New to gels, advice about brands and Bio Sculpture please

[Happylucy]

Hi all, I've done a quick course in gels now and am trying to find the best brand that lasts two weeks at least please. I was using blue sky and tried clavuz but I cannot get them to last two weeks! I've seen a bio sculpture starter pack that comes with training for £500 but is it worth it? Thanks x

 

[nailpod]

Quick course ?

 

[Happylucy]

I day gel and one day manicure so wasn't sure how in depth it was compared to other training

 

[nailpod]

Bio is usually very good training

 

[Happylucy]

Do they last a long time? Thank you for responding

 

[blossom]

Good training is generally worth it

To be fair, the condition/strength of your client's nails will have a bearing on how long their gel polish lasts. Thinner nails will struggle whereas tough nails will go 3/4 weeks no problem.

Also how your client's use their hands will affect how it lasts. Certain cleaning products (mr muscle, cillit bang, bleach etc) will eat away at the seal you've created at the free edge and then it'll chip or peel.

Also if you advise your clients to use cuticle oil on their nails daily, they will fare better.

So make sure you're giving appropriate aftercare and advice.

If you have a manicure & a gel polish certificate I think you owe it to yourself to be using a better brand, preferably a pro only one x

 

[Happylucy]

Oh thank you so much!! I just wasn't sure if bio was better than shellac etc as I can't afford to pay out for more training at the moment. Are there are any pro brands you recommend? X

 

[blossom]

The bio sculpture course (yes, good brand, so is Shellac but they're different things) will teach you to extend using gel (a stronger, builder gel, as opposed to a gel polish (which doesn't give strength really just lasting colour & shine). So after the bio course you'd be able to offer nail extensions if that's what you want, whereas with gel polish you can't make the nail longer.

Other extension courses that are good are also run by Nail Harmony, Nsi, CND and more. You can extend with either tips or by sculpting (using a form as a platform to build instead of a tip) and obv bio-sculpture falls into that camp (hence the name)

If you're not bothered about extending but want to use gel-polish then there are lots of decent brands as you'll see from threads on this site, I use CND Shellac but a lot of geeks on here swear by Gelish, Ink London, OPI gel colour, etc. I'm sure others will advise you on their favourite or you can do a search on here. Personally I'd go for somewhere that asks you to produce your certificates before they'll sell to you

Sorry for all the waffle, hope it makes sense lol.

Was your course generic or with a particular brand? And was it gel (extensions) or gel-polish)?

 

[Happylucy]

Oh thank you so much! It was a generic gel polish course that gave me a trade card but not much advice on what brands to go for. I will look into CND then and a bigger trade place to buy from x

 

[blossom]

Oh thank you so much! It was a generic gel polish course that gave me a trade card but not much advice on what brands to go for. I will look into CND then and a bigger trade place to buy from x

There are only 2 authorised distributors of CND Shellac in the U.K., Sweet Squared and Ellisons.
Buy from anywhere else and you could be paying good money for fake goods x

 

[Happylucy]

That's great I will look them up, really appreciate your help x

 

[EllenHyuga]

Hi, I use Bluesky and they last 2-3 weeks depending what the client/I'm doing

 

[Happylucy]

Do you use anything on top of the top coat? Someone said opi nail envy might help

 

[EllenHyuga]

No, I just wipe off and that's it. I find mine don't last as long when I don't seal the free edge properly, but that's usually when I do it on myself in a rush x

 

[blossom]

Do you use anything on top of the top coat? Someone said opi nail envy might help

Nail envy is for use on the natural nail not over products