Ruined my CND lamp lid!

[shortshadylady]

I'm officially losing the plot.

I have done a few shellacs now. Primarily toes (ten or so) and four lots of hands. My toes have been amazing and have lasted weeks and weeks on end but on my first set of hands, they were lifting and chipping within a day. On my second set, same thing. Within 24 hours!! Both French. Now, in between these two, I worked on a friend and fellow therapist using all my products but her lamp. My first French on her lasted ten days and this second one has one slightly chipped thumb after five days. Not great but WAY better than my other two. And she has been doing removals in the salon. So, I'm starting to question my lamp. (As we used my friends lamp for her nails). I have a genuine CND lamp which I have had for about six months and it has 95 hours remaining on it. I thought i ought to clean the bulbs as suggested in other posts. I also thought id give the mirror inside the lid a wipe over. Like an IDIOT though, I picked up a cotton pad with dsperse on it and wiped the mirror finish thus leaving it BLURRED and dull!!! I could just cry!! Rather than potenially improving the problem, I have only gone and made it worse.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, do we think I will be able to buy a replacement lid??

And in answer to all the questions that I'm sure I will be asked..

It's a CND lamp purchased from S2
I use only CND products
I PEP exactly as taught in my recent Shellac course.

I do hope someone will have some positive news on my lid!! I simply cannot afford to replace the lamp and whilst I'm putting on such duff work, I'm too scared to charge people for it so I'm not recouping anything.

Thanks for reading fellow geeks. Permission for lower lip to wobble 😢 xx

 

[sleepingbeauty]

Aww I have no answers here for you hun but I wanted to send you a cyber hug.. <<<< Hugs >>>>> xx

 

[BABSann]

I would ring sweet squared on Monday and see what they suggest. They are really helpful and I'm sure they will know if you can buy spare parts. Fingers crossed for you x

 

[geeg]

I'm officially losing the plot.

I have done a few shellacs now. Primarily toes (ten or so) and four lots of hands. My toes have been amazing and have lasted weeks and weeks on end but on my first set of hands, they were lifting and chipping within a day. On my second set, same thing. Within 24 hours!! Both French. Now, in between these two, I worked on a friend and fellow therapist using all my products but her lamp. My first French on her lasted ten days and this second one has one slightly chipped thumb after five days. Not great but WAY better than my other two. And she has been doing removals in the salon. So, I'm starting to question my lamp. (As we used my friends lamp for her nails). I have a genuine CND lamp which I have had for about six months and it has 95 hours remaining on it. I thought i ought to clean the bulbs as suggested in other posts. I also thought id give the mirror inside the lid a wipe over. Like an IDIOT though, I picked up a cotton pad with dsperse on it and wiped the mirror finish thus leaving it BLURRED and dull!!! I could just cry!! Rather than potenially improving the problem, I have only gone and made it worse.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, do we think I will be able to buy a replacement lid??

And in answer to all the questions that I'm sure I will be asked..

It's a CND lamp purchased from S2
I use only CND products
I PEP exactly as taught in my recent Shellac course.

I do hope someone will have some positive news on my lid!! I simply cannot afford to replace the lamp and whilst I'm putting on such duff work, I'm too scared to charge people for it so I'm not recouping anything.

Thanks for reading fellow geeks. Permission for lower lip to wobble &#55357;&#56866; xx

Oh dear!

Well the good news is you can buy replacement liners (the shiney bits) for your CND lamp without having to replace with a whole new lamp. If you speak to someone who can speak to the warehouse heros, they will more than likely have some replacement lids hanging around too. You have to ask personally as these are not a separate stock item available on the website or listed in the catalog.

As to your French chipping so early on in the game ... I'm sure it has nothing to do with your lamp and everything to do with either clients not being careful OR that your free edge white Shellac was too thick and therefore did not cure all the way through (a common failing amongst nail technicians .. they just use too darned much).

Watch these videos and see how little you actually need to use and for some useful trouble shooting tricks if you have chipping problems with your French.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7h-dx6-xFk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuCoTwwVhSc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPagLuahSjY

 

[shortshadylady]

Thank you all. You are all too lovely. I was verging on meltdown!

Geeg, your answer makes perfect sense but I have watched Holly's video over and over and I apply studio white so thin that its possibly a bit too thin and is a tad transparent in areas. Also, I can't understand how I can do it fine when I work on my old college friend yet so horribly wrong when I work on anyone else. The only difference I could see was the lamp. But I totally respect your opinion and judgement and will try try again. Quick question. I use an extension lead to plug my lamp in and occasionally an extension into an extension. Would this have a detrimental effect?Lastly Geeg, I have a lady who needs fingers and toes doing tonight for a party tomorrow. I'm so scared that they won't last now due to the damage to the lid. Should I go ahead and try? She's my neighbour and I'm tempted to tell her what's happened and not take any payment at all just in case. She is one of the ladies who had a mere 24 hours out of my work!

Thank you again. Light at the end of the tunnel x

 

[geeg]

The shine on the lid is to reflect the light ... if it is not doing that then I would say it would affect performance.

I don't see why alcohol would affect the shine. D.Solve might but D.Sperse? I'm surprised, Try washing the reflector with some fairy liquid and water and polish up with a soft cloth or paper towel and see if it improves it.

 

[shortshadylady]

The shine on the lid is to reflect the light ... if it is not doing that then I would say it would affect performance.

I don't see why alcohol would affect the shine. D.Solve might but D.Sperse? I'm surprised, Try washing the reflector with some fairy liquid and water and polish up with a soft cloth or paper towel and see if it improves it.

I shall definitely do that now. It's not completely matte but does not have that clear mirror effect. Looks as though it has been slightly scoured?? Bizarre I know. It was definitely dsperse on a cotton pad. I shall go and follow your advice this instant. Thank you! x

 

[evangelinegrace]

I have heard that some extension cables do supply the lamp with less than optimal power... Particularly the cheaper ones that run in serial, not parallel.

Try plugging straight into a wall... Although I would think it would more likely be the application technique.

 

[PixieBeauty]

Have you eliminated the client/nails?

It's not too clear from your post but...
If you've only done yours & friends nails maybe your nails aren't suitable?

If you've done other people apart from your therapist friend did you say you aren't charging, if so people don't care for what they don't pay for.

Have you tried colour instead of French? What was the outcome? That could help eliminate a few variables too...

Xx

 

[Nickilou]

Hey shortshadylady just to let you know your not on your own !! Lol I've only been doing this for a zillion years but like you I actually made my lamp case worse whilst trying to clean - I am a bit OCD when it comes to cleanliness and whilst trying to remove some of the blue plastic protection I scrubbed it until it was dull in places !!!! However after realising that I'd probably gone a bit OTT I've used the lamp for 18mths with no problems shellacking happily every 2/3 weeks think I will give it a good shine up now though as Geeg suggests x!!! X

 

[shortshadylady]

Have you eliminated the client/nails?

It's not too clear from your post but...
If you've only done yours & friends nails maybe your nails aren't suitable?

If you've done other people apart from your therapist friend did you say you aren't charging, if so people don't care for what they don't pay for.

Have you tried colour instead of French? What was the outcome? That could help eliminate a few variables too...

Xx

Hi pixie beauty
Thank you for your interest in this. I'm grateful for every bit of help. I have done four sets of French. Two on my therapist friend, one on my neighbour who is a dear friend and another on a very dear friend. Both of these ladies know how important this is to me and assured me they were absolutely religious in aftercare. My therapist friend was the one who was way less religious and did a bunch of soak offs and never used solar oil etc yet hers are the only ones that lasted (I did hers using her lamp). I have only ever done French on hands but tonight I did a colour (managed to screw that up to but that's for another thread!!!). This colour is on my lovely neighbour so we shall see. It's my first colour on hands. I am so itching to see the outcome of this. (Especially given my dodgy lamp now!) Thanks again. I'm open to ALL suggestions! xx

 

[shortshadylady]

Hey shortshadylady just to let you know your not on your own !! Lol I've only been doing this for a zillion years but like you I actually made my lamp case worse whilst trying to clean - I am a bit OCD when it comes to cleanliness and whilst trying to remove some of the blue plastic protection I scrubbed it until it was dull in places !!!! However after realising that I'd probably gone a bit OTT I've used the lamp for 18mths with no problems shellacking happily every 2/3 weeks think I will give it a good shine up now though as Geeg suggests x!!! X

So glad I'm not alone. I could have cheerfully throttled myself!!! I'm going to call S2 first thing on Monday to try to buy a replacement because it will bug me and my OCD knowing that its no longer perfect!! xx

 

[shortshadylady]

I just wanted to post an enormously gushing thank you to Sweetsquared (Kelly in particular) for being simply too wonderful for words.

Some of you may remember my epic fail on Saturday where I damaged the mirror insert of the lid on my CND lamp? Well, the equally wonderful Gigi suggested that I call S2 to see if they could assist. I have just done this and Kelly at S2 is sending me out a replacement lid today! I could not be any more thrilled.

So, thank you to S2, to Kelly and to Gigi. Oh and thank you also to all of you lovelies that listened to my rantings and posted words of reassurance.

:hug::hug::hug: :hug:

 

[geeg]

Happy you had a great outcome. :hug: We try!!

 

[An*Gel]

Nothing like great customer service!

Thanks for the update - mind that lamp now

 

[Iris]

Would also like to say how fab Kelly was when I had a problem last week with a product. A replacement was sent that day and she couldn't have been more helpful. Great customer service goes such a long way to guaranteeing loyalty from your customers

 

[Mrs Geek]

So glad we were able to solve your problems!! Way to go Kelly - our team are literally weaned on 'The customer Comes First'!!! :hug:

 

[shortshadylady]

So glad we were able to solve your problems!! Way to go Kelly - our team are literally weaned on 'The customer Comes First'!!! :hug:

Well whatever you're doing with your team, keep doing it! Kelly was an absolute treasure on the phone and could not have been more helpful. My lid arrived this morning!! Only a day later. I could not be more grateful!. Absolutely first class service. Thank you SO much. x

 

[Mobilenailsbfd]

I always clean mine with d sperse and never had any problems to be honest. Sure it wasn't d solve?

 

[shortshadylady]

I always clean mine with d sperse and never had any problems to be honest. Sure it wasn't d solve?

No. It was dsperse but I don't think this is what did the damage. I think it was the tissue I grabbed to dry it off! It seemed abrasive and the surface looked all 'scoured'. I realised this afterwards. I'm a numpty x