Swarovski crystal pedicure with Shellac or gel?

[charlotte.b]

Hi geeks looking for some advice on the crystal pedi's. I'm currently just using Shellac - PEP, base coat cure 10 seconds, colour coat cure 2 minutes, apply crystals into tacky layer, apply top coat cure 2 minutes, remove inhibition layer.

2 problems, 1 - the top coat means the crystals lose some shine (try to apply inbetween but still = loss of sparkle because it sort of 'fills in' some of the dimensions of the crystal.

And 2, I kept losing crystals..not a huge amount but a few here and there enough for me to notice them. Basically I think the Shellac is not hard wearing enough to hold 300 crystals in place. I know other geeks use a soak off gel what do you recommend? And what is your method?
Can I use non CND soak off gel with my CND lamp?
I really want to get this right because it looks fantastic and everyone loved it!

 

[pocketdragon]

Hiya hun, i would set them in clear gel as i havent had much luck in keeping stones on shellac without nail glue!
I did a dummy run using rhinestones in gel and didnt lose any! Setting them in shellac on fingers wasnt much good, lost all in few days. Second attempt had to use nail glue to stick them down. Deffinately opt for gel!! Hth xx

 

[Princess Layla]

I set mine in resin, no loss of shine as it doesn't cover the gems lasts weeks,

 

[Roxyru]

I set mine in resin, no loss of shine as it doesn't cover the gems lasts weeks,

This sounds an interesting option, which resin do you use ? And do you use the thicker builder resin or the thin brush on ? Sorry for all the questions