Nail Tools

IBD Gel Nails Instructions DVD

If you love the look of French manicures and want to learn how to do your own nails to save lots of salon money, here is one resource. IBD can teach you how to get perfect French gel nails. IBD is one of the top nail companies which not only provides the teaching guide but also sells the actual gel and nail tools including forms, gel primers, bonders, brushes and UV gel lamps. This DVD shows you how to do both gel and acrylic applications. You can buy it with an introduction gel kit or separately.

Kupa Inc. makes electric nail files which are very powerful. The speed can be adjusted by a dial from slow to super fast and the direction switched from forward to backward.
They are best used by trained manicure professionals and only on acrylic or gel nails beyond the nail bed. Otherwise cuticles can be nicked or too much filing on the nail bed can damage it. (It's not easy to see how thin a nail is especially when there's acrylic dust flying around.)
Some salons won't even let their technicians use electric files because of the risks. Very good pros don't need to use them because appropriate application of gels, etc., greatly reduces the need for filing. Use of a regular nail file with optimal grit can save a lot of time and produce a perfect finish.

After going to the trouble of getting a special manicure with art, you will want to protect it. Seche Vite is tough stuff! It must be one of the toughest top coats anywhere. In fact when it dries it has similar durability to nail gel! You can even file it the same way you can file gel. But it is beautifully self leveling, so no filing should be necessary.
Seche Vite gets much thicker with time (over a year), and can even get a bit "stringy" like old glue. Yet the price is fair and the plus side of the extra thickness with age is additional durability. If you usually apply one coat of Seche Vite for a standard manicure, apply two coats on a nail art manicure which is typically more difficult to "touch up" if it chips.