GELISH Review

GELISH has been out for a few years (it actually came out before SHELLAC... like a year or so before), but it was only available from online distributors. Don't get me wrong; I'll buy stuff online to use in my business... but let's stick to files, buffers, nail decals, glitter, etc. I refuse to buy polish, gel polish, and the like online because frankly there are too many fakes (although I will do a SWAP with a trusted friend).

As a professional nail tech, I have to stand behind the products I use. For me, that means buying a lot of stuff from local professional distributors. My two favorites are Ed Wyse (locally-owned "small" business, sells to both the public & the consumer) and CosmoProf (big chain, sells only to the beauty professional & beauty students).

When CosmoProf's manager, Gabbi, told me that they're going to start carrying GELISH, I was super-excited. It was a brand I wanted to try, since they have bright, fun colors I couldn't get in the other lines I carried at the time. When Gabbi called to tell me they were in about a month later, I picked up a top coat, a base coat, the six RIO NEONs, and a how-to sheet. When I went in to buy a few more colors, Gabbi also loaned me the how-to DVD.

As with all new products I buy, I like to test them on people (myself, included) before I offer them as a service. I basically needed one or two natural nail clients & one with enhancements who'd already worn gel polish over them. I had offered to do my friend, Anna's, nails for free with a gel polish of her choice months ago; she was trying to stop biting her nails, so I said that as a reward, I would do her nails. My friend, Krista, offered to be my other natural nail guinea pig ($30 instead of my regular $35 price), and my clientfriend, Shannon, offered to be my gel enhancement guinea pig (only charged for the enhancement rebalances; no charge for the GELISH). As I said, I also tried it on myself.

MYSELF -- I wear gels (CND Brisa, for the record), and since gel polishes came out, I have changed it up every two weeks... I get to explore my more creative side, and show people I can do more than just paint a simple french, or just one color, and I still get the extra strength of gels under the color!
* My first trial with GELISH, I used their base, three coats each of "Carnaval Hangover" & "Amazon Flirt" (five fingers of each), some loose glitter, & their top coat. By the end of the two weeks, it had worn a bit on the tips of three nails.
* My second trial, I used Axxium's base, two coats of "Coco Cabana Banana", then marbled together "Coco Cabana Banana" & "Tiki Tiki Laranga", applied a sprinkling of glitter, then Axxium's SOG top coat. Using Axxium's base & top accomplished two things -- one, I was seeing if there was a difference in wear (knowing Axxium's top coat is NOT acetone-permeable, meaning you have to scratch it before applying your Soak Off wraps, unlike Shellac & GelColor) AND two, seeing if the two different formulas were compatible (they are). By the end of the two weeks, I only had one with noticeable wear on the tip -- my right index finger.
* My Third trial, I used their base, one coat OPI's "Alpine Snow" in GelColor, two coats of "Amazon Flirt", white craft paint w/a dotting tool, and "Tiki Tiki Laranga" for the inner dots, then GELISH top coat.

SHANNON -- Shannon also wears gels. Well, correction: Shannon wore gels for years, then her pregnancy (her twins are now 4yo) messed with adhesion, so we switched her to gel polish. A few months ago, she went back to wearing gels. I didn't get a pic of all three times I did her, but
* HERE is one set. Over her gel rebalance, I used GELISH's base, two coats of "Star Burst", topped with "Crown Jewel", & GELISH's top coat. She said there was no difference in how long those held vs how long her rebalances last with any other gel polish I've used on her.

KRISTA -- My original intention was to have Krista go three weeks, just to see how well it held up. I quickly realized that a SAHM to three is *NOT* the person to test this on. :) Krista used to wear acrylics (now, for the record, I prefer the term "L&P" or "liquid & powder", since gels are just another form of acrylic, and since both contain acrylates -- a little science lesson for you), and just wanted "pretty nails for a while". That, I can do.
* For her first round, after doing some serious cuticle work & proper prep (both are a MUST if you want anything to stay on your nails more than a day or two, btw), I applied GELISH's base, two coats of "Shake It Til You Samba", topped with "Izzy Wizzy", and GELISH's top coat. I got a call about 10 days in that she wasn't going to make it three weeks... so,
* I changed her to two weeks. For her second round, I did "Star Burst" topped with "Izzy Wizzy...", using GELISH's top & base coats, then I rescheduled her next appt to be two weeks from that. When she came back at two weeks, THIS is what her nails looked like.
* It was now time to remove them, and give her a basic clean up. HERE, all I did was remove the GELISH, shape her nails, clean up her cuticles a bit, and used a nail strengthener base coat, and a shiny top coat.

ANNA -- Anna is a substitute teacher, and a married mother of five. She was on the two-week plan. She used to be a horrible nail-biter, as well... so, I thought ANY kind of UV-cured color would help. Heck, even POLISH would help, as it would give additional strength to her nails and the brighter colors may make her take a second look as they would be headed to her mouth. Regardless, she's been bite-free for a few months now; I'm very proud of her!
* First round, we chose "Ooba Ooba Blue" topped with "Crown Jewel". In the future, I will use either three coats of these NEONS, or undercoat them with a coat of white.
* Anna's nails at 13 days (couldn't do 14; she had an appt) HERE.
* Anna's redo HERE -- "Carnaval Hangover" topped with "High Voltage". These turned out much better, since I didn't have to undercoat them.
* She went exactly two weeks HERE.
* At the end, I gave her the same clean up mani that I gave Krista -- HERE.

WHAT I LEARNED --
* Gelish cures with completely different times under the UV lamp as the other brands I carry (OPI's Axxium, OPI's GelColor, and CND's Shellac). It is VERY important to remember which brand cures at what times... some products can breakdown if you under- or over-cure.
* Gelish is compatible with the other gel polish systems I carry; meaning, I can use Gelish's colors with any of the four UV-cured tops & bases I own to give you more or less strength, depending on your needs (this is great, considering that I figured out that GelColor is NOT compatible with Shellac -- fyi). It also means I can layer Gelish colors with any other brand's.
* Gelish's prep for natural nails is the same as with GelColor.
* Gelish's removal is a cross between Axxium (scratch first to break the top coat's seal) and GelColor (15m or less).
* ROCKSTAR Gelish is not nearly as easy as ROCKSTAR Shellac. Gelish is more resistant to adhesion of loose glitter (& loose pigments, for that matter) than Shellac, so to do a proper ROCKSTAR application, you have to partially cure your top color layer, press in your glitter or pigments, and finish curing. I had success with 30 seconds under the UV lamp, then finishing with the other 30 seconds, then applying my top coat.
* Gelish's top coat is similar to Axxium's SOG top coat, though not quite as strong. Neither are acetone-permeable, so I can wear either over my own UV-cured color (no matter which color/brand I use) and not worry about messing them up by using acetone on other people.

THINGS *YOU*, as the consumer, SHOULD KNOW --
* None of the UV-cured colors need to be soaked off in a bowl of acetone, and they should NEVER be filed off -- with a hand file or an electric file -- unless the color is applied over your enhancement (gel or l&p system). If the company who makes the products doesn't offer a special wrap (or your tech is trying to save money), acetone on a cotton pad, wrapped with a piece of aluminum foil, is THE ONLY thing they should be using.
* Your cuticles MUST be softened & pushed back, your nail surface must be COMPLETELY free of debris, & you need to have a nail prep (BondAid for OPI, Scrub Fresh for CND) of some sort used (some techs use IPA; that works for most products, but not all. I prefer BondAid & Scrub Fresh), for your gel polish manicure to last. Really, if you want anything to stay on your nails -- polish, gel polish, &/or enhancement -- these steps must be taken.
* Just because a salon offers "Shellac Manicures" (or some variation thereof) doesn't mean (a) they actually use CND's SHELLAC, and (b) doesn't mean they've been properly trained to use whatever products they offer. Do your research. Ask lots of questions about sanitation (another blog on this later), their licensing/certification (states' rules vary -- in Oregon, we actually have CERTIFICATIONS, not LICENSES), training/classes they've had, etc.
* Each practitioner is required to have AND TO DISPLAY their license, as well as their city/county business license (I have a compliance waiver, simply because I don't make the minimum required in my county to have an actual license).
* Check them out on Yelp, if possible. Call the state board or do some checking online (Oregon's cosmo website can be found here), check the websites of the company's products (OPI, CND, etc) to see if that salon &/or the techs who work there have had proper training (ftr -- I've taken four CND classes, earning me "GRAND MASTER" status, and one class from OPI, "GelColor"... wish they'd offer more). Oregon, btw, is not a state that requires continuing education (I wish it was!), but I still do a lot to stay ahead of the game -- networking, online videos, & practice, practice, practice! Your tech should, too.

Ahhhh, Progress!

When I started planning my Studio MakeOver, I knew it was going to take some time to get things done. I wanted to do it right; so I planned five full days off (well, THREE full days, and two that had one client each; ones I couldn't move) as soon as my polish rack was finished. My plan (lol -- "plan"... maybe THAT was the problem) was as follows:
Day One -- Remove everything from my studio, put it all nicely into the basement at the salon, and deep clean the whole room.
Day Two -- Spackle & mud, as needed.
Day Three -- Prime everything, paint all the white.
Day Four -- Paint all the yellow.
Day Five -- Put everything back into my room that is staying, take everything else home to sell on Craigslist, etc.

Here's what ACTUALLY happened:
Day One -- Went according to plan. Daughter joined me and was a huge help. I also posted on my business FB page, asking for assistance in choosing which yellow to paint. Both were similar once swatched, so I made my fans choose by name. The choices were "Moonlit Yellow" or "Soft Lemon". Moonlit Yellow won by a landslide!
The next day was my birthday, so I didn't do any studio work that day.
Day Two -- Took care of one morning MAN-I-cure (took me 1/2 hour), took mom & daughter to the airport, then returned to the salon. This is where things went a wee bit south. You see, the mesh tape dropped out of my bag in my garage, and I didn't know this until I was at work. I *could* have driven to Fred Meyer or the Ace Hardware nearby, but by the time I actually discovered the fact of the missing mesh tape, it was about 4p and I was tired... I had also discovered that day that two of the screws in my walls didn't want to come out, so I also needed pliers to force them. I went home.
Day Three -- Now dedicated to finishing spackling & mudding. Took about an hour. Also slapped on some KILZ to some staining on my ceiling.
Day Four -- Taped off the floor, and primed everything except the ceiling, since another coat of KILZ was needed on the staining.
Day Five -- Had a basic pedi to take care of in the a.m., then finished priming the ceiling, and painted all the white (baseboards, picture rail, the roughly one-foot section of wall above the picture rail, and finally, the ceiling).
Day Six -- Had two clients in the morning, then hubs came by with tools & my polish rack. We had lunch together, then got those things installed. I decided that the old light bar doesn't need to go back up; I'm just going to install a second lamp over the client's mani chair. Hopefully, I can buy another of the one I installed over the pedi sink.

Currently, I am taking a studio break, but I *did* wash my curtains (they still need ironing before I put them back up; one set has handmade flip flop hooks!), and did some at-home painting. My dirty towel basket was brown... now it's white. It needs another coat, then sealer. My sign was light blue; it got painted medium/dark purple. It currently also needs another coat, then the stencil in white, then seal.

I will put some of my things back in starting tomorrow, but this will be a slow process, since I need to figure out where things are going, what I still need as far as storage goes (at the very least, a stackable drawer thing for backbar - under my pedi sink area - and a nice wall-hung polish rack for my gel polishes. I have a good-sized Shellac rack that CND sent me, and want one from Deco Polish Racks, but I'm not sure what size I need, yet), and what I'm going to be getting rid of (definitely the old pedi chair, some decor items, and polishes). This Sunday, hubs will return with me so that he can change out my switches & plates. They are "almond", and I am making them all "white".

If you're not already, you can "LIKE" my business page and watch my progress in pictures. I'm posting them as I go.

Moving Along Nicely...

So, today, while my daughter was at the water park with her friend & her friend's family, my husband and I finished painting my new polish rack, then went over to Home Depot & Lowe's. I picked up two new drawer knobs (decided to hold off having hubs make a new storage cabinet for being my chair; for now, I'm just going to paint it white, to match the polish rack), push-in wall hangars, and two small sample cans of paint. I like this lamp for hanging over my pedi sink (goes with my framed CND certificates), and this rug for under my new pedi chair. Sometime this week, I will paint all four walls with sample swatches of the paint, so I can decide which I like best (so far, I'm leaning more towards "Moonlit Yellow", but "Lemon" is also in the running).

You May Proceed...

Ok, thanks to my, my husband's, and my daughter's efforts, my custom made corner polish rack is done! I have narrowed my paint choices to three; I think I like one best, but will still get little cans of the three and do paint swatches to make sure. I have my new pedi chair and both cushions (one for spring/summer, one for fall/winter) bought, but not put together. I have researched carpet tiles and found a company I can get some from, but it's not cheap. I had found a 4' square rubber-backed low-pile rug I was going to order, but I measured my pedi space today, and it's a bit smaller than that (and I don't want to cut a pre-made rug). So, my next step there is to check out the local carpet places & see if I can get the tiles, or maybe have a custom rug made, for cheaper than the catalog I have. I also need to see about a lamp I can hang (on an eye bolt or something) above my pedi bowl that has a really long cord, so I can have better lighting. Pretty sure those are the last bits I need to get done before I can shut down. Oh, and if you're a client of mine, I WILL be shutting down June 21st through June 25th for the makeover.

Sometimes, Cheating Is Ok... Sometimes, It's Not

When you're in the beauty industry, things happen... Your regular clients occasionally need to go somewhere else to have their services done. For me, it's usually due to my client's schedule (work conflict, out of town, or lack of daycare are the three most common), not because of mine (although lately I have had less open appointments to accommodate last-minute clients). A few weeks ago, a client of mine, R, was leaving town for a weekend of fun with her friend, J. When she was finally able to make it back into my chair, I was prepping her for what I now call her "Diva" service (thanks, Tanya!). What do I see, but rings of fire! They weren't actually red, but there were very defined rings; ridged out of her natural nail. I semi-jokingly said, "What did you do?!?!" She goes, "I cheated... I'm sorry!" I told her next time she needs to cheat on me, that I have plenty of names for her of highly-qualified, certified by CND/OPI, nail techs I can send her to. GEEZ! Last tidbit:Here's a great, but long, article about MMA every person should read & understand.

Time For Change

For those not aware, my husband & I are remodeling our bathroom. We're still in planning stages (almost done with that), but starting this project got me antsy at work. So, I decided (since I've been there 8 years and the only thing I've moved around is the stuff on the walls) to revamp my whole room. I don't have an exact set of dates yet, but I know it will be this summer; probably after the bathroom at home is done. Once I have everything bought, my plan is to take 4-5 days off. I will use the first day to take everything down off the walls & out of the room, then wash the walls, ceiling, & floors. The second day will be caulking/spackeling all the holes in the walls, then taping off & priming everything. The third day will be painting everything (depending on coverage I can get on day three, I may need day four for this). The fourth day (fifth, if more paint was needed) will be putting everything in its new place. Current plans include: {1} New lighting directly over the pedi bowl, {2} Move current lighting directly over mani area, {3} Paint picture rail & above (there's a one foot gap between the picture rail & the ceiling), plus ceiling, window frames, door, & door frame all white, {4} New chair (bought the Poang chair in Birch from IKEA, plus both the Alme natural and the Blomstermala multicolor cushions -- natural for Fall/Winter and multicolor for Spring/Summer), {5} Full coverage thin-nap rug or carpet tiles for under the pedi chair, {6} Paint walls pale yellow (I've narrowed down my choices to three), {7} New (handmade by husband & me) corner polish rack & nook-sized cabinet for behind my tech chair. There may be more... but that's all I can think of for now. Photos will be posted on my FB's work page, if you care to see the progress. Let the fun begin!

Subbing... w/Trust

How often, as a nail tech, do we go on vacation? Practically never, right? We're rarely sick, we don't take extended vacations, and we sure as heck don't trust our clients to other techs! Well, that has now changed. Last year, I met a fabulous nail tech on Facebook. Like a few others, she was local. Unlike others, she had just gone through the training to become a CND EA (the same job I was offered, but turned down). Over the next few months, we became good friends... seems we have more in common than just nails. One thing we don't have in common, though, is her love of scuba diving. With her new work schedule (she not only takes clients three days a week, but she now must travel fairly often for her CND gig, and likes to add on days for diving), she needed someone she can trust to take care of some of her clients when she's gone for longer periods of time. A couple months ago, she asked me to block out two Tuesdays -- one to come over to her salon for shadowing, and one (two weeks later) to actually work at her salon with her clients. Part of the "problem" a lot of nail professionals have with turning over their clientelle (even if it's only a one-time thing) is trusting that your sub isn't going to steal your clients or smack-talk you to them. In this case, it was also trusting that her sub wasn't going to steal from her, since her salon is in her home. For Tanya, in her 23 years of being a nail tech, she's NEVER asked another tech to take over for her... never! In me, she saw a trustworthy individual and a skilled tech. I've been doing nails professionally for only 8 years, so for her to trust me with her clients (one of them is HER BEST FRIEND of more than 20 years!!) speaks volumes. Anyway, I took on four of her clients -- her bff Melissa, plus Thea, Lynn, & June. They all reported back to Tanya (all good things) by the end of the day. Two days later, I got a text from Melissa, asking if she could schedule her next appt with me at my studio, because Tanya won't be back in time to take care of her before she (Melissa) goes on a business trip. I checked with Tanya, and she said, "Yes! It was my idea!" Fantastic. Then, Sunday, I got a FB message from Thea, asking if I had time in my schedule to do a few repairs for her this week; I took care of her yesterday morning. I'm glad they like me enough to ask me to sub, and I'm glad Tanya trusts me enough to sub. I literally have no words for how I feel being put into this position (if I were religious, I'd say "blessed", but I'm not), but if you're a tech, you should understand.