Gelish, Gel Polish, and Soak Off Gel Cheat Sheet
Cure Times?
LED LAMP
Gelish Foundation (basecoat): 10 seconds
Color and Top It Off (topcoat): 30 seconds each
Gelish Structure (soak off builder gel): 1 minute
UV LAMP
Gelish Foundation (basecoat): 30 seconds
Color and Top It Off (topcoat): 2 minutes each
Gelish Structure (thick coating): 2-3 minutes
LED or UV lamp?
If you have the money and want to invest $100+ in a two-hand sized LED, by all means, do it! They are more energy efficient, the bulbs last for eons, and they cure 10x faster than UV. There are smaller ones sold by Red Carpet Manicure at Ulta (only has 3 tiny lights inside, I found it weak), or SensatioNail (Walmart, GREAT lamp!) for $30-$50 (try Drugstore.com sales!), Sally Hansen, NailLuv, Kiss, etc., but they are travel lamps, which are totally fine and are addressed below.
I use
this Thermal Spa 36 watt UV lamp from Amazon. At $45 it is a steal and cures both hands or feet at once, has a nice carrying handle on the top, and feels very well made and durable, something you're not going to get in the $30 UV lamps. I highly recommend this lamp unless you want to go LED.
Will the mini travel lamps from Sally's Beauty Supply, Ulta, Walmart, Target, etc. work?
Yes they will, and if space is an issue or you foresee yourself traveling with your lamp often, they're a great deal. Keep in mind that
most of these mini lamps are LED, not UV, and will have shorter cure times. This might seem alluring at first, but because they're small it isn't actually much faster. This means you're actually curing a minute and a half per coat because you can't do both hands at once and must do the thumbs separately: 30 left hand, 30 right hand, 30 both thumbs together = 1 minute, 30 seconds compared to both hands at once in a two hand sized UV lamp at 2 minutes per coat. Just something to think about!
When I finish curing my topcoat, my nails are sticky! Did I not cure long enough?
The sticky layer is called an induction layer, and is a totally normally thing that SHOULD happen. Just wipe it off with some alcohol really well and you're done! The special remover the different companies sell is just alcohol with oils added to it, etc. Rubbing alcohol is fine. I've used hand sanitizer in a pinch.
Can I use my nail polish with Gelish or other gel polish?
You can paint over cured Gelish or gel polish with regular nail polish and even change colors with non-acetone remover. This is just like getting an acrylic overlay. Also, you can use any brand gel polish (except I've heard mixed reviews about Shellac and Gelish together) in between the Gelish Foundation and Top It Off topcoat. Make sure they are SOAK OFF though. Many of the gel polishes sold on Ebay and the like aren't soak off and require being filed off, which can cause damage to the nail plate.
Can I apply tips or extensions with Gelish?
Yes, though some people will say no.
Gelish now sells what is called a structure gel (cheapest on Amazon) or "builder" gel which is a thicker gel that you can apply in thicker coats than the Gelish (which you should be using thin coats with) and it still cures in the same amount of time, though I do 3 minutes to be sure. Because it is thick, it hides the transition between your natural nail and the higher fake nail. (it is also awesome at hiding the grittiness of glitter). My steps to do this:
1) Select tips you would like to use (I use half-well clear) and clip/file your natural nail tips.
2) Push back cuticles then I buff the natural nail bed just the slightest bit with a very soft foam buffing block to remove any excess dead skin growth on the nail bed that could cause lifting.
3) I wipe nails clean with alcohol, then apply a dehydrator from Sally's to my natural nail.
4) After using a buffing block to "blend" the edge of the false nail that will be laying on my nailbed (for a smoother looking transition from real to false nail) I place and spread a tiny dot of nail glue on the natural nail end, then in the well, then place the tip at a 45 degree angle at the tip of the nail, then lay it down and apply just a bit of pressure to the top and then sides, holding for 20 seconds. Repeat for each nail, then use false nail clippers to remove length then file/shape nail.
5) I use a medium grit old (used a lot, it makes it less harsh) file and do more blending of the false into the natural nail, just until I cannot see the line separating them as much. Do this at an angle where you are not buffing the natural nail, just the false nail down.
6. Wipe with alcohol. Apply a thin coat of Gelish Foundation over entire nail, cure for 30 seconds.
7. Apply a coat of the Gelish Structure base. I get a pea sized ball for the thumb, smaller for the rest obviously, and place it on the middle of my nail where the false tip begins, then pat and spread gently. Hold the nail upside down for 5-10 seconds as it is "self leveling" and will level out on its own. Check the nail, see if you need to even it out. Flash cure it for 5 seconds under your light to keep it from spreading.
8. Finish each nail, cure for 3 minutes in UV, 1.5 or 2 in LED.
9. Apply a very light coat of Top it Off and cure for 2 minutes UV, 1 minute LED.
10. Rub with alcohol to remove induction layer. You can now paint with normal polish and topcoat, or you can add a gel color after the structure.
Can I do a "fill" when my tips grow out, or do I need to remove them entirely and start over?
You can do either, but I have successfully filled mine. I figured I may as well try and if it didn't work I was removing them anyway! When your nails grow out from your cuticle, there will be a noticeable gap between your cuticle and the start of your gel. I take a buffing block or file and file that area of gel so that the transition from my natural nail in the gap to the start of the gel looks smoother. If you keep the file at a 45 degree angle it is filing the gel and not the nail. Be mindful to not touch the natural nail more than just a tiny bit. I then buff the shine off the rest of the nail with a fine grit buffing block just to knock off the shine. This creates a rougher texture the gel will more easily grip to. I wipe with alcohol, apply dehydrator/pH Bond ONLY to the exposed natural nail, apply base coat over the entire nail, cure, apply structure gel mostly in the gap, smoothing it down to cover the entire nail so that it is a smooth transition (check from the side and all angles to make sure it looks right) two minute cure, then apply topcoat, cure, and wipe sticky layer off. Fast and simple!
Can I put the Gelish topcoat over my normal nail polish?
Yes and no. This is called "sandwiching" or a Gelish sandwich and has been done successfully, and also unsuccessfully. The general consensus is to do a gel overlay (coat of base, cure, coat of topcoat, cure,then wipe off sticky layer with alcohol) then paint your polish on, allowing each coat to completely and thoroughly dry before applying the next. Let the final coat dry at least 30 minutes, hours if possible, and apply Gelish basecoat, cure, then topcoat and cure. Wipe with alcohol as normal. The downside is that this does not last as long as a normal Gelish manicure.
The most I have gotten is one week of wear. Some people do this because they want a smooth topcoat over a very gritty glittery polish, but I would recommend a few coats of a UV cured topcoat like Seche Vite's for that. I just don't see the point, I would rather just do a Gelish base/cure, Top/cure, then apply polish and normal topcoat so I could change whenever I want to.
Can I do nail art with Gelish?
You absolutely can. I've had success using different colors and marbling or dotting the colors. Use a thin paint brush or nail art brush and dip it in alcohol, then run it through different colors to swirl and marbleize. The great thing about Gelish, is you can do a coat of color, cure it and wipe off the sticky layer, then do nail art on top of that, erasing any mistakes with alcohol.
Can I use acrylic paint to do nail art?
As long as you don't go overboard and paint the majority of the nail with it, yes. Acrylic paint is often used to do nail art for acrylics and with regular polish because it isn't as difficult to work with as polish is for detailed designs. Just do your basecoat, cure, Gelish color, cure, wipe with alcohol to remove sticky layer, then paint your design with acrylic. Allow to dry, then apply Gelish base, cure, then topcoat, cure, remove sticky layer and you're done!
Can I imbed glitter or rhinestones in Gelish?
Yep! I know, awesome, right?!
I have gotten a full two weeks of wear out of this, too! You can use any glitter as well, but I love Martha Stewart (from Michael's) because she has a big pack for $24.99 you can use a 40% off coupon with, and have tons of colors. It looks so gorgeous! Here's how: (involved tutorial later)
How do I do a french manicure with Gelish?
1) Apply your base coat, cure, whatever base color you want (or no base color), cure then wipe off sticky layer with alcohol. If you aren't using a color, apply a layer of Top it Off then cure and wipe off sticky layer.
2)With Gelish white, apply it to the tip as best you can, but don't stress!
3)Then use a clean brush (a wider one, like 1/4" wide) dipped in alcohol to clean up the line and make it perfect. Cure for 2 minutes.
4) Topcoat again, cure, and wipe off sticky layer. et Voila!
Is Gelish better than Shellac, Axxium, Red Carpet from Ulta, etc?
Not necessarily, but I prefer it and here is why. It is cheaper than most of the other brands. I can find it at Sally's (mini bottles). They have more color options than the other brands and are constantly putting out collections. I have successfully used their Foundation base and Top it Off topcoat with different brand gel polish in between and it has worked flawlessly, so I'm not tied down to one company. It has the glassiest finish I've seen in a soak off gel. Most importantly, Shellac never lasted nearly as long on me. That will be different for everyone, but Shellac just didn't last on me. Red Carpet is the same thing as Gelish, different packaging.
I got a soak off gel polish done in a salon and it only lasted a few days! What went wrong?
I got soak off gels done multiple times at different salons, with different brands before I took the plunge to do my own. I paid close attention to cure times and products used and figured out what worked best on my nails and what didn't. Here's what I found.
- I think the extreme soaking in water, applying of oil infused scrubs and lotions in a long, therapeutic manicure before gel polish application put so much oil and moisture into my nail bed that the gel just didn't get a good dehydrated base to adhere to. A better wiping of alcohol and application of bonder might have remedied this.
- When I had french tips done for my wedding, I think the use of white nail polish for the tips (in between a gel base and topcoat) weakened the gel because it was the only time I ever had the gel peel from the tips. Allowing it to dry longer might have helped.
- I really think my thin, bendy nails just don't work well with OPI Axxium. It never stayed longer than two days.
- No application of dehydrator/bonder, just alcohol wiped once.
- Debris/dust/dead skin left on the nail plate. You really need to push back those cuticles, use a soft buffing block to make sure there's no dead skin on the nail plate.
- Pooling of gel. This means that ANY part of the gel, base, gel polish, or topcoat, touched my skin at some point. To make this foolproof, apply each layer and before you cure, take a brush dipped in alcohol and go around the cuticle. Any part of the gel system touching your skin is going to cause lifting. That's a fact, bro.
I got soak off gel polish applied in a salon and it ruined my nails just like acrylics!
Firstly, that isn't a question. Just kidding.
There are a lot of chemicals in the acrylic nail application, as I'm sure you have smelled before. There's a lot less craziness with the soak off gels. Most importantly though, there is a lot less filing and drilling (do not EVER let someone use a drill on your natural nail! It is just lazy!) The main reason I decided to do gels at home was to lower cost, but second to that was the fact that I felt in the salon they were being too rough with my nails and treating the gel system like acrylics. There are not really good high end salons here. I have never been to one in this city that didn't use a drill on natural nails.
