I received a kit from Tony Cuccio to try the Eco SOG ... please pass along my sincere thank you to him for me!...and I purchased two kits from Nail Harmony (Gelish) to try as well.
Here are some comments: I' ve worked with traditional gels for 10+ years and with colored ones since IBD first came out with them. With that background, I feel pretty comfortable working with gel-based products. I have to say that I LOVE, love the ease of this new generation of pigmented gels. "Back in the day" the more pigment in the gel the harder it was to work with...it crawled, it pulled bald spots, it bunched up, it wept into the slightest file mark or low spot! But I kept at it...and I truly feel that I knew NOTHING about product control....until I started trying to master colored gels. I credit the fact that I have no lifting on any of my enhancements to all the work perfecting colored gels! I love the idea of gel in a polish-type bottle....will have to see if it becomes a question of economics when you get down toward the bottoms. I am just fine with small pots of colored gels...I already have a drawer full of them. I have tried "trials" of both the Star and the Gelish...following their recommendations and had no issues that I know of. When I went to soak them off, at first I tried the foil/cotton ball method--just as the client came in. I found that the 6 minutes mentioned by one was not enough...and at least 10 seems to be needed. I found this works a bit better if your application is very, very thin. If you've used the scultping gel to build up a little arch, it takes longer. My experience is that the product does NOT dissolve, get fluffy or in any way resemble soaking off acrylics...it just allows you to use some sort of appropriate pusher to slide the entire application from the nail. I found that doing a traditional manicure...(I do soakless manis with paraffin treatments) is NOT a good idea before you use the SOG. They peeled right off the next day...per the client. I have used non-acid based primer....or not....without noticable differences in the wear. It might make the product a wee bit harder to soak off, tho. As a color option only for natural nails, it's applied very thinly, and I tell my clients not to expect their nails to suddenly be tough enough to use as screw drivers, but in most cases, they came back very impressed with the amount of growth they saw in their natural nails, and were amazed that after soaking the product off, their nailplates looked untouched....complete with natural ridges! So, for my manicure clients, I am checking on their preference before we begin...and treating their nails basically like a quick natural nail overlay service, followed by application of a good cuticle oil and then the paraffin at the end. No added time has been needed, so far. For my nail enhancement clients, I have just been offering the SOG's indiscriminately with my regular colored gels as another option. Since in this case, I prefer a thicker "base" gel, fully cured, before applying color coats, I just buff their nails with my e-file for prep. I find the SOG buffs off a bit easier than the tradtional colored gels. It doesn't seem to get quite as "hard" or something. No added time to my service. This last couple of weeks, I have mixed, matched, combined, candy-appled, basically any and every SOG and traditional enhancement product with no noticable product break down. For example, I have one client that I do a traditional L&P P&W, then apply Gelish shimmery coat right over the top, cure it and out the door she goes! I have several traditional gel clients that I've combined their Young Nails Base with Star, Gelish, or both. I've used the Gelish Foundation and Top it Off with all combos. So far I have had no peeling, unusual chippage, dingage, breakage. For french style, I have not gotten my hands on SOG white, yet, so have been just using my YN Hyperwhite on the tips...seems fine with both Star and Gelish. I've noticed that the Star Eco labelling needs some work...it may just be that the pots I received were quickie/temporary, but the labels do NOT stay on the pots...have had to tape them all on. And the label colors are not a good match for the product at all. I have noticed that the Gelish bottle that I've had open the most....seems a bit thicker than it was...so am wondering if the polish component of SOG's has evaporants in it like polish does and that they'll thicken over time? I feel the little window on the bottle is dangerous...and I have tried to be very careful not to let those get where my UV light can shine in them.....am wondering if ambient lighting (I use the "full spectrum" bulbs) will have an effect on this over time...if I kept the bottles on a normal shelf? I've noticed that you have to stir the Star pots to get the true color....so that makes me think we should be gently shaking or rolling the bottle ones, too? Would a mixing ball in there be a help? I can't wait to get my hands/eyes on the product at Premiere so I can choose colors....none of the websites seem to show the true colors...in my opinion. I need more colors, and more time playing with them....and then am going to do a full out marketing campaign. This is so timely for me...am eager to continue the rebuild of my business (which is going really well!) and this might just be the stimulus package I need! Karen Hodges Morning Glory Key West -- 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.
