Gel Polish

Wrinkling or uncured gel polish is normally an indication that the gel polish hadn’t fully cured and this can be due to a few reasons; – applying the colour too thick, not curing a gel polish for long enough, improper hand placement in the lamp, or the lamp may be old/weak and not emitting enough ultraviolet power to fully cure the gel polish colour.

The above issues can occur with any gel product but it tends to be most prevalent with highly pigmented colours, like one coat colours or dark colours, like black. There are a few things you can do to identify where the problem lies and then adjust to help prevent it from happening again.

Generally if the issue is only happening with the thumbs or pinkies, then the issue is most likely hand placement so help to educate your clients better to ensure they’re placing their hands where you need it to be. If its only happening on one side of the thumb it may be worth getting your client to cure their thumbs separately, curing them flat.

If all the fingers with the same colour is showing the same issue it could be that you’re applying it too thickly, try thin coats and see if that helps to solve the issue. Always ensure you are curing for the recommended cure times. It also pays to cure highly pigmented or dark colours for 15-30seconds longer than recommended. If you’ve tried all of the above, the chosen gel might not be quite compatible with the LED wavelength emitted by your lamp and you may need to try the recommended UV cure time which would normally be 2-3mins per coat. Not all dual cure lamps utilise the same wavelength spectrum for LED gels but I have not encountered any that utilise a different UV wavelength spectrum.

In summary, always apply highly pigmented or dark colours in thin coats, ensure proper hand placement in the lamp, if in doubt cure the thumbs separately and flat, and cure these colours for an extra 15-30seconds or follow the UV cure times which will normally be 3mins for highly pigmented or dark colours.

This most commonly happens with your top coat application but, for some of the reasons discussed below, can occur with colour applications too. Please see a picture below of what I would call pitting of a top coat. This can occur for any of the following reasons:

1. If the tacky layer has been removed from the gel polish colour applied before the top coat is applied – if this is the case we recommend to lightly buff the colour coat before applying top coat.

2. If the gel polish colour applied before the top coat doesn’t cure with a tacky layer, the colour may cure too glossy which causes the top coat to pit- if this is the case we recommend to wipe the nail with alcohol, apply a primer that dries tacky like Sticky Bond to the sides and free edge before applying top coat.

3. If between the colour coat and the top coat the nails get contaminated by touching the nails, touching hair or face or using the hands to find things in a bag, drawers, taking a phone out of a pocket etc. In a case like this we recommend to wipe the colour coat with alcohol and to lightly buff the colour coat before applying top coat.

4. The tacky layer produced by the colour coat isn’t compatible with the top coat, this generally only happens when you mix brands- using a different brand colour to the top coat- in this case you have to remove the tacky layer and give the colour coat a light buff before applying top coat.

If you have already cured the applied top coat without noticing it, gently file/buff the pits flat, buff the whole nail lightly, dust and reapply top coat. It shouldn’t pit again once applied on a buffed surface.

The nails are cracking: a hard gel top coat will lead to cracking if applied over a soft or flexible enhancement like gel polish mani’s, a Lastik Overlay or Soft Gel Extensions.

Nails aren’t shiny after curing: Try curing for a little bit longer- We recommend curing top coats for 60-90seconds, if your lamp is older or the watts are lower you may need to cure it for a bit longer. Also be mindful of allowing your top coat to cool after curing before applying cuticle oil as this can dull the shine too.

Nails aren’t soaking off in acetone: The top coat used may be a hard gel or acetone resistant top coat – the top coat layer needs to be filed off before the colour and base will soften.