Testing SOG polishes at Excel

[Pooh8bear]

I am now on day 14 and all 6 of my samples are still holding up very well. There really is very little to choose between them. Not one chip or sign of wear.

The regrowth is driving me mad now. Tomorrow I will soak them off, one by one, and time the removal process for each product.

How are you getting on Pooh8bear?

I soaked them all off on Sunday so they had 2 weeks.

All of them held up well, no chips or signs of wear & still quite shiny.

Soaking off: 10-15 mins in foil mitts & heated bean bag & I broke the surface with a couple of swipes of the file on all of them, even though you don't need to with some :

Shellac- came off like a dream in 10 mins & the nail underneath looked fabulous

NSI Pro Plus- came off nicely too, nail underneath was fine.

Mani Q- needed to soak a little bit longer 15-20 mins & it came off a bit "gritty". (the nail also looked a tiny bit yellow for some reason)

Nubar Gelicure- 15-20 mins soak off, tiny bit gritty,also the nail was a little bit yellow but the nail was fine otherwise.

Jessica- soaked off well but it looked patchy after they did it, even after they did 3 coats of colour ( the tech did say Sexy Siren was a difficult colour so don't know if they would all be patchy)

Bio Sculpture- soaked off beautifully, came away like a piece of rubber, the nail underneath was great.

Calgel- the same

Gelish- Soaked off really easily & fine underneath.

Artistic Colour gloss- easy to soak off & nail underneath also fine.

All in all I am very impressed with the wear of all of them.

The winning shine went to Shellac & Gelish

 

[AmeliaR]

its nice to hear how the all removed and also giving this a bit of a bump as i think its a good thread! and i was keen to here the results x

 

[Serenity Beauty]

Love this thread I'm going to look at calgel and gelish now!

 

[JuicyLucy]

I am now on day 16 and I still haven't got round to taking them off. The regrowth looks rank! I am finishing earlier tomorrow night, so I will do them then.

I have to say, I am impressed with every one of the products, they are very close.

My most shiney award would go to Gelicure followed closely by Gelish.

I can't work out how to put photos on here any more otherwise I would post day 1, day 17 and after removal pictures.

 

[Katmoz33]

Great thread thanks xx

 

[Pooh8bear]

I am now on day 16 and I still haven't got round to taking them off. The regrowth looks rank! I am finishing earlier tomorrow night, so I will do them then.

I have to say, I am impressed with every one of the products, they are very close.

My most shiney award would go to Gelicure followed closely by Gelish.

I can't work out how to put photos on here any more otherwise I would post day 1, day 17 and after removal pictures.

Yes I wanted to do photos too but I didn't know how to do it either.

I'm amazed more people haven't done "testing" from the show -as this way we know it is nothing we have done wrong in the application as it is the companies own techs applying it.

So it is a true test of their products.

They do seem to differ a little in the soak off as some come away like a piece of rubber (which are the easier to remove) & some are a bit gritty & need a little more help.

 

[Lolla]

THANK YOU for this thread!! :biggrin: It kind of answers the questions I've put in a different thread - I didn't see this when looking through before.

The Shellac (I am new to gels so bear with me) is that applied with a brush as in pot and brush? Like OPI's Axxium? Or is it out of a bottle like normal nail varnish? Same question for the Gelish?

Any idea on the price brackets of some of these gels?

Thanks again! x

 

[JuicyLucy]

I finally got round to soaking them off last night. So that was 18 days! No chips on any of them but a little wear on the end of the Shellac finger. However, it was my index finger so maybe that was the reason.

So soaking. I did them one at a time so that I could really time them fairly and properly. I did them all with acetone and foil wraps. I'll start with the longest/hardest to remove and work down to the quickest/best.

Harmony Gelish: Broke the seal left for 8 minutes. Very flaky and messy to remove. Almost ended up as a pile of dust. Orangewood stick used and then metal scraper. I put the wrap back on for another minute to remove final residue. Nail underneath was rough.

Young Nails Mani-q custom mix with OPI Polish: Broke the seal and left for 8 minutes. Hardly any scraping with orangewood stick only. Came off in a few rubbery pieces. However, my nail underneath was stained with the polish colour which I could only remove with buffing.

NSI Polish Pro & OPI Axxium: Broke the seal and left for 8 minutes. Very easy scrape with orangewood stick only. Both nails were fine underneath.

CND Shellac: Did not break seal as per instructions. Left for 8 minutes. Very easy removal with orangewood stick only. However, my nail had split underneath, so perhaps the product is not strong enough to support my long nails.

Nubar Gelicure: Broke the seal and left for 8 minutes. When I removed the foil there was virtually nothing on my nail and all the gel was in one lump on the cotton wool. My nail underneath was perfect.

Without doubt the Gelicure was the fastest and cleanest to remove. It also had the best shine after the 18 day trial. Next best shine was Gelish followed by Axxium.

I timed each one of the experts at Excel as they did my nails. Some were talking and giving instructions more than others so it wasn't totally fair. However, looking back over my notes, Gelicure had the fastest application time and was one of only two (the other being Shellac) that did not buff the natural nail first.

I don't know if you can see these pictures, perhaps someone can let me know if you can.
Juicylucy | skitch.com

Following my small trial, I think I will go for Gelicure although I want to try NCO London (their gel polish is about to be launched) before I make a decision. I want to start with one brand and stick with it. There are still so many brands I haven't tried, I wish I had been able to get round to all of them at Excel. I still haven't tried Calgel, Bio, Jessica, Artistic etc. etc.

By the way, I was really naughty while doing this trial and never used cuticle oil once

This was fun, I enjoyed doing it.

 

[MaisyMouse]

Great thread thanks! :biggrin:

 

[Lisa Dodd]

ditto!

 

[Pooh8bear]

Great news about Gelicure, I do love their colours & they are so helpful when you phone up with questions.

Such a shame more people didn't do these tests.

Can I ask why you only left them for 8 mins? None of the instructions I had said it comes off in 8 mins.

Thanks JuicyLucy for reporting back:hug:

 

[shedunlop]

You must have spent all day queuing to have these applied, that is dedication. The other thing to consider is the application of these products. I have tried a few of them now and some are so much easier to apply than others.

Great thread though! :green:

 

[JuicyLucy]

Can I ask why you only left them for 8 mins? None of the instructions I had said it comes off in 8 mins.

Good question. Ummm.. I don't know! I would like to be able to say that it takes me 8 minutes to wrap 10 fingers - therefore the first would be ready when I'd wrapped the last. But I just made that idea up!

I thought that some companies were saying "8-12 minutes removal time", but now I look I can't find any that say that! I wonder how much better the Gelish and Mani-q would have removed if I had left them for 10 minutes. However, time is money in our salons and 4 of the 6 removed easily in 8 minutes.

 

[JuicyLucy]

You must have spent all day queuing to have these applied, that is dedication. The other thing to consider is the application of these products. I have tried a few of them now and some are so much easier to apply than others.

I certainly did spend the whole time waiting in line! I did think about taking some colourpops with me and asking if I could have a go at applying each product, but in the end decided against it. You are right though, application looks the same and easy when done by experts, might not be the same when I have a go.

One demonstrator experienced wrinkling of the product on the demo she did before mine. That has really put me off that particular product.

 

[Pooh8bear]

I soaked off the Gelicure (on one hand)& Mani Q (on the other)on my model last night- I wrapped each nail, mitts & heated bean bag, timed 10 mins from the minute I finished wrapping.

It came away without any problem but they both did have a slight yellow staining on all the nails.
This was the same amount of staining I had on the tester nails that were done at Excel by their own techs so I know it wasn't something I did.
See didn't mind about the staining but is going to let me know how long they stay yellowy for.

I did love the way they both applied & very good coverage, even just with one coat.

 

[Pooh8bear]

I soaked them all off on Sunday so they had 2 weeks.

All of them held up well, no chips or signs of wear & still quite shiny.

Soaking off: 10-15 mins in foil mitts & heated bean bag & I broke the surface with a couple of swipes of the file on all of them, even though you don't need to with some :

Shellac- came off like a dream in 10 mins & the nail underneath looked fabulous

NSI Pro Plus- came off nicely too, nail underneath was fine.

Mani Q- needed to soak a little bit longer 15-20 mins & it came off a bit "gritty". (the nail also looked a tiny bit yellow for some reason)

Nubar Gelicure- 15-20 mins soak off, tiny bit gritty,also the nail was a little bit yellow but the nail was fine otherwise.

Jessica- soaked off well but it looked patchy after they did it, even after they did 3 coats of colour ( the tech did say Sexy Siren was a difficult colour so don't know if they would all be patchy)

Bio Sculpture- soaked off beautifully, came away like a piece of rubber, the nail underneath was great.

Calgel- the same

Gelish- Soaked off really easily & fine underneath.

Artistic Colour gloss- easy to soak off & nail underneath also fine.

All in all I am very impressed with the wear of all of them.

The winning shine went to Shellac & Gelish

Forgot to add that they were all soaked off with Bio Sculptures gel remover.

 

[Pooh8bear]

I finally got round to soaking them off last night. So that was 18 days! No chips on any of them but a little wear on the end of the Shellac finger. However, it was my index finger so maybe that was the reason.

So soaking. I did them one at a time so that I could really time them fairly and properly. I did them all with acetone and foil wraps. I'll start with the longest/hardest to remove and work down to the quickest/best.

Harmony Gelish: Broke the seal left for 8 minutes. Very flaky and messy to remove. Almost ended up as a pile of dust. Orangewood stick used and then metal scraper. I put the wrap back on for another minute to remove final residue. Nail underneath was rough.

Young Nails Mani-q custom mix with OPI Polish: Broke the seal and left for 8 minutes. Hardly any scraping with orangewood stick only. Came off in a few rubbery pieces. However, my nail underneath was stained with the polish colour which I could only remove with buffing.

NSI Polish Pro & OPI Axxium: Broke the seal and left for 8 minutes. Very easy scrape with orangewood stick only. Both nails were fine underneath.

CND Shellac: Did not break seal as per instructions. Left for 8 minutes. Very easy removal with orangewood stick only. However, my nail had split underneath, so perhaps the product is not strong enough to support my long nails.

Nubar Gelicure: Broke the seal and left for 8 minutes. When I removed the foil there was virtually nothing on my nail and all the gel was in one lump on the cotton wool. My nail underneath was perfect.

Without doubt the Gelicure was the fastest and cleanest to remove. It also had the best shine after the 18 day trial. Next best shine was Gelish followed by Axxium.

I timed each one of the experts at Excel as they did my nails. Some were talking and giving instructions more than others so it wasn't totally fair. However, looking back over my notes, Gelicure had the fastest application time and was one of only two (the other being Shellac) that did not buff the natural nail first.

I don't know if you can see these pictures, perhaps someone can let me know if you can.
Juicylucy | skitch.com

Following my small trial, I think I will go for Gelicure although I want to try NCO London (their gel polish is about to be launched) before I make a decision. I want to start with one brand and stick with it. There are still so many brands I haven't tried, I wish I had been able to get round to all of them at Excel. I still haven't tried Calgel, Bio, Jessica, Artistic etc. etc.

By the way, I was really naughty while doing this trial and never used cuticle oil once

This was fun, I enjoyed doing it.

Hi JuicyLucy, have you done any more testing since you put this post up?
Just going over a few threads to put my shopping list together for Olympia tomorrow.
Which colours have you got (or getting) of Gelicure? & ManiQ

Gelicure, ManiQ are definitely on the list.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Hi JuicyLucy, have you done any more testing since you put this post up?
Just going over a few threads to put my shopping list together for Olympia tomorrow.
Which colours have you got (or getting) of Gelicure? & ManiQ

Gelicure, ManiQ are definitely on the list.

I have all the colours in Gelicure except the light green (didn't think anyone would want it). I am still loving the system. I gave up on the ManiQ mixing stuff - too much trouble.

I bought a few wacky colours in Millenium and I have found they work very very well.

I have also bought a second Harmony LED lamp just because I was so worried about ever being lampless even for a day! Love, love, love my LED lamps.

At Olympia I think I might buy a few Gelish colours. I am just hoping have Harmony finally have the hard LED gel available at the show.

 

[Rinn]

oh hello, i'm new.... using shellac since it was launched here last year . love it.... tried geleration... good too but the smell of it would knock you out. so that put me off it.... the few bottles of it i got are gathering dust on the shelf. . ( not really , i do keep the place clean)...dying to try led lamp . will it work with shellac does any of youse know? thanks

 

[JuicyLucy]

...dying to try led lamp . will it work with shellac does any of youse know? thanks

In a word "No" you have to have a CND lamp.