Can I Put Regular Nail Polish Under A Led Light

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Y'all're wondering if inexpensive at home LED Nail lamps work aren't yous? As I sit here trying to choice off the remnants of my month former gel smash polish I can tell you – Yep they do.

Overhead shot of an at home LED Nail lamp surrounded by polish, cotton balls and orange stick.

Skip right to the Quick tutorial.

I was given an LED Nail lamp for Christmas years ago. Through years of experience I can tell yous information technology's one of the rarest beauty products in the earth … information technology'south one that actually DOES what information technology says information technology'south going to exercise. The at home LED Nail lights actually work. 🤯

At the end of my forearms I have been blessed with the delicate os structure of a sparrow. The kind of wrists you'd meet beingness spritzed with floral and processed notes in a Mariah Carey perfume ad.

Protruding from those wrists are two blobs of man easily. The kind y'all might see splashing on Old Spice or breaking the neck of a Wildebeest.

Close up shot of hands clenched into fists, knuckles bleeding with abrasions.

They are the stubby, foursquare palmed, curt fingered easily of a doer. I can deal with having man hands; they've served me well holding up to the daily DIY penalization I put them through. What I can't deal with is doing my nails only to have them look like I just used them to claw my fashion out of an underground prison.

Once I practise my nails my hands are elevated from barbarian to "B" level Elevate Queen. "A" levels like Ru Paul would chop their hands off before they got on a phase with my stumpy digits.

And so I do my nails. Precisely iii hours afterward my hands look as though I have indeed snapped the neck of a Wildebeest and and so repeatedly filed the tops of my nails with its broken teeth.

I am not the kind of woman who tin can maintain nice nails.

So, what'southward a man handed gal to do? Go an LED nail lamp. My sister Fish Pedicure (aptly named for the horror she endured while receiving a Fish Pedicure in Thailand) gave me i of these nail lamps a few years agone for Christmas and I was STUNNED when it actually worked. I did my nails, cured them under the lamp and 2 weeks later they were even so PERFECT.

An LED Nail light is just a plastic box with a bunch of tiny LED bulbs inside that emit UV lite. In that location's as well a reflector on the lesser of the unit of measurement to help bounciness the light effectually. At this point you're afraid of UV lite aren't you lot? Skilful. Yous should exist.

But …

Which is safer: LED or UV Calorie-free

Gel boom lamps used to strictly use UV lights when they were first introduced in the early 2000's. Those lamps delivered a much stronger source of UV lite over a longer period of time. UV lamps have 8-10* minutes with your fingers nether the to cure gel nail polish.

The newer LED lamps evangelize a much smaller dose of UV and they practice it more than swiftly. Your nails only have to be nether the LED nail lamp for 1 infinitesimal (or less) to cure the gel.*

This means that a blast curing light that uses LED bulbs is safer than one that uses UV bulbs.

This curing process has to take place for each glaze of polish. For a typical manicure this means iii-4 coats: a base, two coats of color and in some cases a top glaze.

All the options I'k going to show y'all, including the unit I use myself, use the safer LED bulbs.

How to protect your peel when using the calorie-free

Apply a broad spectrum dominicus block to your hands (being careful not to become it on your nail beds.)
Don't overdo curing. Cure for the amount recommended for the nail gel and no more.
If you have fingerless gloves wear them. Just cheque your drawer filled with 1983 memorabilia. They should exist directly under your massive Madonna hair bow.

Hand holding up an LED nail lamp so you can see the inside filled with tiny LED lights.

Not sure if yous tin trust me on this? Every bit far as the science goes, it's still iffy, merely most medical research concedes that the increased risk of pare cancer from using an LED curing light is minimal. You can read about it in this Harvard Medical article on LED nail lamps.

What I tin tell you lot is the at home units absolutely do work. There'due south no debate most that.

At home LED nail lamps work.

And they work actually well. I'grand stunned.

Here's how information technology works and what it costs.

YOU Need:

1 LED/UV nail lamp —————————————– $27 US
Shellac or Gel polish for use with LED smash lamp
– Base coat —————————————————- $15 U.s.
– Color (I used Black Pool) —————————— $fifteen US
– Tiptop glaze —————————————————— $15 U.s.
Shellac/Gel smooth Remover —————————— $ 5 US
Isopropyl Alcohol 99% (Rubbing Alcohol) ————- $ 4 Usa

Full INITIAL INVESTMENT ————————— $81 Us

(Prices on Amazon vary wildly so this blazon of kit could stop upwards costing a more or less.)

HOW TO APPLY Shine WITH LED Smash LAMP

Gather everything you need and apply Base Glaze of Shellac/Gel smoothen to i manus.

Hand spread open, applying clear base coat polish to nails.

Cure polish under LED lamp for 45 seconds.

4. Echo on other manus.

5. Utilise 1st glaze of colour to 1 hand, being careful non to touch the cuticle (this will impede the curing process) and cure for 45 seconds.

vi. Cure polish for 45 seconds. Echo on other hand.

Putting hand with black polish into LED nail lamp.

7. Apply a second coat of colour and repeat curing process. (45 seconds each paw)

eight. Apply height coat and echo curing process. (45 seconds each hand)

9. When all coats are practical and cured, wipe each blast with a cotton ball soaked in 99% Isopropyl Booze. this removes the sticky finish that will be on your nails. Your nails are washed!

Rubbing fingernail with cotton ball soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol.

The nails are completely cured and dry – ready for y'all to do anything. No waiting for them to harden upwards, no worrying about "only having washed your nails". Seriously go scrub some pots or tie your shoes. Nothing's gonna happen.

These are my nails immediately later doing them and and so ii weeks subsequently. Aye. Dry hands in the first photo. I know.

Home gel nails the twenty-four hour period of doing and ii weeks later on.

There's a tiny fleck of wear on the tips and of course they've grown out from the cuticle.

Quick Reference on how to employ an LED blast lamp

Materials

LED Blast Lamp
Shellac or Gel nail shine for curing
99% isopropyl booze
Cotton wool assurance
Orange stick (optional for cleaning up edges of nails)

Instructions

Lay out your materials: UV calorie-free, base coat, color, top glaze, orange stick, cotton fiber balls, 99% isopropyl alcohol
Clean hands and nails well.
Employ base of operations glaze, cure nether LED lamp for 45 seconds
Apply 2 coats of colour, cure for 45 seconds after each glaze.
Apply your last top coat, cure 45 seconds
Wipe nails with cotton ball soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol.
Done! Your nails are now rock difficult and prepare to practise anything.

Notes

Can yous use this with regular boom polish? Yes and no. Regular nail polish won't cure under these lights. Merely, if you lot have regular boom polish on, y'all can employ a top coat of Shellac or Gel and cure information technology under the lamp to make your manicure last longer.

How exercise you lot remove Shellac or Gel? Information technology'south a bit of a thing. Crude upwardly the top of your nails a bit with an emory board to break upward the top coat surface. So put a cotton ball that's been soaked in the special gel remover (it'due south but acetone) on each nail. Wrap nails in plastic and leave them for 10-15 minutes. The polish will either wipe off with the cotton ball or it will be softened enough that yous can scrape it off with an orangish stick.

Which LED Nail lamp should I purchase? I would become ane that's 48 watts or more than. Also the more UV lights it has inside the better coverage of light you'll become. ONE really handy thing would exist to become one of the larger LED Nail Lamps. They cost a chip more, only yous can cure both hands at the aforementioned time which cuts the time to do your nails in half.

How do you know how much time to exit your easily under the LED low-cal?

The general recommended time is 30-45 seconds per coat of polish. But check your gel shine for instructions.

Will it piece of work with regular nail smoothen?

Yes and no. You accept to use a gel or shellac top coat. Then employ your regular polish, waiting for it to air dry betwixt coats and so apply a gel or shellac top coat and cure. It won't last as long every bit if you're using all gel or shellac products but it'll help extend a regular blazon of manicure.

How do y'all remove gel or shellac polish?

It's a chip of a thing.
1. Crude up the pinnacle of your nails a bit with an emory board to break up the height coat surface.
2. Dlap some petroleum jelly around your cuticles to protect them from the side by side step – acetone.
3. Soak a cotton ball in 100% acetone and identify it on your nails. You'll only demand 1/4-1/ii of a cotton wool ball per boom. Simply use it to the nail not around the whole finger.
iv. Wrap in plastic wrap tightly but don't cut off your finger circulation! Y'all can also use these little $iv nail clips made for this purpose. Allow your nails soak with the cotton balls for x-15 minutes.
v. Remove the plastic and wipe with the cotton ball. Technically, your nail should be clean now, but that doesn't actually happen very often. It might take a bit more work.
6. If you lot have nail smooth remaining, advisedly employ an orange stick to push the softened gel off.

I do Non baby my fingernails. I do everything I ordinarily exercise with these gel or shellac nails; pigment a room, scrub pots and pans, stock-still a broken chair, snap the neck of a Wildebeest.

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