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Original poster

Best (cheapest) site to buy nail products from?

60 replies

alltoomuchrightnow · 24/07/2014 23:24

Have been recommended Barielle and Jessica cream and oils as my nails are wrecked from years of gels.
I need to soak the gels off (pure acetone? from chemist?) then try and restore my nails. The nail bed is now so thin it's incredibly painful if they get buffed /filed on the surface (I nearly passed out! seriously! and I have high pain threshold!), so no more gels from me
And if any of you with weak brittle bendy nails could recommend your nail savers!
I keep hearing about Phenomoil? (not sure of spelling)
I tend to only buy beauty products from eBay but I realise this isn't always the best place or necessarily the cheapest

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Sizzlesthedog · 25/07/2014 20:27

They usually try and fob you off, pretending acrylic is gel. Powder and drilling could never be gel. Gel is exactly that. Set under a uv lamp.

Keep the nails as short as you can bear. Keep oiling them. You could even use olive oil. They will toughen up. The new nail should be ok. It's summer so they will grow quicker at this time of year.

I wouldn't paint anything on. Sometimes those hardeners can peel off, you couldn't afford to lose any more nail.

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 20:52

100% of the London ones I went in only took cash.
Some Vietnamese, others various. No problem with that but the language barrier was. I would always sit down, have my hands grabbed and inspected, asked 'gel infill?' I'd say yes and that would be it. Any q's would not be answered , i'd just get a glazed over look at best usually. They'd often start doing the wrong thing and i'd have to stop them. The technician would be on mobile the whole time or shouting at their kids who were running amok in the salon.
My fault for paying cheap prices I guess but it was all I could afford and thought the salons were always so packed they must be ok . They were efficient and always done very very neatly. So I didnt think there was a problem. Until the day the pain started.. and when I realised how hard it was to go gel (well, acrylic) free

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ihatethecold · 25/07/2014 20:58

Where I go to get gel nail they definitely use the drill to buff the nail.
It's certainly not acrylic. My nails go under the uv lamp.

Sizzlesthedog · 25/07/2014 21:10

If they drill, they are applying too much gel.

handcream · 25/07/2014 21:21

I really don't know how they stay in business, they have little English and no customer service skills at all. And what's all this 'we only take cash'

handcream · 25/07/2014 21:24

I have just come back from Vietnam. They are lovely people although do have an issue with the rich Westerners....

I dont know what happens to them when they come here. Has anyone been to one where they even smile?

I am also wondering whether they are working illegally?

HorsesDogsNails · 25/07/2014 21:35

I'm a Nail Tech and you have been having (cheap and nasty) acrylic not gel. All gel is uv cured. You are now paying the price for years of abuse, none of which is your fault. It drives me up the wall when clients are lied to about the product they are receiving. Also a nail service should never hurt, ever - if it does leave the salon.

As regarding what to do now, there is a new product to strengthen nails which is amazing. It is pro use only, so you will need to find a Tech that uses it but it really is worth it. It's called IBX and it is the only product that can penetrate the nail plate and strengthen from within. It really delivers tough, resilient nails.

Hth's

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 21:36

oh, these were/ are lovely people, well the women were. The men just grunted. It was very odd..never a hello or goodbye.. and NEVER eye contact - always treated me like they didn't know me.. yet i was in there every 3 weeks for 5 years! As I was a retail manager I did find it odd.. you'd walk in and if someone was free you'd get a chair thrust at you to and beckoned to sit.. or if you waited, you'd get no acknowledgment whatsoever.. not even a look your way. And the entire time, on the phone. And C Beebies on in the actual shop the whole time for their kids!

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handcream · 25/07/2014 21:37

It really strange how they are often packed. Do we really not care?

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 21:39

I asked many times, if it was proper gel as never used a UV lamp (and my first gel experience, years ago, was in a non London salon, with english speaking and it all fully explained to me.. plus a care sheet) and they were quite indignant, 'yes yes GEL' … so I just assumed the formula had changed and they didn't need UV any more. Yes I was that daft.. and not on MN then or beauty sites

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handcream · 25/07/2014 21:39

I had a middle aged man do my nails the last time. He started cutting at my cuticles and I told him to stop, threw £5 at them and made a run off it

ihatethecold · 25/07/2014 21:39

It's cheap!

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 21:40

i really just went there for convenience as it was by the shop i managed, and they stayed open late.. i was usually working 7 days a week so it was all i could manage time for

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handcream · 25/07/2014 21:42

But they are damaging and ripping your nails - and we are paying for this - including me in the past

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 21:42

anyway , I learnt the hard way. Pain free for years and never occurred to me that there was actual damage. but then i'd not seen my real nails for 5 yrs either!
I have high pain threshold. Back tattoo? just a little tickle.
Had migraines all my life.
ok have never given birth
so who'd have thought I nearly passed out with pain from having my nail surfaces filed / buffed?

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Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 21:43

if i'd carried on i'd have had holes form like that poor girl did. How long would that take to heal…

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handcream · 25/07/2014 21:45

I now go to a mobile therapist who is fab and who is only a few pounds more than these fake therapists who pretend to be manicurists and who take only cash!

HorsesDogsNails · 25/07/2014 22:02

@Handcream - good for you for leaving! The skin around your nails should never be cut, it's living tissue and cutting it leaves you open to infection. Also it will grow back thicker as scar tissue.

OP, don't feel daft we all tend to believe what we're told but education is everything. I'm a mobile Tech and see many people who've been down the same road as you. Your nails can be re-habbed but please don't judge all Nail Techs by the cheap chop-shop salons, I honestly care for the health of my client's natural nails (I want you to keep booking me Grin!!). There are alternatives, I work evenings for my full-time ladies.....

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 25/07/2014 22:34

ha what county are you, Horses ?

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HorsesDogsNails · 25/07/2014 23:58

I'm Wiltshire, Swindon to be precise! If I can help pm me...

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 26/07/2014 00:00

no, but lucky you! probably my favourite county. I have probably taken more photos there than anywhere!

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itsbetterthanabox · 26/07/2014 00:38

Some nail bars pretend to give you gel and call it solar nails or gel and powder because gel is more sought after. Gel extensions are more expensive. But you thought it was gel polish not hard gel so was it just an overlay with no extension? You can extend with gel polish only hard gel. Gel polish is usually cheaper than acrylic extensions anyway!
If it is a powder and liquid it is acrylic, if it smells it is acrylic, no uv/led light then acrylic (although sometimes they top coat with gel polish which does use the light) . There's nothing wrong with acrylic, many people love it. It is cheaper, hard wearing and if applied and removed correctly causes minimal natural nail damage. But charging you gel prices for acrylics is wrong.
How much were you paying out of curiosity?
CND Shellac needs absolutely no buffing of the natural nail bed. You can buff it if someone has oily nail beds and it helps with adherence but there is no reason for the tech to buff the natural nail bed of someone with thin, weak nails. It will still adhere correctly. Do you know if the person you saw was trained by CND?

Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 26/07/2014 01:49

no extension no
And yes a few times called solar gel

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Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 26/07/2014 01:51

the place i went to the most (for years) …. £18
other places between £18 and £23
but usually £18 or £20

In Southall they were doing them for £12!

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Original poster
alltoomuchrightnow · 26/07/2014 01:52

i don't know re training. With the CND - she was the one i had the pain with and she told me my nails were damaged. she's a trainee / student but was meticulous in application. But yes.. still buffed

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