Gel extension is a popular procedure in a nail salon. With its help, you can not only lengthen the nails, but also repair the chipped edge, strengthen the nails and grow their natural length.
Materials for modeling nails are different from gels for design. Most color gels have a varnish component, which makes them soluble. In some cases, this is convenient, but if nail strengthening is required along with the design, it does not matter at all.
The recently appeared gel base, which is part of the gel polish system, occupies a middle place between hard gels and soft gel polishes. With its help, you can wear strong nails that grow to medium length and even more. But it does not allow lengthening, so the old materials for gel nail extensions are still in demand.
Apply the gel with a brush, usually red sable. The number of the brush determines the amount of material that it takes. Largebrushes - the sixth and eighth number - are used for long lengths. The fourth number is considered the most convenient for building medium length. Thick gels are spread with a thin brush, barely touching the surface, using the property of the gel to reach for the brush.
Gel features
Whoever considers gel and acrylic to be different materials is mistaken. Both one and the other belong to acrylates. Only one polymerizes in air, and the other under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. Adding pigment to the gel reduces its polymerization rate, so white gels are usually kept in the lamp for a longer time.
Gel is convenient in that it does not require such a speed of work as acrylic. Therefore, there is a wide variety of them. In addition to hard gels, designed to model the free edge of the nail, there are soft gels that achieve excellent toe without chipping. This is the rubber gel base: she is not afraid of detachment due to micro-movements of the nail.
Gel extension technology is constantly undergoing changes in accordance with the emergence of new materials. But this does not affect the basic methods of calculation. Due to the different consistency, gels are liquid, medium and high viscosity and very thick. There are self-levelling gels that are easy to apply on the nail.
The fastest gel nail extension
Many will agree that laying out the material, polymerizing several layers and sawdust take a lot of time. It can be reduced if you use the technology of the upper forms. These are transparent plates that copy the shape of the nail. There are several sizes, which is very convenient. Afterpolymerization of the material does not need to be filed, the surface of artificial nails is glossy and even.
The most difficult thing about this gel extension technique is to correctly place the top form on the nail. There are tricks that are best worked out with an instructor. The correct selection of the form is important for a good result. Since this is not a tip, you should consider the material that will fill it. The classic selection method is considered to be a form that, when fully attached to the sides of the nail, has a small gap that can accommodate the tips of manicure scissors.
The laying out of the material into the mold is also special: first the upper layers, then the middle ones (often at this stage a piece design is laid) and, finally, the layer in contact with the nail.
Building without tips and forms
To slightly lengthen the nails, it is not at all necessary to use special devices in the form of tips and forms. There is an interesting technique for lengthening the nail plate with biogel using silk. This type of gel extension can be done at home.
To do this, you will need silk for repairing nails (fiberglass, fiberglass) and a biogel base. After the standard preparation of nails, a base layer is applied, a cut piece of silk is applied to the nail and it is sunk into the material. This is done in order to strengthen the stress zone - that part of the nail that is subject to increased stress. After polymerization, the nail is filed and excess material is removed, including silk.
You can apply biogel several times, forming an apex. After the work is covered with top gel. You can use a color coating (there are also colored biogels), apply various design options.
This material is soluble, so if desired, it can be removed by simply soaking in nail polish remover. This is convenient if you do not plan to visit the salon for correction or manicure.
Liquid tips and regular tips - which ones to choose?
In gel nail extension there is a simple technology with tips. These are plastic products that imitate the free edge of the nail. They are white, transparent and natural (ivory). The disadvantage of plastic tips is the use of glue to attach them to the nail. The composition of nail glue is cyanoacrylate, although it is not poisonous, it is not good for nails either.
Manufacturers of liquid tips have changed the technology: tips are not glued to the nail, but a form with a gel is placed, which is removed after polymerization, and a gel extension remains on the nail. Further, the extension technology does not differ from the usual one.
In fact, liquid tips form a substrate, on which white, camouflage or transparent gel is then laid out in accordance with the intended design. The form with the gel is fixed for no more than ten seconds. At this time, the master holds it in the same way as a plastic tip, but does it under a UV lamp. After that, you can move on to the next finger.
Nail preparation
For the classic gel extension, nail preparation is performed, which has becomestandard:
- The free edge is cut off.
- The nail plate is cleared of pterygium.
- Glitter nails are removed with a 240 grit buff.
- Nails are degreased and treated with an acid-free primer.
- A base gel is applied to the nails and cured for 2 minutes.
After that, they begin to form the architecture of artificial nails. In order for the material to adhere well, the thickness of the material in the stress zone must be greater than in other areas. The intersection of the longitudinal and transverse arches - the apex - is located on the lower third of the natural nail plate.
Classic building on forms
Gel extension in the classic version involves the use of disposable forms, which allows you to build the architecture of the artificial nail as accurately as possible. The shape can be cut, bent and individually adapted to each specific case. To form almond nails or stilettos, it is placed, slightly lowering down. And for "pecking nails" and a square shape - a little up. This is done so that the sides are parallel. By gluing two forms in length, extreme sizes of artificial nails are achieved. For very wide nail plates, the forms are glued in width.
How to make a gel extension of a white jacket:
After the standard preparation of nails, forms are placed, taking into account the desired bend. If necessary, the edges are trimmed.
- After setting the molds, a substrate is made, usually with a transparent design gel. Cures for 2 minutes.
- After that, the forms are removed. For French lay out the nail bed with lengthening camouflage gel, polymerize for 2 minutes.
- Remove the dispersion layer, file the nail bed.
- Spread white gel on the substrate. Cure for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove dispersion, file the nail, giving it the desired shape of the free edge..
- Coated with top gel, cured for 3 minutes.
- Remove dispersion, apply cuticle oil.
Three-phase system
There are three-phase and single-phase gel nail extension systems. Phases are different steps in a simulation. The first is the application of the material to the natural nail. The gel, which is used in this case, is called the base. It is responsible for adhesion to the keratin of the nail. Usually it is applied in a thin layer and subsequent materials are laid out on its dispersion layer formed after polymerization.
The second phase is a construction gel, very hard, creating the desired architecture of the nail. It can be of different consistency, color, and from this it is applied differently. After laying out, which can be done in several layers with polymerization of each layer, the dispersion is removed from it with alcohol and filed. When filing, a free edge is formed and excess material is removed.
The third phase is the top coat, which can be with or without a sticky layer, soluble or not. This gel is applied like a varnish, as it is quite liquid. Rhinestones are placed on it, they are covered with painting and stickers.
Gel technologynail extension has in its arsenal and single-phase gels, which are often used to build on tips. They are hard, after removing the dispersion they shine. They are applied in three layers: the first - with rubbing movements of the brush, cover the natural nail with a thin layer of gel, polymerize. The second is modeling, polymerization, sawing. The third layer is a top coat with a thin layer. Masters can spread the gel in one drop, which significantly reduces the time.
Tools, materials, equipment
What you need for gel nail extension:
- UV or LED lamp. Now there are combined options, it is better to purchase them.
- Manicure device with a set of cutters, professional is better.
- Files 150 and 180 grit. Buff 240 gr.
- Cuticle Pusher/Scraper.
- Manicure tweezers.
- Degreaser and acid-free primer.
- Gel brushes numbers 4 and 6.
- Base Gel, Clear Build & Camouflage, White Gel, Top Gel.
- Cuticle oil.
- Disposable or top arched molds.
Gel extensions are often accompanied by gel polish designs. You can purchase several primary colors: white, red, blue, bright yellow. From these tones you can mix all the others, adding white for a pastel tone. To draw patterns, you will need a brush number one, preferably a synthetic one centimeter long. White gel paint will help to make a jacket and monograms, black - to perform foil casting.
Eyelash kit
Gel nail extension kits currently on sale, which have a symbolic price, contain materials from unidentified companies that are sure to cause harm to he alth. Every self-respecting seller has a product certification certificate. Some companies have been unable to obtain it in our country for many years. At the beginning of the nail extension era, the market was filled with cheap methyl methacrylates, which caused nail bed burns and allergies.
Even if there is no visible harm from cheap products, it is better to play it safe and buy from a domestic manufacturer or distributor of a well-known company. To learn how to do gel extensions, you will have to master many nuances. This job is not suitable for those who do not like to sit at the table for a long time and scrupulously understand the intricacies while doing exercises. Of course, you need to study. Any training center will tell you how to buy an inexpensive set for the first time.
Now there are gel polish systems with which you can grow enough length. This is a good alternative to extensions, and it will cost less. If you need a result, it is better to purchase gel polishes. And to penetrate the secrets of modeling, you have to spend time.
What is the difference between the work of a professional and the work of an amateur
Professional nails are easy to distinguish from novice work. They are beautiful, wear well and do not break. This is achieved by observing certain proportions, correct alignment of the apex, and compression in the stress zone. Such nails do not have streaks near the cuticle and rollers, during the wearing period, detachments of the material do not form. The nail bed is elongated and extends beyond the finger. The shape of the nail at the ends is a semicircle, which ensures the creation of stiffeners.
A beginner often sticks white tips on the entire contact area, as a result, the nail bed is ugly reduced. The nail filled with transparent gel is flat, spatulate. The lack of an apex makes it vulnerable to all random hits that break it. The color of the nail plate becomes an unhe althy color, with regrowth, a natural free edge is visible. From the very first day, such work leaves the impression of unkempt.
How to remove gel from nails
Gel is an insoluble material, it is removed from the nails by filing. This will help manicure apparatus. First, the length is removed, then the material is removed from the stress zone, then the gel is carefully removed at low speed to the base layer. There is another way to remove gel extensions: use files. Gradually, changing them from 150 grit to 180, remove the material from the nails. During the process, the saw blades can heat up from friction. This means it's time to change them for new ones.
Gel nail extension is a fascinating work of an artist, sculptor and designer all rolled into one. Starting with nail modeling, some masters discovered the talent of a decorator. With the help of building materials, jewelry is made and objects are decorated (wedding glasses, bottles, telephones, table lamps, jewelry boxes and even shoes). Try to let goon this journey, maybe this is your calling.
