There are SO many people in my area offering fake Shellac and it is annoying the hell outta me!!! As a professional, I will never slate other companies to my clients (which I witness a lot and it just makes me cringe!) but I am finding that more and more NSS are starting to offer fake shellac - one of which had a piece of cardboard written in felt tip 'get shellac here' blue-tacked to the window and clients of mine keep saying to me 'oh you know they are doing shellac for £XX' down the road (about half the price) and I'm struggling to word how they would not be getting the 'real deal' without sounding unprofessional.
Fake Shellac annoying me!
- Thread starter Mooey
- Start date
Help Support SalonGeek:
beauti-licious
Well-Known Member
You state they are using 'FAKE SHELLAC' What do you mean by fake Shellac? How do you know it is fake Shellac?
is it gel polish? or shellac brought not from CND? Im sorry i do not understand?
is it gel polish? or shellac brought not from CND? Im sorry i do not understand?
gr8nailz
Well-Known Member
I know how you feel. We have a client that alternates between us and an NSS based on how her budget is that month. When she called yesterday for a Shellac removal and re-application, I checked her history and realized the "Shellac" I would be removing was from an NSS.
I told our Concierge staff to tell her I wasn't available.
I told our Concierge staff to tell her I wasn't available.
whitesatin
Well-Known Member
I wrote a similar thread to this a few weeks back. I had made an appointment at a high street salon requesting a shellac french manicure, when I arrived at the appointment they started to give me gelac and when I confronted the girl telling her it was shellac I wanted she said that they didn't have the fp in shellac but gelac was just the same!!! Luckily I know that it isn't at all, but what concerns me is the clients who have no idea of the difference between shellac and gel polishes....and my gelac was crap to be honest. Imagine if I was an unsuspecting client thinking that the unsatisfactory manicure I had had was shellac....not good advertising at all!!
gr8nailz
Well-Known Member
There are products out there like Bluesky Shellac etc. If you go to ebay's website and type Bluesky Shellac in the search engine, you'll see what Mooey is talking about. There are many more fake Shellacs on the market.
Plus there are salons promoting Shellac but in reality they are applying Gelac, Geleez, Gelish etc., a gel polish instead. Not ethical.
beauti-licious
Well-Known Member
Thank you Gr8nailz. i had not heard of Bluesky shellac- sounds like a colour lol
I don't blame you! Removing fake shellac can be a nightmare! And usually you can tell its fake Shellac from the moment they sit down at your table. I had a client who booked in for a 'Shellac' soak off, and when she came it she had bright orange fluorescent nails. My face must have been a picture! Lol, not really, I hide it well - but it kills me every time - in my experience these fake shellacs seem to be welded to the nail or something!
This is the worry! Not only are these places losing us business, but they are also giving our products a bad name! The amount of clients I have had who refuse to have Shellac because 'they've had it before and it was crap' :evil: makes me grrrr because I know it was probably the fake stuff! Not only that but a lot of people will try something once and if they have a bad experience we won't even get a look in!
I know we shouldn't see NSS as competition but seeing fake shellac EVERYWHERE is killing me! How do you explain to clients about fake shellac without sounding unprofessional/slating?
Maybe u can have posters up in ur salon that promote shellac ( highlighting the brand )and wear shellac urself ..many people choose to buy cheap stuff ( for ex. many people I know would wear very cheap Chinese eyeshadow while I feel it is pure poison!) and they might prefer to have their nails done at a cheaper place and r really not aware of the difference it makes and the risks they are taking!
I think brand awareness is very important and it seems to be the problem u r facing . The spa I go to always has posters up of the major brands they use so when I go I'm like ohhh u're using this I love it or why did u change? bla bla bla which actually helps business as clients are more tempted to try a treatment when they see the poster than when they see it on a list
I think brand awareness is very important and it seems to be the problem u r facing . The spa I go to always has posters up of the major brands they use so when I go I'm like ohhh u're using this I love it or why did u change? bla bla bla which actually helps business as clients are more tempted to try a treatment when they see the poster than when they see it on a list
Two things are going on here. Unscrupulous people doing the wrong thing and clients wanting a GREAT product like Shellac, for not a lot of money.
What's happening to Shellac is basically the same thing that happenend to L&P. The discount places are passing off sub standard products as the 'real McCoy'.
I think the only thing we can do is; stick to our high standards, do the best job we can using the entire Shellac system and educate our clients.
Also, because there is so much fake 'shellak' out there, we may have to have a policy that if we didn't apply it, we ain't removing it.
On another note: I was Shellac'ing (with REAL Shellac...LOL!!!) one of my clients the other day and she was telling me about her friend who got shellak. The poor thing's fingers were burning during and after the service. I told my client that was NOT Shellac.
The old saying applies here, you get what you pay for.'
What's happening to Shellac is basically the same thing that happenend to L&P. The discount places are passing off sub standard products as the 'real McCoy'.
I think the only thing we can do is; stick to our high standards, do the best job we can using the entire Shellac system and educate our clients.
Also, because there is so much fake 'shellak' out there, we may have to have a policy that if we didn't apply it, we ain't removing it.
On another note: I was Shellac'ing (with REAL Shellac...LOL!!!) one of my clients the other day and she was telling me about her friend who got shellak. The poor thing's fingers were burning during and after the service. I told my client that was NOT Shellac.
The old saying applies here, you get what you pay for.'
I agree with everything being said on here, and I am also fed up , and I have only been doing Shellac for a short while.
Having said that , I just found this on Virgins website, where they are offering Shellac to their travellers, and they clearly state that they buff the nail!!!! ????
Also they are only charging £20 and £30 respectively for hands and toes??
Having said that , I just found this on Virgins website, where they are offering Shellac to their travellers, and they clearly state that they buff the nail!!!! ????
Also they are only charging £20 and £30 respectively for hands and toes??
gr8nailz
Well-Known Member
I've already posted several times that if our salon didn't apply it, we're buffing it before we soak it, especially if we know they had the application at an NSS.
QT*KT
Active Member
I found a website for a mobile nail technician the other day and noticed that they are offering "Gel Polish" for £20. Underneth there are loads of CND images, pictures of Shellac and some of their marketing pictures. Only when you go to the price list, it's actually Gellux they are offering!!! Makes me soooooo cross!! x
BeeBeautiful
Well-Known Member
I currently use Gelez, and advertise it as a gel polish. It's not Shellac, as that is a brand, not the product. They are all gel polishes, it just depends on which one you use. I use Gelez because all my nail products are Ez Flow and I wanted to keep it all consistent. I charge £20 for nails, (Fingers or Toes) as I think this is a reasonable price for my clients and the product (and my application of it) stand for itself as I get the repeat appointments from it. At the minute, I am considering changing to Shellac, as my Gelez has started to thicken and wreck the brushes, and that is on bottles I haven't even used yet... But that's a product problem for me, not my clients. (and for other techs according to other threads on here). I don't see what the problem is charging £20, I think we need to bare in mind where in the country we are. I couldn't charge anymore here in the north east as I wouldn't get clients. But I wouldn't charge any less either. :lol:
Lolla
Well-Known Member
Why do people do that?!?! Use images of another brand when they are not using it...!! It's like me using pictures of a hot stone massage when it's just a normal aromatherapy massage. Wouldn't dream of it, gives someone the wrong impression and leads to disappointment.
Someone said earlier that Shellac is not the same as other gel polishes...is that coz it's just better than the rest or is it actually a different product? I thought Shellac was a gel polish such as Gelish etc...? I'm currently weaning myself off Gelac and trying to get my head around other brands so I can pick one. I've just read in one of the SG archives that Shellac is a hybrid (polish/gel)....and somewhere else that Gelac is a hybrid...and somewhere else that Gelish is a just a gel polish as opposed to a hybrid.....and that the new product from IBD, Just Gel, is a pure gel
Chickafish
Well-Known Member
It's sickening, but it's happening and there's not much that can be done to stop people from getting it, just like acrylics and gels. Some people get them cuz they're looking at the lowest pricetag. Some people get them because they're unaware it's fake and are not being told what to look out for. Some people get them because like with acrylics and gels, they just call it any name because they don't know the difference. The best any nail tech who knows what they're doing can do for these people is educate them. With some people it will just go in one ear and out the other and they won't bother listening, and some will actually learn something, and you'll gain a new client. *shrugs* Way of the world.
southerngracemt
Active Member
Im sorry to sound dumb, but what is the difference between shelac and gel polishes such as gelish? Am kinda new at the get polish craze and would love some education/ real world application opinions on products to be able to make an educated desicion on what to purchase.
Dream Nails
Well-Known Member
IMO there will always be fakes in everything. Rolex for £5 ect and there will always be people who know but don't care they just want the cheapest price possible. It's the client that have been lied to that need to be helped and educated. I have this posted on my website
You can rest assured when you ask me for Shellac you will get the full shellac service endorsed by CND
Shellac – for beautiful natural healthy nails.
I also mention about not buffing the nail and the easy removal
Vicki xx
You can rest assured when you ask me for Shellac you will get the full shellac service endorsed by CND
Shellac – for beautiful natural healthy nails.
I also mention about not buffing the nail and the easy removal
Vicki xx
Nails<3
Well-Known Member
Shellac is not a gel polish- gelish,gellux,gelac etc is.
Shellac is a hybrid power polish that contains no gel so it is out there on it's own.
Shellac is a hybrid power polish that contains no gel so it is out there on it's own.
