Has anyone tried the Sally Hansen LED Gel with regular polish?

[chrysalis101]

During the 30 mani marathon I was trying to get my nails to grow out somewhat. AND I was doing my nails 2-3 times per week. I used the SH Gel nails. The idea was to use the base, white gel polish, and then gel top coat. Ontop of that, I would use my regular polishes and top coats.

Attempt #1. I didn't have the white gel polish yet, so I used a regular white polish between the gel coats. Wasn't a good idea. Although, the outcome was kind of neat. You get wrinkles in the polish. It looked like a hard crumpled ball of paper. Not good for doing much with it, but it was a neat unintended effect.

Following attempts: I found that it didn't matter if I used the white gel polish or not. The base and top coats were enough to give my nails the support that they needed. My hubby even mentioned that my long nails were getting annoying to him. However, I did find that taking off my regular polish on the top wasn't as easy. Even using a non-acetone remover caused the gel polishes to peel away from my nail (at least a bit). I would then have to grind down the surrounding gel and refill those areas. I found I was terrible at this and would then develop uneven lumps and ridges in my gel nails. So about every 2 weeks I would need to take the gels off completely. Also, the polishes I used discolored the gels under them. It didn't matter if I put an extra layer of regular base coat between the gel top and regular polish. I think this could have been caused, at least in part, by the removal of the regular polish. So, if I wanted to use the gel polish in my design, it had to be the first design I did with that set of gel nails.

Toward the end of the marathon, I was starting to run out of the base coat, but not the top coat. Do NOT use the top coat as both. It doesn't work. It peels right off the first time you do the dishes or wash your hands.

 

[Monika1]

Quote: Originally Posted by chrysalis101 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  During the 30 mani marathon I was trying to get my nails to grow out somewhat. AND I was doing my nails 2-3 times per week. I used the SH Gel nails. The idea was to use the base, white gel polish, and then gel top coat. Ontop of that, I would use my regular polishes and top coats.

Attempt #1. I didn't have the white gel polish yet, so I used a regular white polish between the gel coats. Wasn't a good idea. Although, the outcome was kind of neat. You get wrinkles in the polish. It looked like a hard crumpled ball of paper. Not good for doing much with it, but it was a neat unintended effect.

Following attempts: I found that it didn't matter if I used the white gel polish or not. The base and top coats were enough to give my nails the support that they needed. My hubby even mentioned that my long nails were getting annoying to him. However, I did find that taking off my regular polish on the top wasn't as easy. Even using a non-acetone remover caused the gel polishes to peel away from my nail (at least a bit). I would then have to grind down the surrounding gel and refill those areas. I found I was terrible at this and would then develop uneven lumps and ridges in my gel nails. So about every 2 weeks I would need to take the gels off completely. Also, the polishes I used discolored the gels under them. It didn't matter if I put an extra layer of regular base coat between the gel top and regular polish. I think this could have been caused, at least in part, by the removal of the regular polish. So, if I wanted to use the gel polish in my design, it had to be the first design I did with that set of gel nails.

Toward the end of the marathon, I was starting to run out of the base coat, but not the top coat. Do NOT use the top coat as both. It doesn't work. It peels right off the first time you do the dishes or wash your hands.

Thanks for the report! I sometimes use acetone polish even to remove regular polish, so using the non-acetone polish will naturally seem harder for me anyway; but it's not great that even with the non-acetone the gels lifted on you. That kind or defeats the purpose!

I did my nails just two days ago with regular polish in between and I'm already having problems. Not great. But I admit I'm a beginner with gel, so it might be too thick, etc. Did you do only 30 seconds on each layer as directed?

On my left thumb, where the nail is starting to rip, I did gel base, top, base, top to try to reinforce it. Then I put on a coat of regular, regular topcoat, and then did a gradient (on all my nails), topped with gel base, gel top. Within a day the gradient layer cracked off where the nail is weak.

On my dominant index finger (no surprise) I have full-depth chipping at the tip. The tip wrap has worn off also on the dominant middle finger, and a bit on the non-dominant middle finger (I think that nail tip is thinner than the tip of some of my other nails). But now what to do? Should I strip those nails completely and start again? I was hoping to keep this mani for a full week! After tomorrow I'll be super bus for a week, so I need to do something about it today!

Othewise, I looove the glossiness.

 

[Monika1]

Quote: Originally Posted by sleepykat /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  My friend used Zoya Dream, let it dry completely, and then applied a clear gel from Red Carpet and cured it under the light. It looked great and lasted her 4 or 5 days and then had one chip.
Good to know. I was hoping for 7-8 days with regular polish and gel...

 

[chrysalis101]

Quote: Originally Posted by Monika1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Thanks for the report! I sometimes use acetone polish even to remove regular polish, so using the non-acetone polish will naturally seem harder for me anyway; but it's not great that even with the non-acetone the gels lifted on you. That kind or defeats the purpose!

I did my nails just two days ago with regular polish in between and I'm already having problems. Not great. But I admit I'm a beginner with gel, so it might be too thick, etc. Did you do only 30 seconds on each layer as directed?

On my left thumb, where the nail is starting to rip, I did gel base, top, base, top to try to reinforce it. Then I put on a coat of regular, regular topcoat, and then did a gradient (on all my nails), topped with gel base, gel top. Within a day the gradient layer cracked off where the nail is weak.

On my dominant index finger (no surprise) I have full-depth chipping at the tip. The tip wrap has worn off also on the dominant middle finger, and a bit on the non-dominant middle finger (I think that nail tip is thinner than the tip of some of my other nails). But now what to do? Should I strip those nails completely and start again? I was hoping to keep this mani for a full week! After tomorrow I'll be super bus for a week, so I need to do something about it today!

Othewise, I looove the glossiness.

Yeah, it does kind of defeat the purpose if you're always taking it off. I got to the point that I started with a lighter colored mani and built up to a dark one without taking off in between. But then my nails were so thick I couldn't pick stuff up. I don't think there's any one good answer.

My LED switches off after 45 seconds, not 30. So my nails always cured for 45 seconds. Try not doing base, top, base, top. Try doing base, base, top, top. Make sure to then clean your nails with rubbing alcohol. Then put on regular polish and regular top coat. I know, even SV isn't as glossy and shiny as gel top coat. But I did find that I had almost no chipping when I did it this way. You'll notice that the gel is kind of sticky when you're done and collects cat fur like no body's  business. I just kept some rubbing alcohol in a small spray bottle (the carry on kind) and sprayed my nails with that when I was done with the gel part.

I'm not an expert or anything, but I think your problem with base, top, base, top is that the base cannot chemically bond with the top coat (gel or regular). And I don't think that regular (at least not any I tried) polishes can bond with the stickiness of the gel top coat before you clean them.

 

[Monika1]

Quote: Originally Posted by chrysalis101 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Yeah, it does kind of defeat the purpose if you're always taking it off. I got to the point that I started with a lighter colored mani and built up to a dark one without taking off in between. But then my nails were so thick I couldn't pick stuff up. I don't think there's any one good answer.

My LED switches off after 45 seconds, not 30. So my nails always cured for 45 seconds. Try not doing base, top, base, top. Try doing base, base, top, top. Make sure to then clean your nails with rubbing alcohol. Then put on regular polish and regular top coat. I know, even SV isn't as glossy and shiny as gel top coat. But I did find that I had almost no chipping when I did it this way. You'll notice that the gel is kind of sticky when you're done and collects cat fur like no body's  business. I just kept some rubbing alcohol in a small spray bottle (the carry on kind) and sprayed my nails with that when I was done with the gel part.

I'm not an expert or anything, but I think your problem with base, top, base, top is that the base cannot chemically bond with the top coat (gel or regular). And I don't think that regular (at least not any I tried) polishes can bond with the stickiness of the gel top coat before you clean them.
Thanks. I'm up to trying, though dreading having to soak off some of this, especially on the broken nail. I did always clean the sticky goop off the gel top before I applied the regular polish. For the middle fingers, I was thinking of reapplying gel to re-wrap the tips in hopes of preventing the gel from lifting completely. I guess then it would be better to only use the gel top rather than use the gel base (on top of the existing gel top) and then the gel top. On the other hand, I could fix it up, then do just a regular top OR fix it up, do regular top, then gel top. The nails aren't too thick yet, but adding thickness might also make them more susceptible to peeling off or chipping. I just don't want to really lose this mani yet, or try to soak all this off before the end of next week. Aargh - I wish this had worked better.

 

[chrysalis101]

I would suggest soaking off all of them that are chipped and/or peeling. Use the foil method for at least 45 minutes. I always wrap mi E and then start Castle, Bones, Revolution, etc. Some hour long show. Depending on how soaked your cotton balls are with acetone, the gel should come right off. But take them off one at a time. Because if those pieces of gel dry on your nails again then it's a headache and sometimes requires more acetone.

 

[Monika1]

Quote: Originally Posted by chrysalis101 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I would suggest soaking off all of them that are chipped and/or peeling. Use the foil method for at least 45 minutes. I always wrap mi E and then start Castle, Bones, Revolution, etc. Some hour long show. Depending on how soaked your cotton balls are with acetone, the gel should come right off. But take them off one at a time. Because if those pieces of gel dry on your nails again then it's a headache and sometimes requires more acetone.
Thanks for the advice on it! I actually did one last hurrah, stamping a few turtles and such, and we'll see how it survives with more topcoat; but the moment it chips again or shows signs of peeling, it's soaking time.

 

[Monika1]

I promised a report on how the SH gel polish worked for me longer-term. So, here goes:

You can read above (post #19) about what I did initially. I then ended up painting the rest of my nails with regular polish (Bondi Lady Liberty) too. So some nails already had the regular polish on top of a gel top coat and some were just on a regular base coat. The regular polish was topped with nothing or with gel top coat or with fast-dry top coat and then gel top coat. Then I used four colours of regular polish to create a gradient (I posted that on the main "wearing now" thread). Later, I fixed up a few chips and actually stamped a few nails, with hope that the gel polish would last through a week long vacation - lots of exposure to salt water!

      

Well, things started happening... Chips occurred first. I had the darkest blue along, so I did a few touch-ups. Chipping occurred as expected (and naturally in places where I was already having issues pre-trip), on the index fingers of both hands and first three fingers of the dominant hand. On the one index finger, everything popped off one day after a long time in salt water. That included regular base coat, regular polish, fast-dry top coat, gel top coat, regular polish gradient, gel top coat. That was a surprise! My nail was bare! I have no clear idea if this is less likely to happen if the mani starts with gel base and top coats. I painted the bare nail with a Zoya PixieDust and topped it with quick-dry top coat - that didn't survive for the remainder of the week either. On my other index finger the gradient regular polish layer and everything below stayed put, but the gel top coat with the turtle stamp on it popped right off. Admittedly, my hands were getting a lot of soaking and heavy use. But it seems that gel top coat does not adhere as well to quick-dry top coat as it does to regular polish.

      

I would say the gel polish did still last far better than a regular mani would have. I had a "fair condition" mani with a few touch-ups for a week in the water, plus some time before.. My lesson learned - I have to clean the cuticle area better and create a clean border line when I use gel polishes. It just looks so much better when there is a clean line there. And I think a messy line contributed to the problem in the places the gel polish layers popped off. Sadly, I have no conclusions on which approach works best with regard to gel and regular polish order. The wear happened based on most use rather than due to any specific regular and gel polish application order. The lessons learned:

#1: Clean up the gel coat layers better before curing.

#2: You can use Sally Hansen gel topcoat over a regular mani.

#3: Don't apply quick-dry top coat directly below the gel top coat layer (as the gel seems more liable to pop off a quick-dry polish layer than a regular polish layer).