Common gel polish mistakes you make at home

Have you learned how to apply gel polish at home, spent money buying a lamp, tools and a bunch of gel polishes, but it does not last for the promised 2-3 weeks and peels off after a few days? Don’t be upset. Perhaps, when applying the coating, you simply make mistakes, correcting which you can enjoy a lasting result.

1. Typically,  people with oily skin or prone to excessive sweating, the structure of the nails is moist and oily. When preparing such nails for coating, it is important  to use a dehydrator (nail prep) in order to deeply dry the nail plate, remove excess moisture from it and improve the adhesion of a natural nail with an artificial coating.

2.The free edge of the nail is one of the most vulnerable places: if you do not pay enough attention to it, then chips and detachments can appear. To improve the adhesion between the nail plate and the artificial material, you have to use primer.   There are acid-free and acid primers.

The acid-free primer acts as a double-sided tape and provides a strong adhesion of the natural nail to the artificial coating. 

An acidic primer lifts the keratin scales of the nail plate for better adhesion to the artificial material. Since the acidic primer contains aggressive components in its composition, it is imperative to ensure that it does not get on the skin and does not cause a burn. It is recommended to use it before extension for girls with wet or oily texture of nails.

3. You used the wrong base for your nails.

The condition of the nail plate is different for everyone:  some have a strong nail plate, while others have thin, soft and weak nail plate. You cannot use the same base for all nails. It is necessary to analyze the condition of the nail plate and pay special attention to the choice of the base coat.

Today, there are 3 main types of basecoats: hard, elastic and camouflage. What are their fundamental differences? Which one to choose? Let’s figure it out.

• Hard base-  A hard base is a base that hardly bends after polymerization. Most often, hard bases are characterized by the liquid consistency.  Solid bases are suitable for healthy, strong nails. On soft, bendable nails, such bases can chip and detach.

• Rubber base- Such bases have a thick consistency, after polymerization they are elastic (rubbery) and bend. Elastic bases are great for beginners: they are easy to work with, as they do not flow, the alignment is perfect.  Elastic bases are great for soft, highly bendable nails. 

4. Gel polish shrunk during curing in the lamp. One of the reasons may be insufficient lamp power that you are using. Perhaps your gel polish is highly pigmented and the lamp power just isn’t enough to dry it. It is advisable to use a lamp with a power of at least 48 watts. Also, the gel polish could shrink due to the fact that you applied it too thickly.

5. Material flow- you are trying you best but the gel polish gets all over the place? Try to apply a thinner coat. There is no need to take a large drop of polish. it is better you do 2-3 thin layers and dont over flud the nail plate. Also you may consider switching to a different brand. The consistansy of the gels is different in each brand.