November 10 2008 - Trends
The Rise of Gel Toes
One of the hottest trends sweeping the feet industry is gel toes. Risé Carter, national director of sales and education for NSI, did these polka dot gel toes for our May ’08 cover.
One of the hottest trends sweeping the feet industry is gel toes. Risé Carter, national director of sales and education for NSI did these polka dot gel toes for our May ’08 cover.
Risé is a frequent contributor to NAILS, and has co-authored an extensive 137-page Educational Manual used by NSI distributors and educators in more than 60 countries. She also was the artistic and creative director behind NSI’s “Beyond the Basics” DVD, and has confessed that she has a natural ability for educating others.
“I can break down complicated science into easy-to-understand information,” she says, “and then show techs how to troubleshoot their own problems.”
This design is quite simple and the polka dots add an elegant touch to the solid nail color.
1. Perform a pedicure as you normally would.
2. Prep the toenails on one foot.
3. Apply a thin coat of Balance One-Step Clear as a base coat. (You do this so the pigment of the colored gels doesn’t penetrate and stain the natural nails. It also helps the gel come off more easily when it comes time to remove them.)
4. Cure for 90 seconds in the UV lamp. Wipe tacky layer off lightly saturated with Cleanse.
5. Apply one coat of Balance Color Gel. (For this shoot, Risé used a custom-blended green for the big toes and Hot Pink on the rest of the toes.) Cure for two minutes. Leave the tacky layer.
6. Apply a second coat and cure for two more minutes. Remove tacky layer with Cleanse.
7. Use a small tapered brush to apply polka-dots to the big toe and freeze the dots for 10 seconds.
8. Apply dots to smaller toes two at a time and lock for 10 seconds at a time.
9. Apply a thin coat of Builder Clear. Cure for 90 seconds. Buff it lightly to smooth it out.
10. Remove the dust and apply a layer of Glaze N Go. Cure for 90 seconds. There is no tacky layer to remove.