So, as an early B-day present, my lovely GF bought me an LED nail lamp. Up until this point I've been using this:
my cheapo Salon Edge 36W UV lamp and have had a total of... zero problems with it. The two minute cure time can really harsh your gig when you want to do more intricate nail art and layers. It's like, I really want crazy awesome nail art, but do I really want to spend 3 hours doing it? Sweet Brown knows what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I did my research, made sure Gelish could be cured with a non-Gelish LED lamp, found a lamp on Amazon that had good reviews and had reviewers who said specifically that it worked for Gelish, I popped it on my wish list and let the GF know that was the one.
Today, it arrived! My New Lumsing 18W LED Lamp!
My GF was ready for her next Gelish mani, so we sat down and I started polishing away, excited by the prospect of finishing in record time (30 second cure time? Gosh golly this'll be crazy fast!). I cured the foundation layer for 30 seconds... alright, seemed a bit "wetter" than usual, but ok, maybe that's how this works. On to the color! Cure for 30 seconds and... it was still... wet. With the UV light I'm accustomed to the color layer being tacky - you can stick your finger in it and leave a finger print, but it doesn't wipe off. This? this was just wiping off. I bumped the color coat cure times up to 60 seconds, then 90 seconds. When I did her left hand I just left all the coats at 90 seconds, the lamp's max timer setting.
By the end of the manicure I kept the Top It Off under the LED light for two 90-second intervals. When I went to wipe the tacky layer off with the Gelish cleanser... actual color from the color coats came off with it.
Sadly, I think we'll be returning it. I kept the coats super, super thin, made sure I was plugged directly into the wall to ensure the lamp was getting the maximum wattage, played with the cure times... I really don't know what else I could've done, it just wasn't curing like my UV lamp. Maybe I have a defective lamp, maybe the reviewers on Amazon really had 30 second cure times with Gelish? All I know is it didn't work, and it makes no sense to keep it if my cure times are a minute and a half to 2 minutes and still not done. My trusty UV light will work fine.
Now I have my eye on the Gelish 18G for my big 3-0 b-day coming up. Go big or go home.
my cheapo Salon Edge 36W UV lamp and have had a total of... zero problems with it. The two minute cure time can really harsh your gig when you want to do more intricate nail art and layers. It's like, I really want crazy awesome nail art, but do I really want to spend 3 hours doing it? Sweet Brown knows what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I did my research, made sure Gelish could be cured with a non-Gelish LED lamp, found a lamp on Amazon that had good reviews and had reviewers who said specifically that it worked for Gelish, I popped it on my wish list and let the GF know that was the one.
Today, it arrived! My New Lumsing 18W LED Lamp!
My GF was ready for her next Gelish mani, so we sat down and I started polishing away, excited by the prospect of finishing in record time (30 second cure time? Gosh golly this'll be crazy fast!). I cured the foundation layer for 30 seconds... alright, seemed a bit "wetter" than usual, but ok, maybe that's how this works. On to the color! Cure for 30 seconds and... it was still... wet. With the UV light I'm accustomed to the color layer being tacky - you can stick your finger in it and leave a finger print, but it doesn't wipe off. This? this was just wiping off. I bumped the color coat cure times up to 60 seconds, then 90 seconds. When I did her left hand I just left all the coats at 90 seconds, the lamp's max timer setting.
By the end of the manicure I kept the Top It Off under the LED light for two 90-second intervals. When I went to wipe the tacky layer off with the Gelish cleanser... actual color from the color coats came off with it.
Sadly, I think we'll be returning it. I kept the coats super, super thin, made sure I was plugged directly into the wall to ensure the lamp was getting the maximum wattage, played with the cure times... I really don't know what else I could've done, it just wasn't curing like my UV lamp. Maybe I have a defective lamp, maybe the reviewers on Amazon really had 30 second cure times with Gelish? All I know is it didn't work, and it makes no sense to keep it if my cure times are a minute and a half to 2 minutes and still not done. My trusty UV light will work fine.
Now I have my eye on the Gelish 18G for my big 3-0 b-day coming up. Go big or go home.
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