The reviews are in: OPI's GelColor is a great gel polish; very similar to CND's Shellac!
My client, M, who wears gels (Brisa, by CND), has tried Gelac (by ibd; you've read my opinion, and no longer made by the company because of how bad the product was), Shellac, Axxium, & now GelColor over her gels. She has no complaints; says it wears about the same as either Shellac or Axxium. She's excited to have even more color choices for her UV-cured color!
My clientfriend, C, bumped out her appointment a full extra week; I will see how well they held up at that point (in another week).
My client, J, has very beat up nails due to improper removal of acrylics. We keep them short, and originally, she wanted Shellac. When I asked two weeks ago, she decided to try GelColor. Friday, when she came in for a redo, her opinion was, "Seems a bit stronger than Shellac; I like having more color choices, and I don't mind that the removal time is a little longer."
My clientfriend, S, is a mother of three year old twins. As you can imagine, she's very on-the-go & does a LOT of laundry & dishes! Before I found out that I wasn't supposed to be, I was layering Shellac's colors with Axxium's top & base to give her a bit more strength... with GelColor, I don't have to do that. With Shellac (if she wants one of those colors again), I will just double-topcoat her.
I now carry 14 GelColor, 30 Shellac (6 more in March), and 31 Axxium --> all UV-cured! And, as a quick reminder, please do your research, ask questions, make sure your tech's products are in the original containers & that you know what they are, and PLEASE stop going to the cheapy places to get your nails done... they are cheap for a reason!
With this gel color do u prep w/ nas 99?
ReplyDeleteYes, but for the cost, IPA99 is the same thing, & cheaper. I advise all pros to log in to OPI's Pro section, and watch the how-to videos. There are even some quick art ideas, too!
ReplyDeleteGreat reviews, thanks! It helped answer a lot of questions about the comparison of Shellac & OPI's GelColor. I would like to know, since you are using a UV light with OPI's GelColor, do you cure the same amount of time like you do with Shellac? I only have CND's UV light, and like you, have to wait to get the LED light at this time.
ReplyDeleteHi, Melissa - welcome! No, the timing for GelColor in the UV lamp is the same as Axxium's times (60s for base, 2m for color/each, 3m for top).
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Finally, somebody answered my question!
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to read all of this. I had Had OPI Gelcolor at the salon I worked at for 6you weeks and did not have much success with it at all. Only 5/20 satisfied customers. :( I returned everything including the LED light. After reading great reviews, I am wondering if our lamp was defective?? Now im sad I got rid of it and went back to Shellac. (Shellac is so spendy)
ReplyDeleteIt definitely had a bit of a learning curve, but after a couple applications & removals, I had it down. I'm sad for you that it didn't work out.
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