Acrygel  – I’ve been doing gel polish for quite a long time now and it’s probably my favorite product ever. That doesn’t mean I don’t get frustrated with it at times. I wish it would really truly hold up to it’s claim of even just a two week mani but most people are lucky to get 10-12 days of good solid wear unless they have natural nails of steel. Would you agree?

Soooo I came across this method what people call “Acrygel”. I feel like the last person to have found out about it because after researching it I found it on all kinds of nail forums. That’s fine, I live a sheltered life. Even though I am on the internet what seems like an annoying 24 hours a day at times. Ha ha.

I’ve actually used a version of this in the past with hard gel where I’ve mixed acrylic and hard gel together to create colored gels but have never used it on gel polish until a few weeks ago when my friend/client Tennille was ok with playing guinea pig and letting me test it out on her.

I texted Tennille after two weeks and asked if her nails would make it another week in order to coincide perfectly with her Coachella trip April 10 and she said her nails still looked great and the “acrygel” was making them much stronger!

Here are the steps for you so you can try it out on yourself or your own clients:

Acrygel for gel polish–I used CND Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel for step 2. You could also use Gelish Structure Gel or just do a second base coat of your gel polish system.

Important!

Make sure to get any excess acrylic off skin as it can be irritating to skin. If you do this on a client, make sure your client is not allergic to acrylic. Many people are sensitive or allergic to acrylic and this technique would obviously not work on them.

I did this on my own nails a few days ago and although they are holding up great I feel it’s too soon to give a personal testimony of this experiment. I will definitely give a full report after two weeks though! I like this method better for my own nails because I’d prefer soaking off my gel rather than filing off hard gel. Crossing my fingers!

I also did a version of this on my friend who gets hard gel on her nails. I love OPI Axxium Hard Gel Smoothing Gel because it is thin and self levels, but it doesn’t hold up as well as Axxium Build or Sculpt. I did this with the Smoothing Gel to see if it helps add strength. I should be seeing my friend again in a couple week so I’ll be able to report back on this experiment as well.

I feel like the nail police might possible get on my case about this technique because they hate it when you don’t use products according to the manufacturers instructions. However, I’ve seen big brands like Young Nails use acrylic over “cured” gel polish for artistic effect so I don’t know why this technique would be any different.

Have you tried Acrygel? What do you think? Let me know your thoughts! Let me know if you have questions!

Thanks for reading and here’s to an amazing soon to be weekend!

Tootles–Anna