Type: Poly Gel
SNS PRO Sculpt Poly Gel – 24 Color Collection
Frequently asked questions
What comes in the PRO Sculpt Poly Gel Collection?
Twenty-four sculpting-gel shades, each in a 15 mL (0.5 oz) bottle with a brush in the cap, a swatch book with every shade on a heart swatch and on a tip, and a foam-fitted presentation box. The palette runs from clear and milky white through sheer pinks and nudes to three shimmers, nothing dark. The line is HEMA-free and TPO-free. It is sold as one set at $299.00, which works out to $12.46 a bottle; the shades are not sold singly. If you want single tubes, our LuxeHybrid UV Gel is the same kind of gel in 60ml tubes at $14.99.
What is poly gel, and how is it different from builder gel?
Poly gel is a sculpting gel thick enough to hold its shape as a bead. You place it on the nail or in a form, shape it with a brush dampened in slip solution or alcohol, and cure it under a UV/LED lamp, so it builds length the way acrylic does without a monomer. Builder gel in a bottle is thinner, self-levels from its own brush, and is for overlays, an apex and short extensions rather than long sculpted nails. Both cure under the same lamp.
Is SNS Sculpt Poly Gel HEMA-free?
Yes. The box and the swatch book both carry HEMA FREE and TPO FREE, and the line is formulated without either. HEMA is the small monomer in most gel products and the one most often named when a client reacts to gel; TPO is a photoinitiator, the part of the formula that cures under the lamp. We state that as what we left out rather than as a promise that nobody can react, because no cosmetic can honestly make that promise.
Do I need a lamp and a slip solution?
Yes to both. Poly gel does not set in air; every layer cures under a UV/LED lamp, and a thick sculpted layer is where a low-heat setting earns its keep. The slip solution, or plain alcohol, goes on the sculpting brush so it glides over the bead instead of sticking to it. Keep the brush damp rather than wet, and pat the gel into shape rather than stroking it.
How do I remove poly gel nails?
File, then soak or fill. Take the length and most of the bulk off with a coarse file, leaving a thin layer over the natural nail. Either wrap in acetone and let that layer lift, or, if the client is keeping the set, prep the new growth and rebuild over the thin layer. Never pry a sculpted gel off the plate; the layer you leave is what protects the nail underneath.
What is the PRO Sculpt Poly Gel Collection?
One box, the whole line. The SNS PRO Sculpt Poly Gel Collection is 24 sculpting-gel shades in 15 mL (0.5 oz) brush bottles, a swatch book to sell from, and a foam-fitted presentation box, sold as a single set at $299.00. The whole line is formulated HEMA-free and TPO-free; it says so on the box and on the book. It's built for a salon adding a poly gel service and wanting the full palette on the table on day one rather than a shade at a time.
Poly gel is the sculpting format: a gel thick enough to hold its shape as a bead, placed on the nail or into a form, shaped with a brush, and cured under a UV/LED lamp. It builds length the way acrylic does, without the monomer, the smell or the air-set clock, and it comes off with a file and a soak rather than a drill. Our packaging puts the trade-off plainly: a lightweight formula that is stronger than hard gel and more flexible than acrylic.
In the box
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Sculpt Poly Gel | 24 shades, each in a 15 mL (0.5 oz) bottle with a brush in the cap |
| Palette | 1 clear, 2 and 3 milky and soft white, 4 to 7 sheer pinks, 8 a bright pink, 9 to 16 pale pink through peach to nude, 17 to 21 deeper pinks and nudes, 22 to 24 with a shimmer. Nothing dark, nothing opaque. |
| Swatch book | Folder with all 24 shades on heart swatches and on tips, so the client picks from the book rather than the bottle |
| Presentation box | Foam-fitted box that holds the 24 bottles and the book |
| Formula | HEMA-free, TPO-free, UV/LED cured. Product of SNS Inc., USA; made in Vietnam. |
| Price | $299.00 for the set, which works out to $12.46 a bottle. The shades are not sold singly. |
Who the set is for
- A salon adding poly gel to the menu. The set is the menu: pinks and nudes for natural-looking extensions, enhancement shades for a full-cover nail, and the book to sell it from.
- A tech who already sculpts with acrylic and wants the same length with a lamp instead of a monomer.
- A salon that wants single tubes rather than a set. That's our LuxeHybrid UV Gel: 24 sculpting-gel shades in 60ml tubes at $14.99 each, bought one at a time, also HEMA-free and TPO-free.
- A client who has reacted to gel before. Both of our sculpting lines are formulated without HEMA and without TPO, the two ingredients most often named when that happens. Stated as what is left out, not as a promise.
- A client who wants her own nails stronger, not longer. That's builder gel in a bottle, a thinner gel for overlays and short extensions.
How do you apply poly gel?
- Prep and base. Cuticles back, buff the shine off the plate, wipe, then a thin coat of gel base, cured. Base and top are under Base & Top Gel.
- Form or tip. For length, fit a dual form or a paper form under the free edge. For an overlay, work straight on the nail.
- Place the bead. Brush a bead of poly gel from the bottle onto the nail or into the form, sized to the length.
- Shape it. A flat sculpting brush dampened with slip solution or alcohol, patting and pushing the bead into place: apex over the stress point, thin toward the cuticle and the sidewalls. Poly gel does not run and does not set until the lamp, so there is time to get it right.
- Cure. Under a UV/LED lamp for the full cycle. A sculpted layer is thick, so use the low-heat setting on our cordless lamp if the client feels the cure.
- Refine and finish. Remove the form, file the shape, wipe the dust, then color if the client wants it and a top coat, cured.
Removal is a file-and-soak: take the bulk down with a coarse file, leave a thin layer over the plate, then soak or fill over it. Never pry.
Poly gel, builder gel or acrylic?
| Poly gel (this set) | Builder gel in a bottle | Dip & acrylic powder | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best at | Length: extensions over forms, sculpted shapes | Overlays, apex, repairs, short extensions | Color, strength, the longest and hardest sets |
| Formula | HEMA-free, TPO-free | HEMA-free, TPO-free | Powder; no monomer for dip |
| How it's placed | Bead, shaped with a brush and slip | From the bottle brush, self-levels | Dipped, or mixed with monomer |
| Sets by | UV/LED lamp | UV/LED lamp | Air (dip) or air with monomer (acrylic) |
| Removal | File thin, then soak or fill | Soak off, or fill | Soak off |
Between our two sculpting lines, the choice is format. This set is 24 shades in bottles, bought once as a wall with a swatch book. LuxeHybrid is the same kind of gel in 60ml tubes, bought one shade at a time, which suits a salon that only ever sculpts in a clear and a couple of nudes. Both cure under the same lamp and take the same base, top, forms and files.
The dip vs gel vs acrylic guide is the long version of that table, and the BIAB vs dip piece covers the fill-versus-remove question that comes up with every sculpted gel.
Setting up a poly gel station
The set is the color. Around it a station needs the same handful of things every sculpting service needs, and all of them are on the site.
- A UV/LED lamp. Poly gel does not set in air. Our cordless hybrid lamp is 54W, cures all five nails, and has the low-heat mode that a thick sculpted bead calls for.
- Gel base and top. The base goes on the prepped plate before the bead; the top seals the finished nail. Both are under Base & Top Gel.
- Forms. Dual forms or paper forms for length. Overlays need none.
- A flat sculpting brush and a slip solution, or alcohol, to shape the bead without it sticking to the brush.
- Files and buffers. A coarse file for shaping the cured nail and for take-down at removal, a 180 for the finish. Packs of 25 are under Nail Tools & Accessories.
- Color, if the client wants it. Any gel color goes over a cured poly gel nail; the SNS Pro books are under SNS Gel Only.
Fills, not removals, are how a sculpted gel service earns its keep: file the grown-out gel down, prep the new growth, and rebuild over what is left.