How do you get perfect smile lines with gel?

[Sassy Hassy]

I am trying to perfect my work and it is getting there bit by bit, I just focus on one thing at a time and then move onto the next. Well my lastest mission is like Good King Wencelas' snow, I need my smile lines to be really deep and crisp and even, not the slightly wobbly asymetrical attempts I do at the moment> kinda like going from :irked: to !!!

I use the brush on white with tips and infilling with a dotting tool, This works quite well, but I just cannot get that suberb crisp edge with it. Or if I am sculpting then I use the sculpting whites and sweep the smile with a flat edged brush, but I find the gel just doesn't want to play properly.

Does anybody do it the Creative way where you do zones 2 & 3 first and then butt up zone 1 to get their smiles?

Is it harder to get a good crisp white with gel than l&p? ... but not impossible?

And how do you get them symetrical? I just don;t seem to have a good eye for it, one side always seems to droop while the other smiles! Kinda like this
Any tips and hints on how to get them A! perfect, however whacky, will be really helpful so I can have a play about and see what works best for me. I feel really bad that after 5 years I still don't have this sorted :o

MTIA

 

[wendyrose]

Hiya hun,

well...im by noooooo means an expert or have perfect smiles..but im happy with mine...sometimes..lol

i was thought one way but after alot of experimenting and trial and error iv found this way works for me...been doin it lately...

i use gel and and after applyin my pink/clear/natural/builder or whatever u use i cleanse and buff and then apply my whites with extreme white gel...just sweep my brush along the free edge in as close to a smile as i can...then wipe off excess and using the brush flat, pull the gel lightly towards the free edge to even out the colour and remove any excess, then i dip a straight brush in some cleanser and sweep underneath to tidy it up and make a crisper line (i do one full sweep it seems to get more even)...then cure...apply gloss top coat..no pink over my white i find it blurs it again.

i do find that when i see l&p the line is a lot crisper than gels, gels are slightly more soft looking, im sure there are a lot more experienced geeks here who will have much better advise but thats just how i do them...x

 

[MINKUS]

i get my brush flat edge start in the middle and 'walk' it up to the right then to the left, then pull it down to the free edge nice and evenly then with a dry brush sweep/touch up if necessary.

I have tried cocktail sticks - dotting tools - big brushes - small brushes - flat ones - pointed ones ARGHGHHGHHGH....i find my small flat bio brush works the best !

i am 80% happy with my smiles......working towards 100%

I also saw someone do a straightline then sweep into a smile with a dry brush.

SOrry i cant be more helpful !!!

 

[jac extreme]

I am so glad you posted this Sass i have just done a set of french gel and am not happy with my smile lines when compared to my acrylic french, so am interested to hear what gel geeks have to say.

 

[MINKUS]

I am so glad you posted this Sass i have just done a set of french gel and am not happy with my smile lines when compared to my acrylic french, so am interested to hear what gel geeks have to say.

isnt that odd ! i cant do smiles very well with acrylic but much better with gel !! how bizarre !!

amb x

 

[Lellipop]

I always apply my white gel, Take my brush that is clean and sweep beneath the smile line to neaten and arch it more.
It is always a challenge to get all 10 looking the same though isn't it lmao

 

[Prionace]

This is something that has always really bothered me, Anna from www.beautypro.ca says she used a bonding gel that cures almost dry (without almost any dispersion layer) and then she can wipe with a brush to perfect her smiles. But no matter wich technique i tried i never could get those crisp smiles i always see done with acrylic. So recently i've decided to play with acrylic so i can do an acrylic-gel combo. Acrylic for the smiles and gel for builder and top gloss. I've done this is my nails and i'm pretty happy with the result, they are not so bad, especially considering the smile on my right hand!

 

[Christine G]

I always apply my white gel, Take my brush that is clean and sweep beneath the smile line to neaten and arch it more.
It is always a challenge to get all 10 looking the same though isn't it lmao

Sassy, ditto the above,,,,,,,I have only been practising my gel application for a short while, but what I find helps me is having your client turn their hands around so they are not resting on their palms, but on their knuckles with their finger pads facing them, but their nails facing you, I then hold the finger gently, and smoothly sweep the smile,,,,,the cleaner and drier the brush, the crisper the smile.

Hope you can understand that!!!!

Christine

 

[Bagpuss]

I seem to get mine alot better than clients sometimes...maybe we should be standing behind them and doing the smiles from that angle..? lol

 

[MINKUS]

Sassy, ditto the above,,,,,,,I have only been practising my gel application for a short while, but what I find helps me is having your client turn their hands around so they are not resting on their palms, but on their knuckles with their finger pads facing them, but their nails facing you, I then hold the finger gently, and smoothly sweep the smile,,,,,the cleaner and drier the brush, the crisper the smile.

Hope you can understand that!!!!

Christine

good tip - going to try this one

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Thanks guys for all your input, Christine you have a valid point there and I'm going to give that a try. I did try today holding my brush at the opposite angle to see if that helped, which it did a little. (pointing away from me rather than towards me).

Do you all sweep your smiles with a dry brush? Or do you put scrubfresh on it and if I did then is that a bad thing, ie will it affect the bonding etc? do you use a wide flat brush or a narrow brush?

Think I am going to have to have a play on the nail trainer, but they don't talk so the hand doesn't wobble like my clients do. Hey I've got it I'll tell my client to hold their breath so they don't move their hands while I'm applying!!!!

 

[MINKUS]

hi sass

i use a dry brush or one just wiped in my gel sanitizer either ways good i think as long as its not DROWNED in scrubfresh i would think it would be ok.

amb x

 

[smiler13334]

Great thread Sassy,

I don't know much about gel smile lines yet!! for some reason I thought they would be easier than the L&P - see proof I don't know about it yet. lol

The nsi dvd the free one is really good especially how the gel was placed and then swirled up the sides etc. it did say just use a clean brush to define the smile, and while it wa being done each time the brush was wiped.

Are you doing the white in two coats?? will be keeping an eye on this thread, come in very handy when I get going!

Take care xx

 

[Buggy]

This is how marco taught me if i mess up my smile line, and it works for me when using brisa. i paint on the white gel paint or scuplt on the white gel. Then i get my oval brush, clean with scrubfresh (put a bit in the lid of the bottle or your dappen dish) and dry on paper towel and then back sweep the smile line. The gel clings to the brush and moves with it. i find it comes out wicked. if you have to go back and neaten it up, make sure you clean the gel off again with scrubfresh and dry the brush on a paper towel before you do it. also, do it like you mean it! if you pussyfoot around just trying to catch the edge it never works. paint your gel a little deeper so you've got a millimetre or two to play with, and then brush the smile out with a good sweep. don't know if i've explained that very well but hope you understand.

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Ah Toni that's a great help thank you, I think I do play with it so going to make them deeper and then push them right back. I also think I need a new brush to use just for this as mine is a bit tatty at the edges!

Cheers guys!

 

[Buggy]

Hi sassy. i can't remember the name of the brush i use, but its the oval Creative one. it came in my kit on my induction day and i did order the smaller squarer one to try it, but i didn't like it. the oval is definitely better for backsweeping the smiles. i paint the white (or sculpt it) about half way down the nail bed and then give a good sweep back.

ps, when i say dry the brush, i don't mean bone dry, needs to be damp enuf to keep the bristles together, so one wipe on the paper towel on each side of the brush will do.

 

[nailtech]

I do it the exactly the same way as Toni, but I use a pointed gel brush, probably the same as the oval one she mentioned. Always keep a dappen dish with gel cleaner at my side & wipe the brush first into a nice point.
You can go as deep as you want, in one swipe as someone else said is better for me.

KarenS.
*******

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I;ve got that oval brush so I'll give it a try with the scrubfresh, OMG I have a hot date with "the claw, mwahahaha" tomorrow! (that's my daughter's name for my nail trainer!). I'll report back!

 

[Christine G]

hi sass

i use a dry brush or one just wiped in my gel sanitizer either ways good i think as long as its not DROWNED in scrubfresh i would think it would be ok.

amb x

Yep, me too, a quick clean in very small ammount of scrubfresh, wipe on a lint free pad, and swipe away!!!! I use my EZ Flow Gel It brush for this, I find the fact that it has a bigger head,,,,,,(flat and square so that it can get into all the awkward bits ) gives a neater line than a smaller brush. Initially started using a nail art brush, didn't work as it was way too fine.
I think at first I must have had my brush a bit too wet as it resulted in the opposite, a cloudy sludgy line,,,,,,,,,,keep it slightly moist and clean!!!!!

Let us know how you get on Sassy.


Christine

 

[pussycat]

i bought a trial set of young nails gels and i am really chuffed with the smiles i got (on my own nails... i am my guinea pig!) it was the first time i've used a multi stage gel and a white gel for that matter! lol! i used a flat brush for base, build and gloss but i used an oval brush for the white and i used 2 coats each coat a put the gel a couple of millimeters closer to the cuticle than it needed to be then swept under the smile with my brush (i just wiped it on a sponge to get rid of excess gel) that seems to push the gel a touch thicker at the smile so it looked much crisper. i put the base on then 2 coats of white then build then finished with gloss.