Mixing brands

[Daffyxoxo]

Hi everyone, I’m quite new to nails and have just purchased a Blue Sky starter kit..lamp, couple yo colours, base and top coat and prep and polish wipe / polish remover. I’m not overly keen on the polish and have read a lot here about Ink London...the colours look amazing and I’m excited to try the application. My question is...do I need to buy Ink London base / top coat to go with the polish or would blue sky work as well. Also, is the prep/wipe/remover solutions pretty universal and will my existing ones work with a new brand?

Many thanks if you can help me with this

 

[Trinity]

It's not advised to mix and match brands, most quality brands are formulated and designed to work together, the colour coats are designed to adhere to the base/top coats, the formulations are matched so they cure at the same time in the light, the light spectrum in the light is matched to the formulation, etc. - there are techs that mix and match and say they have no problems but personally, to protect both me and my clients I stick within a brand and manufacturers guidelines. Mixing and matching can cause product breakdown (chipping, peeling, etc.) improper curing which can lead to over exposure and allergies, etc. This can invalidate your insurance and leave you at risk.

This should have been covered in your training regarding product chemistry and risk exposure.

 

[BobSweden]

Trinity is of course correct. The rule of thumb is "did the chemist consider this?". When companies develop new products, these are developed to fit into their range and tested accordingly. This means using their prep, bonder, uv lamp, etc. It's impossible for any company to test how their product performs when products are mixed - there are far too many variations.

And never listen to NT who say they did it and there were no problems. They are not chemists, many of them can't even take advice from experts, and the number of NT's who develop allergies is increasing every year!

 

[Daffyxoxo]

Thank you both. It wasn’t covered in my training, but what you’ve said makes sense and is taken on board