Soft nails, gel polish help

[daisy020913]

I have used gelish for years and do love it , however I am finding when the nails are still a little soft I don't have anything to offer . I have tried structure gel and it's still gives a bendy feeling which isn't what I am wanting and I really don't want to use acrylic if possible nor do I want to have to file and file away hard gel .

Are there any other options I am missing to add some strength / possibly sculpt if need be ?

Thanks

 

[blossom]

Have you tried the IBX strengthening treatment esp in tandem with CND's rescue RXX? In strengthening the nail, everything will last longer

 

[Lol Schofield]

It's a bit of an old system but a very good one, fibreglass wrap system or silk, it's a lot less harsh than some systems. It's fiddly to do but it might help make the nails stronger

 

[Beautylou87]

I use Jessica generation and find their build amazing gives the nails so much more strength

 

[daisy020913]

Oh great thanks .

 

[daisy020913]

Just thinking would an option be for me to gel polish as normal . Base x2 colour then maybe apply a hard gel to strengthen . Thinking that way a thin coat would be filed off before soak off . Or do you have to apply whatever is strengthening after the base and before the colour ??

Thanks guys x x

 

[asteropi]

Just thinking would an option be for me to gel polish as normal . Base x2 colour then maybe apply a hard gel to strengthen . Thinking that way a thin coat would be filed off before soak off . Or do you have to apply whatever is strengthening after the base and before the colour ??

Thanks guys x x

what you are referring to is known as an overlay, and basically you work with that and use gel polish just for the colour.
1. prep as usual
2. apply your acrylic or hard gel overlay, just the base and only a thin layer to cover the nail
3. skip gel polish base coat - no need for that
4. apply 2* gel polish colour
5. apply top coat. if you did brisa overlay, then you need brisa top coat (cnd hard gel line). any other brand, it's gel polish top coat

 

[daisy020913]

Yes but I didn't want to use hard gel as the base because I didn't want to risk filing the natural nail . That's why I was wondering if the hard gel could be applied at the final layer so I would only file the top coat off before wrapping and removing as normal ?

 

[carolwheatley]

It's a bit of an old system but a very good one, fibreglass wrap system or silk, it's a lot less harsh than some systems. It's fiddly to do but it might help make the nails stronger

Yes... totally agree... i love fibre glass... its quick easy and very strong... and you can do overlays on natural nails or over sculpting forms..... it's so brilliant i dont know why more people dont use it lols x

 

[Vickytoms]

Yes... totally agree... i love fibre glass... its quick easy and very strong... and you can do overlays on natural nails or over sculpting forms..... it's so brilliant i dont know why more people dont use it lols x

Would I need to go on a course for fibreglass? I'm Cnd trained and I don't think they offer it?

 

[cheekychick]

Have you tried applying 2 layers of structure gel?
1 after foundation and 1 after colour coats. Or just 2 coats after colour? x

 

[sammi010]

another fan of silk and fibreglass, it baffles me why it isn't used more. My MIL can't believe how it's transformed her nails, plus she loves telling people she has silk nails! She is a bit of a Mrs Bucket, and she actually has fibreglass as she's a bit heavy handed but what she doesn't know wont hurt!

Soaks off easy too so when removing your colour polish no additional filing.

 

[Ruth Dunning]

O'Nine offer a product called Strengthen Gel which is used to add some strength to the natural nail x

 

[Pixiedust360]

Hi I use a system that works wonders for my clients...

Base coat cure
Dust on to the sticky layer clear acrylic powder
First coat colour gel cure
Dust again with acrylic powder
Second coat colour cure
And lastly top coat

It works like a charm

 

[DollyMollys]

Have you tried applying 2 layers of structure gel?
1 after foundation and 1 after colour coats. Or just 2 coats after colour? x

Have you found this works? X

 

[asteropi]

Hi I use a system that works wonders for my clients...

Base coat cure
Dust on to the sticky layer clear acrylic powder
First coat colour gel cure
Dust again with acrylic powder
Second coat colour cure
And lastly top coat

It works like a charm

I believe the technique is called acrygel unless I'm much mistaken and it's definitely worth a try

 

[cheekychick]

Have you found this works? X

Yep, I've done it a few times on clients when I've removed nss acrylics. x

 

[daisy020913]

Mine started to break yesterday . I've had to chop them all down . Gutted .

Interesting about the acrylic . So just the powder to be dusted on . As in sprinkle or apply with a brush ? Doesn't it make the polish look grainy ?

Thank you for all of the above posts . Some really good tips .

 

[daisy020913]

Have you found this works? X

No I've never tried that . I have no structure left now either . I didn't bother to replace as I didn't feel it worked

 

[DollyMollys]

Hi I use a system that works wonders for my clients...

Base coat cure
Dust on to the sticky layer clear acrylic powder
First coat colour gel cure
Dust again with acrylic powder
Second coat colour cure
And lastly top coat

It works like a charm

Hey, do you buff this off or does it soak off ok? I fancy this for some of my ladies.

I've been looking into Acrygel & wanted to maybe see if it can be done with tips. It can. But no where teaches it.