I'm not sure why it happened. I'm thinking about getting a gel overlay and then having the Gelish put on top of that.

I'm probably not the person to ask about that, as I have never left any polish on for like 7 days

That said, there are only like 2 problems I've had. One is just recent, when I read that some girls had been using a regular nail polish base coat before the Foundation, and then I also used IBD builder gel for the first time, so I'm not sure which was the culprit, I assume the base coat. (What I had done was mix super-fine craft glitter into the gel base. I have done this before, but never in the IBD builder gel.)

The only other problem I had, and I have not figured this out, is sometimes my nails look "wrinkly," like the layers didn't cure together or something. This happens only occasionally though, and I don't know if it happens more with one brand or another.

I did just put on the EZFlow Matador, like 3 days ago and it looks beautiful! Not that I expected it to wear badly already, but I was surprised by how much I liked the polish in the first place, because it is a little-known brand (well, to me anyway), and it was half the price of others. Happily, I can say that it's mega-pigmented (I probably could have gotten away with one coat), and the color is bright and vibrant. I know I was gushing about this stuff earlier, I just am happy that I found this brand, but I wish I had found it before I spent all that money on Gelish

I've tried different brands and some have been better than others. Gelac is awful, and very often takes 3 or more minutes to cure. I found some Shellac colors will not cure with LED so I don't use those anymore. Most of the others I have tried are pretty good. Gelish, Artistic Color Gloss, LeChat, Jessica GELeration, and ibd Just Gel all work fine and I have found them interchangeable with each other.

I'm still keen to try the Orly GelFX, and the new one that OPI is supposedly coming out with in the near future.






I use BeautyWests too!

That is usually due to putting the gel on too thick. I had that a few times when I first starting doing my nails. The minute I started doing thinner layers, the problem was solved!

Is Orly the one that's meant to not have to seal the end of the nails? Someone mentioned this recently but unfortunately I can't recall which brand it was.

I'm not sure..... don't think I've ever heard that before. I will see what I can find out.

The peeling on brittle nails could be because your nails are bending. It is like bending a piece of plastic back and forth. At first it bends smoothly, then there is a crease, then it cracks, then breaks. I think the polish would be the same. And if your nails are realy soft and think right now, my guess is that they are bending and cracking the polish, and the water gets under there, and they peel.

Jcent - good point! I have an appointment this week so I will be getting a gel overlay on my nails. Hopefully the Gelish will stay on better!

Gelish makes their own product to use before the gel polish, I can't remember what it is called, but sparklee used it for a while. I would tr that. Regular gel sculpture (LCN, Creative, OPI etc), like for overlays, still has acrylic in it, so it will still be damaging and the will still hve to file your regular nail bed=damage.

The nail tech put something clear on that had to cure before she put the color on. Is that what you are talking about?