Educator and guest nail artist for OPI, Christy Graham knows what it’s like for an acrylic tech to switch to using gels.

“My first advice for acrylic nail techs switching to gels is: don’t give up on gels. I have seen so many nail techs who do only acrylic and I was one of those techs until a couple years ago.

With acrylic we want to apply pressure — the pat and pull technique. But this doesn’t work with gels. With gels it is important not to pat and pull or apply a lot of pressure.  When doing gels you have to remember to be very light handed and stay on top of the product when building. Use just a bit of pressure when thinning an area such as around the cuticle. So remember, no pressure to get started then once you learn your gel application technique you can start to play around with using a little more pressure.”

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