What brand of gel do you use?

[RedAdmiral]

it foxes me this .....how comes NO ONE has brought out a gel that is....


Strong over tips....preferably soaks off....and is excellent on natural nails too...nice french colours....lots of other colours.....


ambx

I think it comes down to chemistry - now I prob am talking out of my rear end but soft gels tend to be rubbery and peely and hard gels........er hard!
Christine Le owner of Christrio made gelacquer which is a polish style soak off and its completly different to Basic One.
I tried to sandwich the coloured gels between layers of gelacquer to see if this would give me a semi perm polish but it didnt work. I dont think you can have the best of both but I would be very interested to see if there was a product coming out soon

 

[Lellipop]

I voted for 2 brands Lell!

Well if you can Sassy so can I

 

[Little Angel]

Well if you can Sassy so can I

Hey there

now thats why i made it multiple :lol: cause i know all geeks are usually product junkies and have loads.

I know it frustrates me when i can only chose one option :lol:

 

[Noodle]

Bio Sculpture for me.

Love variety of colours, love the ability to soak the gel off very easily and love it 'cos it's long-lasting.

 

[*JOANNE*]

i use 2 brands
i love ezflows gel it and especially edge it, gel it is strong over tips and files lovely.
i also use brisa more for the paint on white gel which i use with brisa overlay kit over toes as one system.(product junkie too.lol)

 

[JackieMc]

I love both Brisa and Gel It - I use them both as I like the selection of colours you get with Gel It - their 'Edge It' is a great colour and I much prefer it to the harsher 'white' whites - but then that's a matter of preference.

I've used so many different gels over the last few years but these two are the ones I'm happiest with.

Jackie

 

[Kirsty Dalton]

Akzentz for me, although I sometimes use IBD (not on your poll )

IBD is extremely strong and well priced, however I don't like the whites in their range. I have tried Gel It, but didn't like it at all......far too much heat spike :Scared:

Karen at Nailsplusbeauty has been so helpful concerning Akzentz. I love the new coverage pink in their range and soft paint on white and it is also reasonably priced without high postage and packaging costs.

Hi, i only do l&p at the mo but thinking of also doing gel iam just wondering what is heat spike?

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Gel can only be cured by activating it with ultra violet light. When you put it under a uv light it activates the photo initiators which is what makes it cure. As they start to react the photo initiators are aggitated and move freely within the gel creating a friction heat or "heat spike". As the gel hardens they are unable to move about freely and so it settles down. Not everyone reacts and it normally passes very quickly. You MUST warn your client before they put their hand in the light that this could happen and if it does that they must remove their hand from the light box immediately.

Things that can cause a more intense heat spike - gel applied too thickly (this is the mai one), clients with very porous nails, clients with very thin or badly damaged nails, time of the month. It is also worse in summer than winter as we unable to tolerate heat as much - think about a shower, you love scorching hot showers in the winter, but would not be able to tolerate one un the summer.

You can almost eliminate it by getting to know your gel. LCN would take about 12-15 seconds for a reaction, so i would get a client to take thier hand out after 10 secs so that as the photo initiators started to react they calmed down before the spike had a chance to get a grip. I find Brisa reacts very quickly, within about 3-5 secs, so I am trying to work out a way to overcome this!

Another way is to apply with 2 thinner layers.

But to be honest it's over so quickly it's not worth worrying about that much.

HTH

 

[Bagpuss]

Oh sassy..you are so clever...i always thought it had something to do with being a tad to thick but never all that...good to know...i am going to memorise that so when it happens again i can real it off and sound soooo knowledgable...my clients will be impressed. Thanks xx

 

[Kirsty Dalton]

Oh sassy..you are so clever...i always thought it had something to do with being a tad to thick but never all that...good to know...i am going to memorise that so when it happens again i can real it off and sound soooo knowledgable...my clients will be impressed. Thanks xx

Thanks Sassy

 

[JackieMc]

While we're on the subject of heat spikes - I always thought it was just the first coat of gel you got it with (if you were unlucky) but since using a couple of different Finishing Gels, I get a really nasty viscious heat spike with those - really took me by surprise the first time! Does anyone else get heat spikes with the finishing gels?

Jackie
x

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Yup Jackie, loads of my clients would get a heat spike with LCN's Sealant gloss finshing gel so guess it must be loaded with Photo Initiators. So far I have only had one client react to the Brisa finishing gloss.

 

[MINKUS]

strange that i find i get it with the builder layer? AND i had a demo once from nsi...lovely girl ! i know my nail plates were quite thin at the time but geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez did i get mega heat spikes off that !!

amb x

 

[angel fingers]

you can help prevent heat spike by hovering the hand just outside the lamp for 20 seconds in the glow, before putting it in fully for the full cure.

 

[MINKUS]

good tip thanks!


amb x

 

[Little Angel]

Hi

Thanks for all your replys girls, oh and if you notice sam has now added nsi to the poll for you nsi girls. Thanks sam :hug:

 

[nemotail]

Apart form Brisa, which neither myself or my clients have felt any heat with, I have only had one other set of gel - Star Nails - about 5 years ago. A lassy I was friendly with asked if she could use me to practice - no probs. I dont know if it was inexperiance, she did apply it very thick, or the product but OUUCCCHHH! felt like someone pouring boiling water over the tips of my fingers ~ agony. I honestly had tears in my eyes and kept asking if it should be so sore, she said yep we were told in training that it heats up but only for like half a second then cools. This combined with the finished result, which looked like melted plastic spoons on my fingers LOL!, put me off gel nails, until I started investigating Brisa.

 

[frenchy]

Im with you Angel Fingers

I call this "freezing". Placing the nails just at the edge of the lamp..It's still curing.. then gradually move the nails into the lamp. Prevents any heat spikes for me

 

[Mrs Geek]

As recommended by NailStyle (thanks Angie!) I use Creative's Crystal Touch Petite. I take the gel from the stem of the brush that comes in the brush on white but find that the neck of the bottle gets messy this way. Packaging re-think?

I am listening to you guys and will forward all these gems to CND! They really do love this type of feedback!!

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Thanks Mrs G, it's the only thing that Creative lose out on over LCN in my book. The packaging looks fab, but it's not that practical to use.