Hard gels - Can I use Additives or create my own colors somehow?

[Tina <3s Nails]

Hello,
I'm in nail school right now. When we worked with acrylics, sometimes we used premixed polymer powders that had additives, and sometimes we were able to create our own using additives. Now that we've moved to hard gels, I only have pink, white, and clear available to me at school. When I've gone to the professional supply stores, they carry very few colors, if any. The colors would also be quite an investment since I would want to get lots of colors or none at all (a few colors wouldn't do me much good as far as artwork, in my opinion).

My questions are:

1. Can I add something to the clear gel to create some colors I could use in artwork? I'm thinking loose eyeshadow powder or some kind of liquid coloring?

2. Could I put a layer of clear hard gel on the nail and cure it, then use some of the colored gel polishes to create artwork and cure that layer, and then do a layer of clear hard gel over the top? Would I get the same wear as if it were all hard gel? I'd basically be creating a sandwich with hard gel on the top and bottom with gel polish as the middle layer of the sandwich.

Is there anything else that you more experienced nail technicians would recommend for me to play with to get some color into my hard gels without spending a ton of money on colored gels that I might not decide to use after my schooling is done?

I searched the forums to see if this has been addressed before, but I couldn't find anything - truth be told, I wasn't even sure what words to search for to find answers to this question. Thanks in advance for anyone's input on helping me not be bored with the hard gel section of my schooling

 

[Maz101]

You can only really add additives by CND or mica powders or glitters, 1:3 ratio, you should not mix other products and def not soft gels sandwiched between hard gels this would cause service breakdown.

I'm sure you will be taught this on your course or ones qualified do a art course for and gels.

Hth

 

[spjelgus]

I think you will find many who completely disagee with you. There is nothing special about cnd additives that make them "the only thing that you can add".

To OP. You can add eyeshadows, pigment powders, mica powders, glitters etc. You only have to make sure that you never exceed the 1/3 ratio. I believe you can even add the liquid art color drops from young nails to gels.

I have also sandwiched gelish gelpolish between two layers of ghg for colored french tips and it worked perfectly. I dont do much nail art with hard gel but i dont see why you shouldnt be able to use the same sandwiching concept there.

I dont stock any hard gel colors and use Gelish for all color gel purposes.



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[Tina <3s Nails]

Thanks ladies. SPJELGUS, I'm not familiar with the acronym OP and ghg, so could you please define them for me? I suspect that both of those mean a hard gel, but I don't want to assume incorrectly. Also, I don't have experience with Gelish (yet), but from what I've read on other forums it seems to me that Gelish is the gel polish that "plays most nicely" with other products (like doing a Gely sandwich where you layer Gelish base and topcoat with a regular nail polish sandwiched inbetween). I tried that with IBD gel polish (because that's what I have access to at school), and the nail polish inbetween never really cured properly. I tried the same thing at home with Shellac top and base, and it cured better, though the service chipped earlier than it would've had it been regular Shellac manicure with no sandwiching of other products. That makes me wonder......if I'm going to try a sandwich of hard gel on top and bottom with a gel polish inbetween, maybe that inbetween layer should be Gelish rather than another brand of gel polish. Thoughts on that?

 

[Maz101]

I was taught you can add mica pigments (as long as cosmetic grade) as I said, CND additives, glitters to make new colours, plus I've heard of some using makeup, but I don't use that and can't comment.

I use all of the above too make colours and mixes in l&p and hard gel

If you do hard gel and then soft gel then hard gel it can and will cause cracking, if you do hard gel extensions then do shellac or a soft gel on top then you should use a soft gel top coat one that goes with the system or in some cases a generic one that an be used over any soft gel system. But you should by do that once the enhancement is finished so you have the strength as shellac, gelish or other gel polishes will not give enough strength for an enhancement.

Adding liquids/paints/nail varnishes that don't go hard in a uv light can possibly cause a service breakdown as the curing would not be done correctly. Even mixing 2 types/different makes of hard gels one clear one coloured could cause problems as may cure under different wattages.

That's why there are some sisters that have colours in their award gel system like brisa, nsi balance just to name 2.

Plus your insurance company would probably use this as an excuse to not cover you as your adding things that are not made for the system.

I gave my thought and opinion on what I've been taught as to be correct, if others disagree that's fine, but I can't say something is right if I'm taught its not as want to give correct info

So you maybe right but I was taught what I put :wink2:

 

[spjelgus]

OP means original poster qnd ghg means Gelish hard gel

Maz we agree on the most part then, hehe. I know the gelish sandwich thing might sound risky. If i do colored french tips using gelish i make sure to put the gelish straight on top of the tips or first layer of sculpts. That way there is more than enough hard gel on top to encase it properly so it will not chip. There is a video on youtube where Greg from young nails uses the same technique for glitter tips with maniq.

I would never encase a full coverage gelish nail in ghg since there is no reason for it, but i have never had problems with encased art and tips. Of course if the art is just supposed to be over the nail like dots and stripes you are better off just doing it on top of the finished nail and use topitoff. But i dont like the look of paint on colored tips, i want them encased

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[Tina <3s Nails]

Yes, I just watched Greg's video. He uses ManiQ in the manner that I was sort of thinking in my head. Actually, he covers more nail territory than I was intending. I was really talking more about when someone wants a stripe that covers a smile line or they want a little painted flower or polka dots (I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I would be covering the nail or covering a lot of the nail). I don't want to have to invest in a bunch of colors of hard gel if I can just do those small things in gel polish in colors that I already have onhand. The hard gel system I'm currently using is by Young Nails. I don't have anything in ManiQ, so I think I will experiment on myself with some of the gel polishes I already have to see if there is a service breakdown like MAZ101 suggested may happen. If those don't work, I would consider buying a color or two in ManiQ to try Greg's exact technique (rather than my cross-brand experiment).

Ladies, thank you both of your quick responses and helpful hints. It was really nice to be able to think it through with two who have more experience. I at least know now which things I'd like to try first. I would never try these things on a client - I have my own nails and fellow students whose nails I can play around with to see how it goes both in getting the look that I want in the artwork and also getting a service that lasts.