MelRae
New Member
Hello dears! I spent all night scouring these pages for some help on this topic and came up short. I have tried unsuccessfully many times to use AND top coat for their Perfect Dip system. I usually give up and use gel top coat (and even then only with mixed results). I was excited to try the new 3-in-1 that replaced the old base/top coat, but I feel like it failed within the first few strokes of the new bottle. I used thin layers when applying the powder, brushing off excess powder between coats, but by the time I finished the second coat on the first hand the 3-in-1 brush was stiff. It’s the same thing that happened to me with the traditional top coat, but I kept convincing myself that it was because - try as I might to not have this problem - I assumed I was getting activator in the top coat by not wiping enough. But since the brush of my brand new bottle of 3-in-1 was hard before I applied activator that can’t be a cause. I used Brush Restorer and cleaned the brush before finishing up. I applied Activator after laying my powder, shaped the nails, applied Activator again, waited 20 seconds, then wiped with nail cleanser before trying to apply 3-in-1 for the top coat. The product applied too thick and a couple nails into applying top coat the brush was hard again. I had no ability to lay the product evenly. I tried to just finish the set, but it looked like garbage (and some nails got ridges in them for the top coat was gloopy from the hard brush). I ended up filing off the top, etching the nail with a coarse buffer, and putting down gel. Unfortunately this morning my client messaged me that her index finger top coat is peeling (luckily she is a friend and will be happy to let me fix it... but still frustrating since it lasted less than 12 hours).
What can I do to improve? Am I missing something obvious? Has anyone else tried this product with good results? I’m starting to think I’m just not capable of using dip, and that gets me really down.
Also I read somewhere on here last night that someone suggested using a gel base coat OVER your powder layers before applying gel top coat to prevent peeling. Can anyone confirm that this is a good option for using gel top coats over dip powder?
What can I do to improve? Am I missing something obvious? Has anyone else tried this product with good results? I’m starting to think I’m just not capable of using dip, and that gets me really down.
Also I read somewhere on here last night that someone suggested using a gel base coat OVER your powder layers before applying gel top coat to prevent peeling. Can anyone confirm that this is a good option for using gel top coats over dip powder?
