I am only half-enthused with the soak off gel polishes so far-- frankly, I need to be able to get them all the way off a client's nails in less than 15 minutes. That means, taking 15 minutes from the time the client sits down in front of me to naked nails to start over on. Without having to file. So far, close but no cigar. Some of this is me needing more practice at it, some of this is companies saying "Our gel soaks off in 22 seconds!" when it does not. I know manufacturer's all have their individual patented formulas sitting in a safety deposit box somewhere, carefully guarded by a company of Marines, several large dogs, and possibly one superhero of questionable usefullness-- maybe Aquaman. So when you get down to specifics, every SOG is technically different... but so is every polish line, every acrylic line, every traditional gel line, etc and so forth, I think you get my point. I don't think there IS a major difference between lines. At least, not any more difference than there is between every acrylic line-- but we all have our favorites there too, even if the things that make or break an ac line are minute. I really like the polish bottle application. I LOVE having a seperate brush for each color. I LOVE that a polish bottle means that each seperate brush also has its storage taken care of for me. I LOVE that I don't have to meticulously clean the same gel brush between each color to make sure that I don't accidently get a streak of bright blue into someone's French manicure. The seperate brush issue is, in and of itself, enough to sway me toward polish bottled SOGs. Also; polish bottled SOGs take care of storage for me. Because they display like polishes, I just put them on the polish racks. Slowly, carefully, schemingly (is that a word?) replacing my tradtitional polish inventory with SOG. I'll convert those last two clients yet! (evil laugh) And if not? Then they'll end up paying extra for polish, so I won't mind. I am concerned about keeping pigment mixed in the polish bottled SOGs. I am concerned with the little porthole window in the otherwise opaque label on my Gelish greeting the early morning sun in my east-facing salon each day. I keep the blinds closed in the morning, but years of carefully guarding my gels from sunlight as though they were formulated with the blood of Dracula himself-- putting those precious bottles out in the open is taking a lot of courage. I have ordered Star Nail's Eco-gel. It's on a truck. It seems that EVERYTHING in Maggie-land is currently on a truck-- except my merhcandise bags for retail purchases, which apparently FedEx left at the Fresno terminal for me to pick up myself-- for no good reason and without any intention of INFORMING me of the plan. (clearing throat and straightening tie) But I digress. I do agree with the people who've mentioned being able to use every single drop of gel that's in a pot, and I understand what Elaine said about her formula not working that well in a polish bottle. I can't see myself putting little pots of gel on the polish racks though. Mostly because there's a psychological shift for me too-- polish bottles are ok for clients to touch, my other products stay with me. We'll have to see how it works out long term for the Gelish on the polish racks. Clients are going to pick them up and look at them, they're going to open the bottles and pull the brush out so they can see what it looks like-- changes are, someone will eventually apply a brush stroke of Gelish to their nail to "test" it on themselves. That'll be a fun day. But if they do that with bottled SOG, it'll be far less disastrous to my product, my polish racks, the paint on my walls, my sink, and my carpet, than if they do it with potted gels. At any rate-- there a lot of my own thoughts on SOG polishes. As far as the differences between each individual manufacturer's line? I don't think you have to stress over it too much. There are subtle differences in viscosity, cure time, flexibility, soak off time, etc. Just like every other product on the market. You'll have to listen to a lot of anecdotal evidence and try different brands for yourself before settling into which one works best for you-- just like every other product on the market. I wonder if I can paint my shoes with SOG?
Maggie Franklin: Attitudes Salon; Visalia, CA "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." Art of Nailz Maggie Rants [and rav...@nails Magazine Facebook --- On Wed, 4/28/10, Michelle Phoenix <[email protected]> wrote: From: Michelle Phoenix <[email protected]> Subject: Re: NailTech:: Poor little Gelish-- just like high school To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 12:57 PM Maggie I hear what you're saying! I've been trying to find out what, exactly, is the difference between any of the brush on gels and the pot gels if they're all soakable polishes. I have quite a few Akzentz polishes that I like and am hesitant to get started on some new product just because it's new. I'm not an early adopter. I hope both Gelish and Shellac will be at Premiere b/c I want to try them both and see what's so "revolutionary" about them. M- On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 2:15 PM, Maggie in Visalia <[email protected]> wrote: I remember high school. When my little knock-off Keds-style tennis shoes got to the point where they were less than white anymore, but I couldn't really afford to buy another pair, I took my acrylic paints and smeared bright colorful patches all over my shoes. Voila! Not just good as new, but a unique work of art and creative expressionism. The cheerleaders made SUCH fun of me. Not just the cheerleaders, but pretty much everyone who ranked higher on the social ladder than myself. Which, for the record, was pretty much everyone. All I heard that year was what an idiot I was. How "weird" I was. And how stupid my shoes looked. Of course-- and I'm sure it comes as no surprise to y'all who've known me for awhile-- I was pretty used to being called "weird" by the time I got to high school. So I shrugged it off and wore my nifty shoes with pride. Personally, I thought they were pretty cool. So the next fashion season dawned, and guess what's "all the rage" in all the teen magazines? And what all the popular girls show up at school with? I SWEAR I am not even exagerating here! Little white Keds-style tennis shoes with all kinds of random paint splotches on them. EXACTLY like the shoes I'd done myself a year before that all those same girls said were stupid. And that's the story that's running through my mind while I'm reading all these "I can't wait for my Shellac" posts. Haven't I had my Gelish for like a MONTH already? But CND comes out with SOG in a polish bottle and you'd think they perfected cold fusion. All I see is a bunch of cheerleaders wearing my old tennis shoes. So can anyone explain why Shellac is so much better/different than Gelish? Maggie Franklin: Attitudes Salon; Visalia, CA "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." Art of Nailz Maggie Rants [and rav...@nails Magazine Facebook -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en. -- Michelle Phoenix Elite Licensed Nail Technician Wet Paint Nail Spa www.wetpaintnailspa.com Online Booking Available -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en.
