CND Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel and CND Additives

[Wee Fee]

We know Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel performs superbly as a Power Partner to CND Shellac and also CND Vinylux, extending wear time and giving extra protection to the clients who need it… But these are not the only methods for creating a beautiful colour with CND Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel!



**Before using this tutorial I recommend having CND’s step-by-step for Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel Natural Nail Overlay in front of you, I will refer to it throughout.
You can access it here:
https://www.cnd.com/resources/step-steps
If you are a nail professional you can register for free on cnd.com to access all the most up to date information and education resources from CND. It’s WELL worth taking the couple of minutes it takes to register!**



Step 1 - Perform CND P.E.P.
Start with P.E.P as detailed in CND’s step-by-step. For this technique I like to hold off on ScrubFreshing until AFTER I have mixed my coloured Smoothing Gel, this way your customised Smoothing Gel won’t be sitting gathering dust or be exposed to ambient UV light for more time than necessary.


Step 2 - Creating your Custom Smoothing Gel Colour
Take enough Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel to create the manicure and place in a clean pallet or on a clean mixing tile. Just take as much as you need, it is not recommended to store left over mixed custom colour gels, instead create them as you need them, service by service.
Add small ‘pinches’ of your chosen CND Additives to the Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel and mix with a small pallet knife or the flat end of a CND Gel Brush. Thoroughly mix by ‘smoothing’ or ‘folding’ the CND Additive into the Smoothing Gel, stirring will create troublesome bubbles in your Smoothing Gel.
*Add a MAXIMUM of 30% CND Additive to 70% Gel (7 parts Gel to 3 parts Additive). If you go over this ratio you will not be guaranteed a proper cure.
In reality you should need much LESS than 3 parts Additive to 7 parts gel, but if you do go over, simply add more Smoothing Gel to redress the ratio.
Set your customised Smoothing Gel aside while performing Step 3.


If you have never blended your own colours before or never taken a Custom Colour Blending Class this task might seem a bit daunting! What goes with what to make what??! If you want to make the most of this technique you must put time aside to PLAY – you are conducting professional research before implementing a new technique, this is part of your job description as a premium custom nail service provider!
Create small amounts of custom Smoothing Gel colours, making note of your recipes as you go and apply them to colour pops or colour wheels for your records. Some of my all time favorite mixes have come from trying CND Additives you would never imagine would look good together in a million years. Experimentation is key.


Some Tips for Getting Started…
- Adding Titanium Pearl will be like adding white, giving opacity and pastelising stronger colours.
- If you must use Black Additive, use it very very VERY sparingly!
- The ‘chunky’ CND Additives were made for this kind of technique; this is one of my favorite ways to utilize Spectrum Shimmer, Icicles and Blue Heaven.
- Antique Bronze Additive looks great added to anything (imo!)
- Test the opacity of your custom colour Smoothing Gel before starting to apply it to your client so you can adjust the mix if necessary. I usually do this on one nail before applying Base Coat, don’t cure it and wipe it away completely with ScrubFresh.
- Ensure your Smoothing Gel and Additive are thoroughly blended together to avoid any little 'clumps' of Additive.


Step 3 - Brisa Lite Base Coat Application
After thoroughly ScrubFreshing each nail surface, along and under the extension edge and gently pulling back the lateral folds to ensure no dust, oil or contaminants remain, shake your Brisa Lite Base Coat to blend the formula.
Apply Brisa Lite Base Coat as described in CND’s step-by-step. Be sure to keep it thin, remember the Base Coat should not look perfectly smooth and shiny, if anything it looks kind of ‘gritty’ when applied correctly. Having only a small amount of Base Coat on your brush allows you to really ‘work in’ the Base Coat as you apply, which will only help achieve maximum adhesion.
After curing each full hand in the CND Lamp for 10 seconds move on to step 4.


Step 4 - Application of Custom Colour Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel
For this technique I almost always choose to apply two separate layers of coloured Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel, each cured for a full 2 minutes in the CND Lamp. The first layer will be the normal thickness for a Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel application applied as directed in CND’s official step-by-step, the second layer will be super thin. When creating colour with CND Additives, especially Effects and Pigment Effects, this thin second layer ensures perfect, even coverage of your colour. Applying this second thin layer feels more like applying CND Shellac in that there should be very little on your brush and you almost ‘squeegee’ the product on to the nail.


Step 5 - Brisa Lite Top Coat Application
Shake your Brisa Lite Top Coat and apply as detailed in CND’s step by step. After curing each hand for 2 minutes in the CND Lamp, remove the sticky top film with 99% IPA (d.sperce here in the UK).


Step 6 - To Finnish the Service…
Apply CND SolarOil to all ten nails and massage into nail and surrounding skin with your fingers. While doing this I ALWAYS take the opportunity to gently pull the client’s lateral folds back and have a good feel for anything that could be pick-able. While I’m having a good feel I’m thinking, ‘would I pick that..?’ If you find any little rough bits or sharp edges you MUST deal with them, you can not send the client away with something to pick, they WILL pick it and it won’t be their fault, it’ll be yours for not properly checking. We don’t want to file our finished Brisa Lite (or CND Shellac) Manicure, if you find a picky bit use the 1200 side of a CND Koala buffer to gently smooth the rough bit. This way you get rid of pick-ables without damaging the product. Of course it’s better not to have pick-ables in the first place! But if they do happen, they must be dealt with. I have always done this for every nail service I perform.

Ensure your client is furnished with the correct aftercare advice, bottle of SolarOil and has an appointment scheduled for 2 – 3 weeks time for a removal and re-application or simply a removal and manicure.
With the client's permission, photograph the nails for your records and make note of which CND Additives you used to create the look. You can build up your very own custom colour recipe book this way.



Pricing this Service

CND Shellac Manicure £x
CND Brisa Lite Manicure £x

CND Shellac Partnered with Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel £x + 20%
CND Custom Colour Brisa Lite Manicure £x + 20%

 

[StephR]

Excellent tutorial Fee. I cannot wait to give this to try xx

 

[Annemarie]

Brilliant tutorial Fee. Thank you so much. Will be having a play when I get time in the salon next week. x

 

[chocolategirl]

Thank you for this Fee, I have again learned something new from your expertise.

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

very interesting and imformative, thankyou x. Do you have any colour combo suggestions to get us started? x

 

[Smellenor]

are there any tips on mixing up the right amount of gel so as to not waste too much or not have enough?

 

[Wee Fee]

are there any tips on mixing up the right amount of gel so as to not waste too much or not have enough?

That's a very good point... Isn't it interesting that we who use Gel all the time often have no idea how much we use per client? We just keep dipping our brush into the pot till it's done. From teaching this technique I have observed that most of us take WAY more than we need when we first try this. When doing your research and experimenting with colour combos using small mixes, try using up all the mix you made (on a cheap colour wheel) to see how far it actually goes - this will give you a good idea of how much Smoothing Gel you need to take.