QuestionBrisa Gels are non hyperallergenic,En Vogue says it has non toxic vapors and uses polymer resin & Biosculpture also claims safer products. Please tell me what is in these products? Does Brisa also have polymer resin? Also what about Quintessence gels? And can i use en vogue, Bio or Quintessence with Brisas' light. Do their lights put out the same power. I know watts don,t mean any thing. Hope you can help? Thanks
AnswerAll good questions, and I sympathize with your confusion since I have often lamented at the lack of clearly stated, concise, information regarding gel products. Let me see if I can help:
Hypoallergenic is a term that gets thrown around a lot. It does NOT mean that a product will never cause or aggravate allergies, it means that it has a very low chance of doing so. So when you see products that say they are hypoallergenic, don't get tricked into thinking that NO ONE will be allergic to them. It's just less likely.
I believe that all nail products technically have "non-toxic" vapors. Even acrylic. The only exception may be methyl methacrylate monomer (MMA.) The key here is to find out how cosmetic companies define the term "toxic."
I once came across a technical definition of "toxic" for substances that stated that as long as you could ingest one quart of the substance and not DIE, it was considered "non-toxic." !!! That leaves a LOT of gray area if you ask me!
All nail products contain "polymer resin." Polymer resin is a fancy term for plastic, and acrylics, gels, even nail glue are all "polymer resins."
Another trick some companies might use is to call their products "organic."
It is very important to understand that "organic" has a very different definition in chemistry than it does in agriculture. In chemistry, "Organic" means that the compound contains the basic element Carbon. This means that a LOT of things on this planet are "organic" since we are a carbon-based planet. ALL acrylic is Organic, for instance.
For the most part, todays gels are very similar. Get copies of the MSDS for the products you are considering and compare the ingredients. Don't be afraid to contact the companies and ask them specific questions about why their gels are different from their competitors' -- if they can't, or won't, answer your questions, decide if that's the kind of technical support you are looking for.
As for lights. If you have a lamp with 4 9-watt UV bulbs, it will cure just about anything. Every company likes to insist that you use ONLY the lamp they market for their products, but a 9-watt bulb does wonders for most of them. More bulbs won't change the wavelength of the light, but it will increase the distribution of that light. So if you invest in a simple, one bulb lamp (often around $30-40) it will work and be a great way to test different products before deciding which system to make a major investment in.
Try http://www.nailsplash.com for a really comprehensive site all about gels.
Also, you may want to also consider Akzentz gels or Young Nails synergy gel line in your research.
