Salon Manicure Choices – What’s the Difference? Dip Powder Manicure

There are so many fantastic nail treatments available now in salons and for home use. In this series we’ve reviewed the professional manicure systems for use on natural nails. In this post we continue this series on selecting the perfect natural nail manicure system for your lifestyle, examining the latest trend in manicures: the dip powder manicure.

I love (sarcasm) how people think this is a new thing, when I’ve been doing dip acrylic manicures on my own nails since I was a teenager in the late 90’s. It’s not a new technology, but a revived product, much as gels were in the early 2000’s. And please, please don’t call them “SNS nails”! That’s genericization like “Band-Aid” or “Kleenex” or “Shellac” nails, and all the great brands of dip systems on the market deserve better.

Pet peeves aside, this is one of my favorite techniques. After applying a prep or primer to the natural nail, the tech applies a cyanoacrylate-based resin base coat, then dips the nail into the extra fine acrylic powder. This process is process is repeated once or twice more, then an activator may be used before applying the cyanoacrylate-based top coat. The results:

• Less filing than traditional acrylic application
• Thinner than traditional acrylic application
• Lighter than traditional acrylic application, similar to gels
• More natural-looking than traditional acrylic application, like gel overlays
• Stronger than gels, though they are not a flexible
• Less odor than traditional acrylic application
• Durable
• Soak-off like traditional acrylics, though typically faster

And, with dip systems you have options:

• May be combined with fiberglass nail wraps
• Easy to repair split or broken nails
• Polish is optional with colored powders
• You can use multiple colors of powder for long-lasting nail art

Some things to consider, though:

• This is not a gel system, and don’t let anyone tell you it is. These systems are straight-up glue and powder. No lamp necessary.
• Ads might say these last four to six weeks but, trust me, you won’t like the look of your grown out enhancements after two or three weeks.
• Don’t let anyone tell you this is a natural or chemical-free manicure. While the ingredients aren’t likely to cause an allergic reaction, they do involve chemicals!
• It’s been said that it’s not sanitary to dip multiple clients in the same powder. I find it very hard to believe that any infectious organisms are going to live for very long in dip powder (as it cannot in nail polish).  However, the pour or sprinkle techniques are the safest for everyone.

Most people I know personally that have worn dip powder nails love and recommend them as much as I do. Dip nails are a great alternative to gel polish. Ready to try for yourself?

Some professional brands to find at the salon are:

• Gelish Dip – (My personal favorite.) You can choose from 120 colors and counting, and they match the Gelish gel polish and Morgan Taylor traditional nail polish colors, to cover all your options for manis and pedis!

• OPI Powder Perfection – more than 100 colors of powder are available, including the most popular OPI color ever, I’m Not Really a Waitress, with the dip system from this trusted brand.
• Signature Nail Systems Gelous – While I dislike the misleading name, this is perhaps one of the most well-known brands, you can find this system in many quick serve nail salons. We know that nails don’t breathe, and they won’t absorb vitamins that this system touts as their advantage… but the added ingredients don’t hurt anything and you have a color options enough for a new one each day!

Some easy-to-find beauty store brands are:

• Kiara Sky Dip System – With over 140 powder colors, this system is very popular among DIYers and nail bloggers.
• ASP Quick Dip – 24 lovely colors in this easy-to-use system sold at Sally Beauty.

Second only to gel polish, this is one of my favorite nail products.  What about you? Leave a comment below! Is this your favorite natural nail manicure product?

Salon Manicure Choices – What’s the Difference? Traditional Nail Polish

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On this blog I post a lot about gel polish and occasionally about traditional polish, but did you know there are other systems available that may meet your natural nails manicure needs and fit your lifestyle? There’s also the latest craze – dipped nails, which isn’t nail polish like we usually think about it.  There are so many amazing treatments out there! In this series we’ll review the professional manicure systems for use on natural nails in the market today.

Traditional Nail Polish

Traditional nail polish is also sometimes called lacquer. This is the system that most people are familiar with, as it has been around for decades, can be found at most department or drug stores, and is easy to apply (but surprisingly difficult to apply well).

Image from Amazon.com

 

The technology that traditional nail polish uses typically includes nitrocellulose, film-forming agents, resins, solvents, and, of course, colorants. Professional systems usually include at least a base and top coat formulated to work with their lacquer colors, as well as other nail treatments such as strengtheners, finishers and drying agents.
One of the most-trusted (and my personal favorite) traditional polish brands is OPI. I also recommend Morgan Taylor.

Is traditional nail polish for you?

If you enjoy self-care time for getting weekly nail services and love trying new, on-trend colors, then traditional polish might be perfect for you. Traditional polish is a quick treatment that is perfect for combining with other pampering salon services.

Is this your polish of choice? What do you love about it? Leave us a comment!

Don’t Toy With My Heart

For this design I used a technique that’s been around for awhile but I had not yet tried: the “smoosh” manicure.  Here are the colors of Gelish I used:

• black – Black Shadow
• red – Don’t Toy With My Heart (also used on full coverage nails)
• gray – Fashion Week Chic
•  nude/neutral – Taupe Model

I did one coat of Taupe Model as the base, cured it, then applied small drops of all the colors in various spots on the nails.  Next, I used my Morgan Taylor clear stamper to smoosh the drops around so they blended a little, but not so much that the colors became “muddy”. Finally, I cured the design for 1 minute.

Once the smooshing was done I thought it was a little boring so I stamped on top using a design from the Morgan Taylor Designer Plates Flirty Florals collection.  These are some great stamping plates that would do even better with a better stamping polish. (Next time I’ll try using polish from Clear Jelly Stamper.) Check out the macro shot!

This ended up being super easy (and quick) to do, but got a lot of notice. I wore this manicure for over two weeks!

Have you tried the smoosh mani? Let me know how it turned out in the comments!

Marshmallow Manicure

About a month ago I saw a post on the Nails Magazine website about the “marshmallow manicure” that Morgan Taylor lead artist Gina Edwards had created for Caroline Herrera’s Spring 2018 NYFW collection models.

While Gina Edwards used Heaven Sent (formerly Little Princess) for the white color, I decided to use the new white called I’m Drawing a Blanco, from the fall 2017 Matadora Gelish collection.  I’m Drawing Blanco does have a bit of shimmer to it, which I embellished with some rhinestones and Gelish Grand Jewels to create this design. The butterfly is a double-stamped (first white, then black) image from stamping plate BP-07 I purchased at The Born Pretty Store.

Bashful

This design was done with 2 coats of Bashful topped with one coat of A Moment of Magic, both by Gelish.

Then, in white stamping polish from Born Pretty, I stamped a design from the Morgan Taylor Designer Plate 3720201-2. I used the scraper and the clear stamper that came in the Designer Plates Flirty Florals kit.  As you can see, the stamper transferred the design beautifully. The design on the plate easily provided full coverage on these long nails.

When the stamped design was dry, I added dots in the centers of the larger flowers using Tinsel by China Glaze. Though I stamped these nails, I used Gelish Top It Off as I would for any gel polish manicure. It works very well for sealing stamped designs like this!

 

Review: Morgan Taylor Designer Plates

These lovely stamping plates are Morgan Taylor Designer Plates. Morgan Taylor Lacquer products are a part of the Hand & Nail Harmony family, along with Gelish soak-off gel polish, Prohesion acrylic, and now the Polygel nail enhancement system.

I purchased the Morgan Taylor Designer Plates Flirty Florals Collection 1 kit from Cosmoprof for approximately $20.  I’ve been looking for them for a couple months, but had been unable to find them for sale until recently. It seems that they’ve just been released, and are now in stock at some retail locations!

You can see my unboxing video for this kit on the NEW Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel at: https://youtu.be/G3_EYStSfFo

The images on this plate are cute and versatile. I did a quick test of a few designs and found that the images stamp crisply and clearly:

The images and stamper are large enough to provide full coverage on long nails, which makes them great for salon use. So far, I really like these plates!  I plan to do more nail art soon with them.

I’ve found that the stamper works really well, right out of the box. It’s a nice, soft silicone for a comfortable stamping feel, and the pad picks up the image cleanly with no prep needed. The stamper also magnifies whatever you are viewing through it, which makes it easier to find your desired stamp placement .

Be sure to watch my demo video on the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel to see these plates in action.

If you’re not familiar with nail art stamping, check out the step-by-step provided by Morgan Taylor on their YouTube page. You can also find more information in my previous in-depth post on nail art stamping here.

Nail art stamping has actually been around for years, and it appears that the professional brands are finally getting into the action. A couple other pro kits have also launched recently. I applaud manufacturers of professional products for creating these kits and making them available to pros, who might not have otherwise tried this seemingly-simple but effective nail art technique.  However, the fact remains that this trend was born from the passion of the DIYers that have been practicing it for a long time already.  Kudos, then, to the professional brands, such as Morgan Taylor, that embrace DIYers as part of the nail community and use their brand to bring these products and techniques to those who might not have otherwise used them!

I’ll be posting nail art featuring the designs on these plates in the near future, so be sure to come back in few days!

Have you tried these plates yet? What did you think?