Nail polish/equipment to help me surprise my wife

[M4rtin]

Hello ladies, need some help with equipment for home use to make shellac/gel nails.
My wife is having hard time finding good professional for nails in our little city (Milton, On, Canada), and she asked me if she should just invest in lamp and try herself.

I wanted to surprise her and bought her LED lamp, and remember her praising OPI Gel, so will get her few colors. Other than that could you let me know what else should I buy her ? She was saying something about powder once, but no clue what that is

 

[asteropi]

I hate to burst your otherwise very thoughtful idea, but the only way to get professional products is to be a professional. She can certainly buy some gel polishes that are sold to general public but the chemicals inside those are too strong imo and certainly not OPI. Not to mention that without proper training she's probably going to ruin her nails. It's best if you enlisted her in a gel polish course as a present and then got her what she needs. At least that way she's gonna have proper knowledge and materials to do what she loves.
As to what she needs, besides the led lamp and polishes, there is a small list of nail tools and chemicals used to clean the nails before any application and they are absolutely necessary.
As to powder, I guess she was referring to liquid&powder which is the correct name for what is also known as acrylic nails, and since she knows nothing at the moment, I'd stay well away from them.

 

[Trinity]

There are home DIY specific brands available from places like QVC, Boots (UK Chemist chain), etc. I'm not sure of your Canadian equivalent. Look for Red Carpet Manicure and I think Elegant Nails do one too.

If your wife is struggling to find a decent technician that should give you some indication that applying these products is not quite as simple as it looks, so its unlikely she's going to get any better results doing them herself. If it was that easy then one of the techs she's been to would have provided great nails.

Asteropi has given you some great advice, I'd just add that not all lamps cure all gel polishes so mixing and matching brands is a disaster waiting to happen for many reasons. Either invest is a home DIY kit or pro training and kit, a middle ground is not safe. You may not like to hear this advice but believe we only ever have people's health and safety in mind at all times

 

[M4rtin]

Thank you replies, getting her into learning program is a great idea.
What kind of program would you recommend, knowledge only, hands on experience, if in class practice how many hours would be good.
Yes unfortunatelly closest nail technician that she likes is 45min drive and she's hard to book with, cancels a lot.
This is the lamp I got her http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canada-150-...t-Cure-Gel-Nail-Polish-SUN5-Plus/272744365640

I hate to burst your otherwise very thoughtful idea, but the only way to get professional products is to be a professional. She can certainly buy some gel polishes that are sold to general public but the chemicals inside those are too strong imo and certainly not OPI.

Do you mean OPI is too strong or it's safe ?

 

[asteropi]

Thank you replies, getting her into learning program is a great idea.
Yes unfortunatelly closest nail technician that she likes is 45min drive and she's hard to book with, cancels a lot.
This is the lamp I got her http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canada-150-...t-Cure-Gel-Nail-Polish-SUN5-Plus/272744365640


Do you mean OPI is too strong or it's safe ?

OPI is a professional brand and will therefore only sell to professionals after providing a proof of their nail technician qualification.

As to the lamp you got, it's a generic LED lamp and while it may work with most gel polishes or at least appear to, it can't guarantee 100% cure with any brand. She might experience product breakdown, chipping, peeling, uncured or partly cured products, allergies etc
Most brands will need their own lamp to guarantee a complete cure, i'm sure she will learn the why's and how's if she enrols.
It is however good to start with and get her toes wet. Most of us started that way because you can't be certain if it's really what you like/want/need when you are starting out so you don't want to invest too much on something that might not go a long way. But if she's really into it, I'd suggest after receiving her qualification, researching the brands out there and investing in a complete system (lamp, polish, base& top etc).

I really think a gel polish course will be best for her. Best of luck.