Review: New Gelish Structure in Cover Pink

A few years ago Gelish introduced Structure gel, a soak-off clear gel intended for use as an overlay, typically under Gelish gel polish, to give the natural nail a bit of extra strength and smoothness while maintaining a natural look. The original product came in a small pot, like this:

Fast forward to a few years and Gelish has not only updated to brush-in-bottle applications, but in 2018 added two new products to the Clear version to the complete the lineup – Cover Pink (pictured below) and Translucent Pink.

In my pursuit of the perfect natural nail overlay, I just had to try the new version of this product.  My natural nails are not especially in need of a cover-up but the idea of a neutral pink as a base for Gelish colors, particularly those that show have a visible nail line otherwise, is very appealing.

I bought the last bottle in stock at my local CosmoProf. The bottle is the same size as the full-size Gelish polish, so you get many uses out of it.  The application was so easy and I got full coverage in one coat. With the Structure Gel in the pot I used to have some shrinkage issues, but they seem to be resolved with this product. The product is smooth yet obviously natural nails. I was really impressed with how good they looked!

Here’s a photo of my nails with just one coat of Cover Pink Structure gel:

I kept my nails like this for 3-4 days, but felt that the overlay wasn’t quite enough to protect my nails in rough situations. As my nails get longer I’ll want more coverage, so the Structure would be perfect for a natural nail refresh, or maybe under Gelish for shorter nails.

This product is great, so I might try layering it with my recent go-to, Gelish Dip. I really like it so far!

Have tried the new Structure Gel? What did you think of it?

 

 

 

Gelish (finally) answered my question!

A few years ago I participated in a Facebook Live chat with Danny Haile, founder of Hand & Nail Harmony. It was a Q&A session, and my question for him was something like “What enhancement or extension product would you recommend so that you’re able to remove the Gelish from enhancement, but not the enhancement itself?” (That’s as close as I can get… It’s been like 4 years so I really don’t remember my exact question.) At the time there was no product in their line-up that wasn’t affected by acetone, so he responded that they recommend Structure Gel.

Fast forward to 2017. I’m still using Gelish gel polish, dealing with the consequences of soaking it off each time I need to do a fill. And now Gelish introduces Polygel. It’s unlike any other product we’ve seen before. People are experimenting with it and finding some great uses for it. But what I want to know is: Can I soak Gelish off Polgyel without destroying the enhancement underneath?

YES!

The answer is yes. You can soak off the Gelish gel polish, leaving the the Polygel behind, ready for a fill. How great is that?  Check out the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel for a demo of how this is done!

 

 

Pink to Purple Gelish Ombre

For this design I used Gelish. I embeded the pink fimo leaf in Structure gel.  After filing and prepping I applied Foundation, as usual. The base color all over the nail is Ali Baba’s Sim Sala Bam.  Then I used  the following to make the ombre from base to tip:

• It’s a Lily
• Plum and Done
• Tasty Eggplant
• Cocktail Party Drama

At the tip, just before applying Top It Off, I added a dab more of Ali Baba’s Sim Sala Bam to give the tip some sparkle. I thought it looked great; I just wish it had been more opaque. What do you think?