Need love and reassurance, new client where everything goes wrong

[Alison Pilkington-Child]

So I take the booking for Gel extensions and she says she has nail varnish on to remove so I book time out based on that.
Turns out she has gel on, took it down and soaked.... soaked again... soaked again... it’s turning into sticky spaghetti as it comes off at a rate of one micron per soak. It’s actually reformed and stuck to me!
She has shocking natural nails and arthritis and she doesn’t want tips, she wants forms. Nothing to overlap onto the forms and everything needs a custom tweak. Her hyponichium is extended and uneven sending my forms off line in every direction, in the opposite to her finger directions, and the only way to build structure, strength and form is to pile on three layers of gel and create a decent freestyle shape - think silk purses and sows ears... by now I’m calling up my next appointment to reschedule.
Then she says she has to be off somewhere by x time and I’m doing Anneka Rice impersonations to get her nails finished by her deadline. I have never rushed colour on so fast and it was not up to my usual OCD standard so now I feel like I did her a bad job.[emoji17]
I felt so bad about how long it took, I gave her a discount, just covered my costs as I don’t charge much anyway. Wouldn’t have felt this way so much if the forms I used hadn’t messed me about so much. They didn’t unstick themselves from anything!

I need some low profile forms that will squeeze into a fairly tight spaced lamp (Bio Sculpture) that behave impeccably, any suggestions?

 

[7th-Heaven]

It's horrible when we have those kind of days/clients. Especially if you've had a good run one week and finish the Friday off with one of these lol.
I suggest trying Harmony forms if you haven't. They stick on like superglue and aren't too bulky. X

The client does not decide if you use tips or forms. She can prefer one over the other sure. So do I, since I only use forms too. But if I come across an example like yours, I'd consider sizing up some tips instead. If she caused a fuss, you could try to inform her that it's in her best interest this time, because forms will be tricky on her nails, not to mention you have reduced time on your hands because of the surprise gel polish (which, even if it was a fresh Shellac, would have reduced your total time, let alone whatever she had). As for the gel polish.... Not a nice move on her part to tell you it's varnish when it's actually gel. She is a customer, true, but it's still her responsibility to know what is on her own nails and not tell you something untrue. Since you were struggling to soak it, I personally would have filed it off in that situation. It could be that it's a gel paint and not polish. You won't damage her natural nail if you go gently with the file, and since you were applying enhancements anyway, you would already have buffed them .
Try to look at this glass half full. If she doesn't come back, that'd be great. Do you want her as a repeat customer? I bet you don't. I sure wouldn't! You got some hands on experience with applying tips on extremely challenging hands, and some business experience in general. And you broke even in expenses. I'd say not too bad!

 

[Alison Pilkington-Child]

Lol, you’re right, had I known better what I was getting into I would have carried on with my efile to within a cats whisker! As it was, once I’d started soaking it was a point of no return on account of the super-endurance stickiness. Three or four nails were about 1 1/2 millimetres deep! [emoji50]
She wanted rid because the enhancements were on tips so no chance of talking her into having more.
On the bright side if she returns the hard work is done.
Just before she left she said she would be back in touch for a pedi next week.
There is a possibility that the gel polish v nail polish thing was something lost in translation as she had recently returned from living abroad for some time.
Thanks for the tip (unintended pun) about forms. I’ll take a look. I mostly use forms for acrylics and they are not ideal for using UV lamps. The smaller ones I had were something I just normally use to do nail art on a practice hand. They just didn’t want to release from the gel without a fight!

 

[7th-Heaven]

Lol, you’re right, had I known better what I was getting into I would have carried on with my efile to within a cats whisker! As it was, once I’d started soaking it was a point of no return on account of the super-endurance stickiness. Three or four nails were about 1 1/2 millimetres deep! [emoji50]
She wanted rid because the enhancements were on tips so no chance of talking her into having more.
On the bright side if she returns the hard work is done.
Just before she left she said she would be back in touch for a pedi next week.
There is a possibility that the gel polish v nail polish thing was something lost in translation as she had recently returned from living abroad for some time.
Thanks for the tip (unintended pun) about forms. I’ll take a look. I mostly use forms for acrylics and they are not ideal for using UV lamps. The smaller ones I had were something I just normally use to do nail art on a practice hand. They just didn’t want to release from the gel without a fight!

You can also try cutting off parts of the bottom and outer edge of the form, once it's on the nail I have to do this when using the cnd led lamp, because it's a stupidly cramped design for a lamp. It helps them get their hands in without bumping into everything. Doing 2 nails at the time, then putting 2 forms on the other hand while one hand is in the lamp, rinse repeat, can also help with those space issues and just makes it more manageable.

 

[Alison Pilkington-Child]

It’s a funny old world. Perhaps I just worry too much. The lady sent me a text this morning, she loves the nails and want’s a matching pedi on Wednesday.. and also wants to know when to come back for an infill on her fingernails! [emoji1]

 

[7th-Heaven]

It’s a funny old world. Perhaps I just worry too much. The lady sent me a text this morning, she loves the nails and want’s a matching pedi on Wednesday.. and also wants to know when to come back for an infill on her fingernails! [emoji1]

That's great! Sometimes we overthink things. You probably earned yourself a loyal customer. X