LED Experiment

With CND finally introducing their new LED lamp, I decided to run some tests. First, let me explain a few things: UV light is a spectrum; a range. LED lamps run within the "visible light" part of that spectrum (so, when your "tech" tells you "LED is safer than UV", they are either lying to you or have zero idea on the subject themselves; LED is still UV). Traditional UV lamps can range anywhere in the 300-400 nanometer range (although most range 350nm-385nm), and each company's lamp is calibrated to properly cure their specific product. LED lamps are usually dialed in around 405nm.

When you use a lamp not intended for a specific product, you risk your product being under-cured (most likely not visible to the naked eye, btw... so don't tell me "well, it *looks* cured!") which can, over time, lead to serious skin issues including burning sensations, itching, skin peeling, and worse. You also, of course, lose the guarantee from the company and if you get sued when someone has a medical issue, you are on your own.

All that being said, I, like many artists, want to know certain information about products so that I can figure out which "rules" I can break. When I asked multiple sources how many nanometers CND's new lamp is, I got *ONE* answer: "That is proprietary information because the lamp is still patent-pending." Hmmm.... To me, and a few other techs I've spoken to, that is a bit fishy. Not unheard of, mind you, just irritating. I even ran all of this (my thoughts on the subject & what I know for sure) past my husband (one of his two degrees is in Electrical Engineering, so to say he "knows a little" is an understatement). He agrees completely with me, and educated me even further on a few things.

So, I set out to do some testing. Now, since LED lamps for nails have come on the market, a lot of techs have tried using them to cure *traditional* UV-curable nail products. Some had success, some did not. Of course, there are a LOT of products that are curable in either (anything that is LED-curable is also, by default, UV-curable... but not necessarily the other way around). Most experiments I saw involved curing the UV-curable products in the LED lamp for the times set for LED curing (30s for most layers; usually less for base coats).

The problem was, when you go to wipe off the tacky layer (aka: "dispersion" layer), a lot of the color also came off. What was happening is what some pros call "The Frosting Effect" -- seemed cured on top, but was still runny underneath. That runny layer is what will, over time, cause those skin issues I mentioned above. The answer, it seemed, was to cure longer; 60s each for colors & top coat seemed to be the agreed-upon time.

CND's new lamp came out and guess what? There are four buttons -- one for base coats (10s pulse), one for Shellac colors (60s), one for all Brisa/Brisa Lite gels (60s), and one for all CND top coats (60s). According to all info I can find, the lamp will cure all current and all future CND products. But, the fact that their products (minus the base coats) will cure in their new lamp in the same amount of time that techs have successfully been curing their products for in other lamps, and the fact that ALL LED lamps made for use with nail products have to fall within the violet spectrum, tells me that their new lamp is within a few nm of 405.

My testing was done in five stages --
(1) Using CND's Shellac on one plastic nail tip and using CND's Brisa Lite on another plastic nail tip. Each got 10s (no pulse) for their base coats, 60s for each color/gel layer, and 60s for top coats. The Shellac'd tip only got top coat on HALF the nail. When done curing in my LED lamp (I own OPI's, btw), I used IPA99 to wipe off the tacky/dispersion layer of each tip... I got a little residual Shellac; no more than usual.

(2) Using CND's Shellac over another company's soft/soak off gel. On my right hand, I used Artistic Nail Design's base coat (for soak off, you use their "Bonding Gel"), then "Correction" (the one in the jar; to give me a little extra strength), then their soak off top coat ("Glossing Gel"). {For the record, when you use a system in full -- base coat, center, top coat -- that is not *mixing systems"; once you finish off the system with their top coat & wipe the dispersion layer, you can layer any brand of color on top of it}. I then cured two layers of Shellac for 60s each (I used "Electric Orange") and Shellac's top coat also for 60s. Those nails lasted over a week (more than I expected), had zero breakage, a little tip wear (as expected; I'm right handed), and zero skin problems.

(3) Using CND's Shellac over CND's Brisa Lite system. Base coat for 10s (OPI's LED lamp doesn't have a pulse), BL Sculpting for 60s, BL Top Coat for 60s, two layers of Shellac (this time I used "Lush Tropics" and added their "Seaglass" glitter additive) cured for 60s each, then topped with Shellac's top coat and cured that for 60s. I've been wearing that and have the same results as (2).

(4) Using CND's Shellac over Artistic Nail Design's hard gel (RockHard). This is on a client; she wore it with no problems for two full weeks. I used my e-file to remove the gel and found zero uncured/undercured/goopy Shellac. She has zero skin problems.

(5) Using CND's Shellac over Artistic Nail Design's soft gel, on a client (yes, I tested this on myself, but her soft gel is thicker than mine was and she's elderly... I may have different results). She, also, had zero skin problems and the Shellac was as it should be when I filed it off her enhancement.

I want to run a test on Shellac under the LED lamp by itself on someone, but none of my clients wear Shellac alone. Maybe I'll put it out there on my FB page to be my guinea pig...