Thankyou for your advice.

I dont use millennium anymore, i use star nails products. i use a size 5 flat brush at the moment.

Also i use millennium grit file at the end.

What do u mean getting my prep right, do you mean taking away the cuticle more first and etching the nail more?

xx

 

[SparkleJeanie]

Hi,
by prep, I think she probably means Sanitizing and dehydrating, this removes all oil that may be present on the nail surface. It sounds like your tutor was worse than mine. I have just trained at my local college, and although she didn't tell us much she did stress the importance of correct prep. Begginers have enough trouble with lifting without missing out the prep. I have just about mastered the lifting i think, got a set to last 3 weeks to infill without any major lifting.
I must say tho that most of what i now know about L&P is down to what i have read on this site, and not from my tutor. Thank you GEEG for the tutorials. You should take a look at them Bean.
x

 

[angel fingers]

removing all cuticle is vital with any brand, however etching the nail more is very inadvisable. you must only remove the shine from the nail. all quality products will adhere well to a thoroughly prepared shine free nail.

only low quality products will require more aggressive preparation than this.
there is a fab tutorial on prep in our tutorials section here on the site which is available via the navigation bar.

i'm wondering if your 'cloudiness' could be the result of inconsistent mix ratio.
as you are still relatively inexperienced it could be that you are using various amounts of liquid in each bead you apply and that is resulting in some of your beads being denser in colour than others and resulting in this cloudy effect you are refering to.

when you pick up your liquid fully imerse your brush and then draw the hairs over the side of your dappen dish to remove some of the liquid. do this the same amount of times for each bead and pick up the same amount of powder and you will then get much more consistent results and i hope that this may help you resolve your difficulties.

 

[geeg]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say you use Millennium grit file??? What Grit?

Finishing the surface of a nail enhancement is usually involves 2-3 different files and buffers and starts with a coarse grit buffer such as a 180 grit, and finishes with a very fine buffer such as a 1200 grit or more.


It sounds to me as though you really did not get much out of your college course or it was a very poor course. You do need more education for sure as things like Finishing and PREP are basic skills that are absolutely fundamental to both the look and the longevity of the nails you create. If you have not got these skills after a college course then they have not done their job, as whatever certificate they have handed you .... they have actually not qualified you to go to be able to go out and actually do the job they were supposedly training you to do.

 

[bean]

No, it's not that i havent been trained right, i know how to do the basic skill. i am just not aware of words like 180 grit, prep...what all these things are. Thats why i have come on here for peoples advice and recomendations. I just would like to know what peoples techniques are and how people do it different to me, as my technique is obviously proven not very good.

 

[pkkelly]

if you were trained right you would be aware of prep and 180 grit as you use different course grit buffers to do nail enhancements, prep is the most important job in nail enhancements without being trained properly how to prep the nail can result in alot of problems, you need to do a better course!

 

[geeg]

No, it's not that i havent been trained right, i know how to do the basic skill. i am just not aware of words like 180 grit, prep...what all these things are. Thats why i have come on here for peoples advice and recomendations. I just would like to know what peoples techniques are and how people do it different to me, as my technique is obviously proven not very good.

Hi Bean,

PREP is short for for preparation of the natural nail before enhancements are applied.

The grit of a file tells you how course it is or how smooth it is. for example,
The LOWER the grit number, the more course the file or buffer is, because being larger pieces of grit there are less of them on the abrasive..

The HIGHER the grit number the smoother the file because there are millions of tiny pieces of grit on the file instead of just a few thousand.

This should have been taught on your coarse and that is wasn't is shocking.

May I ask again what your qualification is .. NVQ or VCTC .. or are you not sure?

 

[bean]

To be honest with you, now you told me all of this, i am aware of it, it's just i need refreshing. My course was so intense, it was only one night a week for 3 hours, and at the time i am working a full time job and i was doing a course at work! I had so much on. It is a lot to take in, because there is so much packed into the course!

The course i done was nail tech level 2 nvq.

Sabrina x

 

[GTNKRISTI]

I totally agree with geeg on this, these questons should be covered, as they are the most basic things you need to know to do enhancements- while we are on this subject tho, would you guys mind me asking what the requirments are over there in the uk in order to do nails? I have been interested since I came upon this great site, as I am from the US and we have to become licensed in the state that we reside in, and in my case I live in Colorado, and I had to take a 600 hr. course in a beauty college in order to test out for my manicurist license- it took me about 6 months to do this, and I have also been taking more classes even since I became licensed.....I just wanted to see if someone could just give me some info on how it is where you are, and then that way when i read peoples posts they will make more sence to me- I would really appreciate it and thanks in advance....

 

[geeg]

I totally agree with geeg on this, these questons should be covered, as they are the most basic things you need to know to do enhancements- while we are on this subject tho, would you guys mind me asking what the requirments are over there in the uk in order to do nails? I have been interested since I came upon this great site, as I am from the US and we have to become licensed in the state that we reside in, and in my case I live in Colorado, and I had to take a 600 hr. course in a beauty college in order to test out for my manicurist license- it took me about 6 months to do this, and I have also been taking more classes even since I became licensed.....I just wanted to see if someone could just give me some info on how it is where you are, and then that way when i read peoples posts they will make more sence to me- I would really appreciate it and thanks in advance....

There is no licence required in the UK to do nails!
Anyone can buy nail products and do nails. They can buy pro products from ebay and they can buy them from most product distributors too ... as most just want to sell their products and collect the money and don't give a damn about what they are doing to our industry.

One positive thing is that you can't get insurance without a recognised certificate of education BUT then those that would buy and use products without education would really not care about having insurance in my opinion.

This situation in the UK is the primary reason why choosing the best education is so important. Companies like CND offer amazing education for both new and experienced nail technicians, and by the time one has reached Master level with CND a person has had many many hours of both education and practice. It is one of the main expalanations as to why CND techs are so passionate about and loyal to CND. They are justly proud of the time and effort they have spent to get trained well for the job they do. Another reason why so many CND techs have the great businesses they have.

The only government standard in the UK is the absolute minimum standard offered by colleges .. the standard of the courses in general is pretty poor although there are some really good trainers in some of the colleges for the lucky ones who stumble onto them.

I actually think that even in the USA (from the techs we have spoken to who take these 600 hour required education) the education is not the best either. So many say that most time is spent on learning the requirements to pass the state board exams rather than how to beautiful nails and they still come out of the course not really being equipped to go into business. We hear this all the time here on this site from american techs.

 

[GTNKRISTI]

thanks geeg for explaining this to me- I totally agree with you that there are many courses here in the usa that are not the best either- I feel very lucky that I chose the school that I did because I had a great instructor and was taught on opi-I however changed to creative and have taken more courses since- actually you should feel lucky over there in the uk that creative does so much- I am waiting to take the more advanced courses w cnd, and i hope it will be sooner than later-as there isn't much here in colorado- i guess i just have to be patient- do you know of anyone here in the us, posssibly in colorado that I could even do one on one with? I actually feel very good about the job I do, but I really want the Masters Course- it would be my best accomplishment, as I love cnd and I just do not feel like I am going to feel "whole" til I am able to do this!lol....thanks-I think that no matter where you are, you get what you put into it- you never stop learning, you cannot learn everything in 3 days, but in the big scheme of things, I realized early on that 6 months was just a drop in the bucket-I am always trying to learn, and thank God for this site- as I learn from you guys everytime I am here- thanks again!!!!!:hug: