QuestionYesterday I got gel nails put on. I'm not sure if they were done properly or what I should do about it.
The tech cut my existing nails and applied a tip. The tech then used a white powder to coat the tip and used a tool to scrape off and shape the white to give it a curve. Then the tech used a gel and applied it below and on the white tip and it was cured in a UV lamp. He did one more coat of the gel, filed everything and then did one last clear coat of something that looked like polish but was also cured in the lamp.
I've heard that if they use any powder at all acrylics were used. Also, it looks like I have a couple of air bubbles. My nail beds are sore today and were late yesterday, but I assume it was from the filing.
Were these actually gel nails from start to finish? Do you have any thoughts about if they were done in some proper method or if I totally got screwed?
Regardless, they seem too thick so I would like to get that fixed. I'm just not certain if I should go back to this place and have them fix it and give me a refund or if I should just require a refund and go to someone else and have them look at my nails.
Is there a website where someone can find a reputable nail salon? I recently moved to the area (Hillsboro, Oregon) and this salon was getting rave reviews.
AnswerIt sounds like the tech used white acrylic on your tips. The rest sounds like gel.
There are too many excellent white gels on the market these days for me to be ok with using white acrylic to do free edges-- but back in the day that's how I did them because it was difficult to find a quality white gel. It's kinda up to you to decide if you feel like you got screwed or not, since mostly your nails are gel.
Honestly, I'd just learn my lesson and go to another salon if I were you. It can be difficult to convince a salon to give you a refund, and having them redo the work may not be worth the hassle-- you'll most likely just get more of the same.
Try visiting http://www.beautytech.info and checking their salon locator. Or try a common search engine such as Yahoo search and see what kind of results you get. (Yahoo and ask.com seem to return more results for small time websites than Google does.)
Some great name brands in gel products are Young Nails, Light Elegance, Akzentz, and LCN. By no means is that a complete list of the high quality professional gel lines, but those are some of the hottest brands in the industry right now. Basically, if the salon isn't proud to give you the name of the line they are using, it's a good sign that they aren't using quality products. A good salon should know their products and be happy to answer questions.
Good luck!
