Collection: Poly Gel, All Brands

What is poly gel?

A sculpting gel thick enough to behave like a solid. Scoop a bead out of the tube, set it on the nail or into a form, shape it with a brush, and it stays exactly where you put it until the lamp cures it. That is the whole appeal: acrylic asks you to work fast before it sets, and a thin builder gel runs before you have shaped it, while poly gel waits. It is the product behind most sculpted extensions that are not made from a tip.

This page is every poly gel we carry, SNS and Lavis, plus the forms, brushes and clips the technique needs. The chips above jump to a single range.

The three ranges

Our own two lines are formulated without HEMA and without TPO. Those are ingredients left out of the formula, not a promise about anyone's skin, and they matter most to techs handling gel all day.

Poly gel, builder gel or acrylic?

• Length the client can see: poly gel in a form. It is the reason the category exists.
• Strength on a natural nail: a brush-on builder from Builder Gel. Thinner, self-leveling, faster for a plain overlay.
• Speed across a full set: a soft gel tip from Soft Gel Tips, bonded and cured, with no sculpting at all.
• Coming off acrylic: poly gel is the closest feel, with no monomer smell and no heat spike, and it waits for you instead of setting on the brush.
• Repairs and infills: any of the three; poly gel is the one that rebuilds a broken free edge in a form without a tip.

How do you build an extension in a form?

1. Prep. Cuticle back, shine off the plate, dust, dehydrate, and prime or bond if the gel calls for it.
2. Size the form. Pick the dual form that sits inside the sidewalls without pressure. A form that pinches leaves a gap at the sides.
3. Scoop and place the bead. Lift it with the spatula end of a dual-ended poly gel tool and lay it into the form, thicker where the apex will sit.
4. Shape it. Flatten and spread with the brush end. The Lavis non-sticky gel spreads without slip solution; for gels that need it, damp the brush rather than the gel.
5. Press and hold. Set the form on the nail from the cuticle edge down so air escapes at the free edge. A holder clip keeps it in place so your hand is free.
6. Cure, release, refine. Sixty to ninety seconds under a 36W or stronger LED, pop the form off, file the edge and sidewalls, buff, then color and top from Base & Top Gel.

For an overlay rather than an extension, skip the form: place a bead at the apex on the natural nail, spread it thin toward the cuticle and free edge, and cure. Filing back afterwards goes faster with an e-file from Nail Drills.

What you need besides the gel

• A form or a tip. Poly gel does not hold a shape it was not given. Dual forms are reusable molds; half-cover tips are the other route.
• A poly gel brush. Flat, firm, and ideally paired with a spatula on the other end; the brush page has them.
• Slip solution, only if the gel needs it. The Lavis non-sticky range does not. Never thin the gel itself.
• A lamp with enough power. Both tool listings specify 36W or stronger for a poly gel cure; a thick bead under a weak lamp stays soft in the middle.
• Clips if you build ten nails a set. They free the hand that would otherwise hold the form.

Common problems and what causes them

• Gel sticking to the brush: a gel that needs slip solution, used dry. Damp the brush, not the bead, or switch to the non-sticky range.
• Air pockets under the extension: the form was pressed flat instead of rolled on from the cuticle edge.
• Soft center after curing: the bead was too thick for the lamp time. Cure longer or build in two passes.
• Lifting at the cuticle: gel touching skin, or prep that left shine on the plate.
• Thin, flexible extension: not enough gel at the apex. The apex is where the strength lives; see apex and C-curve.

Removal and infills

Poly gel soaks off like any other soak-off gel, but there is more of it, so the work is in getting the bulk down first. File the top layer and most of the length away with a medium bit, leaving a thin shell, then wrap in acetone for fifteen to twenty minutes and push the softened gel off with a wooden stick in passes. Forcing a lifted edge takes layers of the natural nail with it, which is where the reputation for damage comes from. An infill is usually quicker than a removal: file the regrowth line flat, re-prep the exposed nail, and place a fresh bead over the join rather than rebuilding the whole extension.

Storage and care

• Cap tubes and bottles between nails. Poly gel cures in daylight and in a lamp's spill; a tube left open skins at the nozzle.
• Wipe the spatula and brush with gel cleanser, not acetone, which dries the bristles.
• Clean forms after each use and retire one once the cuticle edge deforms, because the fit is what keeps gel off the skin.
• Stock two shades before twenty: a clear and a natural pink cover most extension work; add the rest once the service books regularly.

Related collections

• Lavis Dual Forms The reusable molds poly gel is built in.
• Builder Gel, All Brands Thinner structural gels for overlays and apex work.
• Soft Gel Tips Pre-shaped tips for the fastest full set.
• Brushes Poly gel brushes, spatulas and silicone tools.
• Base & Top Gel Base under and top over a finished extension.

Related reads

• Builder, hard, soft, polygel, rubber base compared
• What is builder gel? A nail tech's guide
• Apex and C-curve: the physics behind nails that last
• How to apply builder gel step by step