Oh gel polishes, the saga continues. So here is what I know about gel polishes, and why. As many know, I work with Akzentz. It's based out of Canada and makes every jar of gel themselves (as opposed to buying from a manufacturer and re-labeling as SO many do). Because of this, they are a bit behind in the release of their gel polish, Luxio, which came out a few months ago. The reason they are behind and its taken years in product development is because they were determined to make a solvent-free (or hybrid) gel polish. The problem was many of the factors that make solvent gel polishes desirable is that they soak off quickly and the consistency is nice and thin. If you pick up a bottle of gel polish, and it has a polish smell, it is what we call a hybrid and that smell is the solvents it contains. Solvents in general are the cause of a few of the problems *some* people seem have, like thickening in the jar, drying out, free edge chips due to brittleness and white spots on the natural nail which is why some techs are having to force their clients to always put oil on the nail constantly. The biggest problem for Akzentz was that by putting solvents into a bottle, that bottle must be shipped as a "dangerous good" - which means for distributors like myself, we pay a butt load for shipping costs and fees and its even worse across the ocean getting it to Europe and Asia. Because they tested all of the gel polishes on the market against Luxio, they know which were solvent free and which were not, since they too have to pay fees receiving dangerous goods to get the test bottles. The benefit was that by waiting until everyone else launched their product, they could see where and if Luxio was not as efficient (like making sure it was soaking off in 10 minutes or less and remaining chip free for 3 weeks). At this point I believe they said Young Nails was the only other 100% gel in a bottle but if you think another is I can find out. Its crazy how many things are effected by shipping around the world, for instance they can't use certain pigments (like Red #7) because it might be illegal in Italy. Some companies may sell a different similar color or just not a certain color in that area if it is illegal. Akzentz wants to keep the entire line consistent throughout the world so every product is created to be able to do this, and that had to include their gel polish, which is why they developed it for years before launching, they wanted to make sure it was perfect and the price very good, which is currently $16.95 for .5oz (twice as much as in a shellac bottle). The down side was that certain pigments don't work well *without* solvents, like the neons - so I'll probably pick up the Gelish Neons next summer unless they can figure out a trick for it to work otherwise by then. The other factors they have mastered without having to add solvents.
As far as charging for removal, I don't. I feel like if a client picks their gel off to save a few bucks and does some damage to their natural nail (for instance if it sticks VERY well they may end up tearing whatever free edge off that was there), then they may not come in for a few weeks to re-grow their nails or if they feel like they did damage doing that. If you don't charge, you have more of a chance of them coming on time and consistently. This is deceptive however since in the end they ARE being charged since my prices are based on time and my gel polish price is based on removal plus re-application - this also allows me to book a new client in using a promotion and not lose any money (I can give them $5 off, but it will only take me about 30 minutes so I'll book that as opposed to 40-45 minutes so I'm not losing money by offering the promotion, just getting a new client in the chair). If a service generally takes 45 minutes to complete, they will be charged between $45-60. Right now I've been doing all my clients with my 30 day manicure technique, which is providing a thin base of hard gel, it allows clients to go 30 days without a chip, a break or anything. I zip em off with an efile. Akzentz has over 140 gel colors in a pot that soak off, but as most pot gels it takes 20 minutes to soak off and I'm not going to do that so I've done this technique for years, putting the hard gel base prevents the heat that porous gels get when you e-file them. However now that I have Luxio and I'm about to have 40 colors of it (16 more are being launched this week), I will offer Luxio only soak-off manicures, which I know can be done from start to finish including soak off in 45 minutes. I charge $55 for the 30 day manicure and I give it an hour (though I've done it in as little as 30 minutes before when in a time crunch) - I'll be changing the name to "strengthening gel manicure" and they will know I e-file off the color and they can use any gel color I have, which includes over 140 in the pot and the new luxio colors. I'll charge $50 for only Luxio, and just call it a "Luxio Soak off gel manicure" and I won't e-file off the color, which should bring in some clients who are e-file phobic. Per minute, I'll make more doing Luxio. Anyway I hope some of that ads clarity to the whole gel polish mess. Its been a tricky thing in the industry but its really very chemistry based. Luxio was launched later than most others but I believe in the end it has a huge benefit since they were able to test against all of the other formulas. Akzentz doesn't spend millions on marketing and likely never will, they put the money back into product development. But whether you use Shellac, Gelish, Gelava, Gelaquer, Geleration or one of the many others, you'll be able to spot the hybrids and test them out for yourself. Its hard when it costs us money to test products, but I'd rather test 6-7 and find my favorite that I'll use for many years than invest in one and wonder if there is something better (which is how I found Akzentz). Have fun gelling ladies! Make lots of money ;) > > Anyway... I'm looking for a little more info that can help me properly > > compare the major lines of UV polish. Like, which ones are considered > > "hybrids" and which ones are "all gel" etc. > > > Maggie Franklin: > > Owner & Artist, The Art of Nailz, Visalia CA > > "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." > > Maggie Rants [and Raves]@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.
