How different is Shellac & Gelish?

[natalie_MUA]

I'm thinking of adding a second brand which may well become my main brand of choice as I haven't been overly impressed with OPI really. I'm obviously going to pick shellac or Gelish but wondered if they were massively different to use technique wise? And what peoples thoughts are on the product compared with OPI?? Thanks

 

[sal365]

The main reason I went for shellac over gelish is that it does not require any buffing of the nail. Gelish do have some gorgeous colours tho

 

[geeg]

Completely different in all the ways that are important for the care of the health of the natural nail
No buffing
Less dehydration
Hypoallergenic

Completely different in formulation
Granted 6 patents on the products, base coat, colour and top coat

Similar in application technique
Similar longevity

Completely different in service time and removal
Shellac is Much quicker for both

Gorgeous classy colour choice and with the pigments and effects an infinite choice.

Huge brand awareness for Shellac ... Asked for by name
Free advertising for your business through CND Shellac & Vinylux for those who use the complete Shellac system.

HTH

 

[vonnibabes]

I use both gelish and shellac, few pros and cons:

shellac glossier looking when on
Gelish better colour range
Gelish cheaper per ml on vat free days
Shellac has great name
Gelish quicker to apply, esp for toes! (using led lamp)
Shellac quicker to remove
Gelish generally lasts bit longer esp on clients shellac just doesn't seem to stay on well.
Shellac better for nail care as in no buffing and removal so easy!

Overall I prefer shellac on, just wish it had staying power of gelish, hope this helps! xxxxx

 

[louisenewell]

I think Gigi has just beat me to it..as per usual :biggrin:.
But i will just add that ALL my phone calls from new clients and all of my search results on my website are people looking for SHELLAC.
It has a power and brand awareness all of its own.

My pet peeve is when salon owners DON'T offer shellac but when a client asks for it they reply with "We don't do shellac.we do gelish.its the same". For god sake..if you are getting that many questions and requests for it..tells you something??

 

[vonnibabes]

There's a downside to the shellac brand nsme too tho, the amount of clients that come in claiming its shellac, had it on a month, takes 45 min to remove then expect REAL shellac to last the same. Drives me nuts!!!

Oh, and cost them a tenner 😩😣😩😣

 

[geeg]

I think Gigi has just beat me to it..as per usual :biggrin:.
But i will just add that ALL my phone calls from new clients and all of my search results on my website are people looking for SHELLAC.
It has a power and brand awareness all of its own.

My pet peeve is when salon owners DON'T offer shellac but when a client asks for it they reply with "We don't do shellac.we do gelish.its the same". For god sake..if you are getting that many questions and requests for it..tells you something??

My pet peeve is people saying Shellac doesn't have the same staying power as gel. That is complete nonsense. It most certainly has got the same staying power of any gel on the market. You've only to look at posts on all the different websites of people complaining that their choice of gel doesn't last, including Gelish which is not noticeably different to any other gel. I wouldn't say Shellac lasts better than gel on equal types of nails but I would definitely say it lasts in a completey similar manner (which in fact, to be fair and truthful, I did say in my first post) and which I have always said.

There are only a few reasons why a UV polish would not last.
The technician has used the wrong lamp to try and cure it
The technician has made a wrong choice and applied on crappy nails that need something stronger
The technician doesn't know how to polish very well and has little experience
The technician has not used the whole system as recommended

 

[vonnibabes]

Gelish is a 3 week manicure and shellac is 2 week, no?

As I say I prefer shellac but gelish defiantly does lasts longer, I have tried and tested on many clients and family and only1 person though gelish didn't last as long. I'm giving the original poster unbiased information so she can decide what will suit her needs most xxxxz

 

[geeg]

Gelish is a 3 week manicure and shellac is 2 week, no?

As I say I prefer shellac but gelish defiantly does lasts longer, I have tried and tested on many clients and family and only1 person though gelish didn't last as long. I'm giving the original poster unbiased information so she can decide what will suit her needs most xxxxz

Instead of misleading, CND tells the truth.
Shellac lasts 3 weeks on the majority of our clients because our clients don't want to all have a two week manicure.
But, CND advertise it as a 2 week manicure because it looks its best for two weeks. At three weeks ALL the UV brands of polish look grown out and not at their best.
To promise 3weeks is Just marketing bla bla that in fact disappoints some clients because it clearly does not last 3 weeks for all clients and then they are disappointed.
I'd rather tell my clients 2 good weeks and have them come in beaming at three to prove me wrong, then promise three weeks and see disappointed faces and grumbling. I'd rather tell the truth and over deliver on the clients expectations ... I think it is much more clever.

 

[vonnibabes]

Absolutely agree, when clients ask me difference I advise how they both market it and how long they can realistically expect them to look good with without chips. Majority of my 2 weekly clients turn up with chips with shellac so I say 10-14 days to avoid disappointment. I also have the ladies that come in after a month full of beans they have lasted so long though!

To reiterate tho, in my experiments and from using both products gelish does stay on longer and think most geeks that use both brands will agree as I've seen it posted on here loads xxxxx

 

[geeg]

Absolutely agree, when clients ask me difference I advise how they both market it and how long they can realistically expect them to look good with without chips. Majority of my 2 weekly clients turn up with chips with shellac so I say 10-14 days to avoid disappointment. I also have the ladies that come in after a month full of beans they have lasted so long though!

To reiterate tho, in my experiments and from using both products gelish does stay on longer and think most geeks that use both brands will agree as I've seen it posted on here loads xxxxx

We will have to disagree on that .... And I'm sure there are many others that if being fair would also disagree with you.

None of our clients has been disappointed in the performance of Shellac, and I'm not aware that we have any clients who come back in under the 2 weeks unless they have had a genuine break or accident which of course can happen, does happen and there is always a reason for it. We apply it to the right type of nails and use Smoothing gel if they have weaker nails. The result is the same .... They love it.

 

[vonnibabes]

Think we are just going to have to agree to disagree lol, as u are a cnd ambassador so I wouldn't imagine u bigging up another brand!

I love shellac.... But gelish does stay on better... Lol for the record I think in ur salon having shellac alongside opi would be better, having opi and gelish, people might wonder why u don't stock shellac and put them off, does that mske sense? Xxxx

 

[geeg]

Think we are just going to have to agree to disagree lol, as u are a cnd ambassador so I wouldn't imagine u bigging up another brand!

I love shellac.... But gelish does stay on better... Lol for the record I think in ur salon having shellac alongside opi would be better, having opi and gelish, people might wonder why u don't stock shellac and put them off, does that mske sense? Xxxx

I am always fair ... If you gave me the choice of any gel in the world over Shellac .. I'd take Shellac for all the fair and just reasons I have mentioned. That is why I use it! I do not have to 'big' up this fantastic product ... It's big enough all on its own !

 

[DivineByDesign]

Just to try and be impartial (which I will admit openly I am a CND Tek and new Shellac EA) but I have just opened a new salon last week in a new location. Yesterday most of my appointments involved removing Gelish from clients who has had it applied by the previous occupier of the salon and replacing with Shellac. I appreciate that there will always be good teks and bad teks, but I was exhausted by the end of the day and realised just what an abyss of difference there is between Shellac and Gelish. I had read enough on here to know to buff the surface of the Gelish prior to wrapping and removing, and I did a thorough job of this without going through to base coat, and wrapped with nourishing remover for 10-15 mins. It barely budged and when it did lift, it was like a piece of stubborn rubber that left behind white damaged nails and still required some buffing for removal. Now I know the previous tek may have been a bad tek who could have been particularly rough, but I know how my clients nails are with removing shellac and I realised when I got home that if I had to deal with Gelish day in day out, I think I would look at a different career. That may seem extreme and I'm sure some experienced, conscientious Gelish teks may correct me, but this was my honest opinion based on a day of dealing with removal of both brands xx

 

[jb78]

We apply it to the right type of nails and use Smoothing gel if they have weaker nails. The result is the same .... They love it.

Slightly off topic from OPs original post, but as I've just seen something mentioned I've been meaning to ask about for a while, thought id jump in! Is the smoothing gel you mention, Brisa? I was never taught about that in my shellac training (admittedly it was a couple of years ago and yes it was booked through Sweet Squared, so I used the correct training path) - I've seen Brisa mentioned a few times and have been reading up on it. From what I've read, it appears, and apologies if I have this slightly wrong, it's to put under shellac for clients with weaker nails - is that right? And given I've been an LCN gel nail tech for donkeys years and a shellac tech for about two years, would I need to train to use this smoothing gel or would a quick tutorial suffice if it's not too different to what I already do?
Thanks x

 

[DivineByDesign]

Slightly off topic from OPs original post, but as I've just seen something mentioned I've been meaning to ask about for a while, thought id jump in! Is the smoothing gel you mention, Brisa? I was never taught about that in my shellac training (admittedly it was a couple of years ago and yes it was booked through Sweet Squared, so I used the correct training path) - I've seen Brisa mentioned a few times and have been reading up on it. From what I've read, it appears, and apologies if I have this slightly wrong, it's to put under shellac for clients with weaker nails - is that right? And given I've been an LCN gel nail tech for donkeys years and a shellac tech for about two years, would I need to train to use this smoothing gel or would a quick tutorial suffice if it's not too different to what I already do?
Thanks x

The Brisa you are reading about is actually Brisa Lite which was introduced earlier this year so you wouldn't have had it covered in your original course. There are 2 types of Brisa Lite: Smoothing and Sculpting. The type of Brisa Lite most commonly referred to with regards to CND Shellac is Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel. It is a power partner to CND Shellac and when applied as part of a Shellac service, increases the wear by an extra 7 days on average (but in my experience it is often longer). There is a fantastic, affordable course available through your local CND/S2 Academy to teach you all the ins and outs, tips and techniques which if you call S2 on Monday you can enquiry more about and book xxx

Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel

 

[jb78]

Great, thank you. Is the sculpting gel process hugely different to LCN or any other sculpting gel? I'm just thinking, I've got a couple of ladies who have issues with soft and brittle nails, but don't want gel extensions and so this sounds as though it could be a solution for them, but realistically at this time of year, I'm unlikely to have time to do a training day this side of Christmas, but know they'd be delighted if I could get their nails sorted for Christmas!
Thank you xx

 

[jb78]

Sorry, just clicked on the link you shared and it's only 3 hours, I'm sure if there's one in the Birmingham area, I could fit 3 hours in!!

 

[Nikki May]

I walked past a salon with a friend today and she points at a poster for OPI gel colour and says oh look they do Shellac. I pointed out to her that nowhere on the sign did it say shellac, her response oh well it looks the same. No, no no. For me the MOST important thing is that it is 3 free and hypoallergenic. I friend to explain shellac would be better for her nail health, she said oh well I'm going to try it anyway LOL. I also think nothing else shines like Shellac. I'm ill at the moment but when I'm better I wil be proving to her how much better shellac is.

 

[Sam81]

Just to try and be impartial (which I will admit openly I am a CND Tek and new Shellac EA) but I have just opened a new salon last week in a new location. Yesterday most of my appointments involved removing Gelish from clients who has had it applied by the previous occupier of the salon and replacing with Shellac. I appreciate that there will always be good teks and bad teks, but I was exhausted by the end of the day and realised just what an abyss of difference there is between Shellac and Gelish. I had read enough on here to know to buff the surface of the Gelish prior to wrapping and removing, and I did a thorough job of this without going through to base coat, and wrapped with nourishing remover for 10-15 mins. It barely budged and when it did lift, it was like a piece of stubborn rubber that left behind white damaged nails and still required some buffing for removal. Now I know the previous tek may have been a bad tek who could have been particularly rough, but I know how my clients nails are with removing shellac and I realised when I got home that if I had to deal with Gelish day in day out, I think I would look at a different career. That may seem extreme and I'm sure some experienced, conscientious Gelish teks may correct me, but this was my honest opinion based on a day of dealing with removal of both brands xx

I use Gelish and have never had trouble like this with removal. I never buff before application or removal and it soaks off completely within 10-15 minutes. I have removed Shellac from other techs too and it is quicker yes but no difference in difficulty in my opinion. The only time I've ever had a problem is with a client whose previous tech openly admitted to getting her products from unauthorised distributors. It took an hour, was rubbery and stubborn and took careful buffing to get off. Obviously not the real deal.