I did my Nubar Gelicure sog training on Tuesday. The set I did on my model in class went well, however, yesterday I did my own set and encountered some problems!
As I have to manoeuvre my hand about quite a bit to do my own, as I was doing this, the top coat moved and flooded into my side walls. I did manage to get most of it out, but had to file a bit of errant top coat away on a couple of nails when they were finished. I felt like it was a losing battle trying to get it out as the longer I spent with an orange stick and brush and moving my nail, the more it kept pooling! I can't keep my hands flat whilst I paint, as otherwise I can't get a good clean line. To top it off, I used black, which required 3 coats and kept shrinking almost as I was painting. I ended up capping the free edge as the last step before curing because it was literally shrinking in front of my eyes within seconds. I also ended up doing the topcoat a couple of nails at a time to try to avoid it going into the side walls. The whole thing ended up taking forever, what with having to cure for 2 mins each time and desperately battling the shrinking and pooling.
My painting skills are good. I am used to normal lacquer and consider myself pretty skilled at painting and not super slow either. I'm also not using a lot of product or flooding with my brush. When I did my model I didn't have this problem, except on one thumb on her left hand which was only because I painted it first and it pooled when I moved her hand to paint the rest of them. This is the only gel brand I've trained in, but I do have some Megamix and tried it a couple of times with the exact same problem, the top coats are thin, runny and level so quickly that they don't stay where I'm putting them. I've seen 3D work done with topcoat and wonder how on earth it's achieved because the 2 I've tried self level so fast!
my model came out fine but I'm worried about these struggles and the fact it ended up taking forever!
Here's a couple of pics. Overall I'm pleased with the end result but wish I didn't struggle so much to get there.
Please help! I'm feeling really deflated and don't know what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it.
As I have to manoeuvre my hand about quite a bit to do my own, as I was doing this, the top coat moved and flooded into my side walls. I did manage to get most of it out, but had to file a bit of errant top coat away on a couple of nails when they were finished. I felt like it was a losing battle trying to get it out as the longer I spent with an orange stick and brush and moving my nail, the more it kept pooling! I can't keep my hands flat whilst I paint, as otherwise I can't get a good clean line. To top it off, I used black, which required 3 coats and kept shrinking almost as I was painting. I ended up capping the free edge as the last step before curing because it was literally shrinking in front of my eyes within seconds. I also ended up doing the topcoat a couple of nails at a time to try to avoid it going into the side walls. The whole thing ended up taking forever, what with having to cure for 2 mins each time and desperately battling the shrinking and pooling.
My painting skills are good. I am used to normal lacquer and consider myself pretty skilled at painting and not super slow either. I'm also not using a lot of product or flooding with my brush. When I did my model I didn't have this problem, except on one thumb on her left hand which was only because I painted it first and it pooled when I moved her hand to paint the rest of them. This is the only gel brand I've trained in, but I do have some Megamix and tried it a couple of times with the exact same problem, the top coats are thin, runny and level so quickly that they don't stay where I'm putting them. I've seen 3D work done with topcoat and wonder how on earth it's achieved because the 2 I've tried self level so fast!
my model came out fine but I'm worried about these struggles and the fact it ended up taking forever!
Here's a couple of pics. Overall I'm pleased with the end result but wish I didn't struggle so much to get there.
Please help! I'm feeling really deflated and don't know what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it.