I have the Gelish 5-45 which I bought instead of the bigger one because it is light weight and easy to travel with and does all 5 fingers . I will check the box for wattage , but so far I love this light . It cures in 45 seconds which is fine for me. My other CND UV light took two minutes for each coat . It is well built and much better than a smaller light I had for traveling. It was more expensive then the cheaper units, but I had a coupon and percentage off at Sallys which made it reasonable . Personally, I feel that you really would not need a much more expensive light unless you are doing this for other people. Mine is only for personal use and it works great. It just depends on what you prefer.
SOG LED nail lamps
- Thread starter techchick
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True, and only you can determine what's right for your budget and needs. The most important thing is getting a lamp sanctioned by the system(s) you use. Still, when I'm doing lots of layers, and IBX, and acrygel, and nail art, that extra 15 seconds per coat really begins to add up. I was very lucky to find a Gelish 18g for little more than what the 5-45 costs - and of course, found an OPI that week as well and bought them both. I had intended to sell one at a profit, but here it is two years later and I've still got and use both of them!
I do want those 15 seconds and will look for one that cures in 30 seconds, and so far the 18G seems to be the best for what I want. I found one at Amazon that cures all five fingers in 5 seconds - hahahahaha. That is exactly what it says in the description:
"Fast just got Faster! Introducing the NEW 3rd generation LED Gel Light by Gelish� that cures all five fingers in 05 seconds! LED 18G Light - The ultimate professional salon curing experience."
I would believe that if I heard it from someone who actually got a decent cure in 5 seconds, and I'd buy it in a flash. I left a question in the "ask a question" area and will let you know if I hear anything fantastic back.
"Fast just got Faster! Introducing the NEW 3rd generation LED Gel Light by Gelish� that cures all five fingers in 05 seconds! LED 18G Light - The ultimate professional salon curing experience."
I would believe that if I heard it from someone who actually got a decent cure in 5 seconds, and I'd buy it in a flash. I left a question in the "ask a question" area and will let you know if I hear anything fantastic back.
Technically speaking, that is correct. In the 18g, you only have to cure the Foundation (base) coat for 5 seconds. The color coat takes 20-30 seconds and the top coat 20 seconds - http://gelish.com/downloads/2024-Gelish-Application-StepbyStep-English-cg-Trim.pdf
Wouldn't a five-second cure be wonderful!?
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Is that because the Gelish base only needs 5 sec and the color only needs 20-30 secs or is it because of the strength of the lamp?
Well, the 6g is only 30 watts and 10 seconds, 30 seconds and 30 seconds for base, color, top so the strength of the lamp does appear to make a difference.
Wow, I'm really happy. I bought myself the Vogue Professional 36 watt LED lamp and it cured Sensationail Scarlet Red with Gelish base and Top It Off really well. Perfect in fact. 5 seconds base, 30 seconds for each of 2 color coats, 30 seconds for the top coat. For someone who has only ever used a UV light, it was really great. I paid $139.99 at Amazon with free shipping, $40 less than I could find the Gelish 18G with same wattage. The Vogue has 5, 20, and 30 second buttons on the back - you push which one you want, then when you insert foot or hand it automatically goes on for the pre-set time. Nice.
Is this topic dead? :wondering I don't want to bump something for no reason, but I can't find another one that would be the right one to write in.
I read most of this thread but I would still appreciate a bit of advice...
I recently got into gel polishes (just DIY, on myself). I got a few Gelish Colours, Gelish base & top coat, and also a few other polishes from brand called NeoNail that I don't believe is known outside of Eastern Europe.
I bought a 36W CCFL (12W) + LED (24W) Lamp off Ebay. Looks like in the attachment.
It's got the CCFL bulb on the top and then 3 rows of LED lights on the sides. Quite a lot of girls on the other (non english speaking) forum have been using those and they seem happy with the results.
Also, the NeoNail brand doesn't really recommend any particular lamp - they got quite a big choice on their website, but those are not some unique lamps, they're simply 36W UV ones (some with the shield, some with the removable bottom etc) or different kinds of LEW (ranging from I think 12W to 48W) that you can get anywhere.
I came across the allergy/undercuring problems when I started reading foreign forums, and now I'm not sure what I should do now - whether continuing to use the lamp I got is a good idea? I would rather not spend another £100 or more on a branded lamp if that's not necessary, but I'm worried that mine might not cure properly. I also don't feel like buying generic 36W UV lamp makes sense, especially that I don't use UV-only cured gels, am I right? Although regular CFL/UV wavelengths are more universal and can cure more, but then there's also an issue of those bulbs becoming less strong over quite short period of time. This is something that shouldn't happen to LEDs and CCFLs, as I'm pretty sure the UV output stays rather consistent through the lifetime.
Claimed wavelength range of my lamp is 395-405 nm, so I believe that is good for Gelish as well as should be fine for the other brand as they're not very particular about that.
Not sure one can trust this kind of information, since this is not a lamp from trusted source.
Would the solution be to simply cure a little bit longer in the lamp I got?
Not sure what to do, I feel like my head is gonna explode because all that! It's all so inconsistent.
:wondering
I also got another issue, as the light "comes out" of the lamp and I can see it on myself, the surrounding furniture etc. when curing the nails. I get the cat in the other room while doing my nails and I look in other direction but it's super annoying, as I don't want to hurt my eyes. This never happened when I was going to the saloon. Is it OK to just cover the hole somehow, so it's smaller and therefore less light comes out?
I read most of this thread but I would still appreciate a bit of advice...
I recently got into gel polishes (just DIY, on myself). I got a few Gelish Colours, Gelish base & top coat, and also a few other polishes from brand called NeoNail that I don't believe is known outside of Eastern Europe.
I bought a 36W CCFL (12W) + LED (24W) Lamp off Ebay. Looks like in the attachment.
It's got the CCFL bulb on the top and then 3 rows of LED lights on the sides. Quite a lot of girls on the other (non english speaking) forum have been using those and they seem happy with the results.
Also, the NeoNail brand doesn't really recommend any particular lamp - they got quite a big choice on their website, but those are not some unique lamps, they're simply 36W UV ones (some with the shield, some with the removable bottom etc) or different kinds of LEW (ranging from I think 12W to 48W) that you can get anywhere.
I came across the allergy/undercuring problems when I started reading foreign forums, and now I'm not sure what I should do now - whether continuing to use the lamp I got is a good idea? I would rather not spend another £100 or more on a branded lamp if that's not necessary, but I'm worried that mine might not cure properly. I also don't feel like buying generic 36W UV lamp makes sense, especially that I don't use UV-only cured gels, am I right? Although regular CFL/UV wavelengths are more universal and can cure more, but then there's also an issue of those bulbs becoming less strong over quite short period of time. This is something that shouldn't happen to LEDs and CCFLs, as I'm pretty sure the UV output stays rather consistent through the lifetime.
Claimed wavelength range of my lamp is 395-405 nm, so I believe that is good for Gelish as well as should be fine for the other brand as they're not very particular about that.
Not sure one can trust this kind of information, since this is not a lamp from trusted source.
Would the solution be to simply cure a little bit longer in the lamp I got?
Not sure what to do, I feel like my head is gonna explode because all that! It's all so inconsistent.
:wonderingI also got another issue, as the light "comes out" of the lamp and I can see it on myself, the surrounding furniture etc. when curing the nails. I get the cat in the other room while doing my nails and I look in other direction but it's super annoying, as I don't want to hurt my eyes. This never happened when I was going to the saloon. Is it OK to just cover the hole somehow, so it's smaller and therefore less light comes out?
Attachments
Wow, I have never seen anything like that with a coiled light on the bottom! I'm not sure how that helps cure when the light should come from the top , and it seems a bit unsafe to me for eyes etc.,I'm not sure how much you paid, but I'm not sure I would use this. An LED light is probably what you need and I would get one that is branded, like Gelish or OPI. Your light is not something you want to skimp on due to dangers of under curing and allergic reactions etc. I got a Gelish 5-45 which works great for me and does the colors in 45 sec. It cures everything I have used. It is a little cheaper than their bigger one, but I needed something lighter weight that I could travel with that did all five fingers at once so I got this one.
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I took a second look and is this just a reflection of the light from the bottom and the coiled light is on top? At any rate their is way too much light coming out of it . You might create a fire hazard if you tried to somehow block part of the opening. Personally , I would return it if possible .
Hey, thanks for that!
Yeah, I decided to skip it. The light is on the top and it's not getting hot, but it's totally unbranded, so I don't trust it much. Better safe than sorry.
I was considering the 5-45 Gelish one, but it's still quite expensive.
Now I'm thinking about MelodySusie 24-Watt LED Nail Lamp, as it looks decent and is only £40 (vs £150 Gelish 5-45 or £300 Gelish 18G).
I think I might not get it though, you never know what's inside and MelodySusie is not a professional nail brand, so I might just get the 5-45 as you suggested.
It's supposed to be a pleasure, I don't want to hurt myself
Yeah, I decided to skip it. The light is on the top and it's not getting hot, but it's totally unbranded, so I don't trust it much. Better safe than sorry.
I was considering the 5-45 Gelish one, but it's still quite expensive.
Now I'm thinking about MelodySusie 24-Watt LED Nail Lamp, as it looks decent and is only £40 (vs £150 Gelish 5-45 or £300 Gelish 18G).
I think I might not get it though, you never know what's inside and MelodySusie is not a professional nail brand, so I might just get the 5-45 as you suggested.
It's supposed to be a pleasure, I don't want to hurt myself
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Hey, thanks for that!
Yeah, I decided to skip it. The light is on the top and it's not getting hot, but it's totally unbranded, so I don't trust it much. Better safe than sorry.
I was considering the 5-45 Gelish one, but it's still quite expensive.
Now I'm thinking about MelodySusie 24-Watt LED Nail Lamp, as it looks decent and is only £40 (vs £150 Gelish 5-45 or £300 Gelish 18G).
I think I might not get it though, you never know what's inside and MelodySusie is not a professional nail brand, so I might just get the 5-45 as you suggested.
It's supposed to be a pleasure, I don't want to hurt myself
I would strongly recommend that you buy a branded lamp that is matched with the brand of SOG polish you use. Unfortunately, there is no easily accessible means of determining a proper cure. We rely upon the promise that if you follow the manufacturers' instructions you will have a proper cure. Gel hardens at only 55% cured, and for safety, it should be 95% or more cured. If you go back in this forum, you will find numerous stories of people who developed allergies; most of those could be traced back to a generic lamp. And the allergy is permanent.
Your lamp is the backbone of your system, so it is worth splashing out a bit for it. Lamps that get high ratings include the Gelish 18G, the Gelish 5-45, the Artistic Pro 30, the OPI GelColor lamps. In fact, now that OPI has come out with its new Studio light, you might find the old lamp at a reduced price - maybe used. Even the new light can be found on eBay for $149 (£112 on UK site). Although LED lamps are expensive, over time, they are far less costly than the old CFL UV lamps. With decent care, they can easily last you over a decade - spread that initial outlay over ten years and it doesn't seem so bad!
Hi Nancy.
Thank you for the answer!
Yes, I read those stories, and actually spend quite a lot of time to figure out how all that works. I read lots and LOTS of posts on this and Salon Geek forums, it's just SO different to what my native forums say that I got really confused. I think the confusion passed now, I just still can't get my head around how little safety knowledge is spread on the other ones.
I know I only posted yesterday asking about the lamp, but I think even then I knew that the good thing is to get a proper one.
I just found this:
http://www.redcarpetmanicure.co.uk/shop/essentials/rcm-led-lights/salon-pro-5-30-led-light.html
What do you think of that? I think it's fairly similar to the 5-45 Gelish one (both are 18W). RCM is not a professional product, but I'm gonna be doing this for myself, so I don't care about that too much. Apparently they're owned by the same company as Gelish and a few other brands and the polishes are nearly the same. Although I know it doesn't mean that the products of the brands owned by the same company must be interchangeable, that makes me think that they must check their products well before distributing them. That's what you don't get with no name stuff, even if they seem "the same".
Anyway, it's cheaper and easier accessible for me than the 5-45 one, as I'm struggling to find a Gelish authorised store that will sell the lamps to a non-pro person. If I'm spending £100+ for a lamp I'd rather be 100% sure I'm getting a good product from a reliable source.
What's interesting is that the Gelish 5-45 lamp says you need to cure the colour for 45 seconds, while the RCM one says only 30 seconds. Where does this difference come from?
I know that Gelish lamps cure OPI gelcolour as well and a couple of other brands. I actually think it was your post I was reading that said that. Anyway, I understand that anything that cures with wavelength around 400nm will be cured by the Gelish lamp, and I understand same goes for RCM lamp.
I've got one other question, not related that much, but you seem like someone who could know. When researching the allergy issues (and how to avoid them) I was struggling to find how common they actually are provided you take safety measures (use branded lamp, avoid skin contact as much as possible etc.). Do you know? Maybe from experience at least?
Thank you for the answer!
Yes, I read those stories, and actually spend quite a lot of time to figure out how all that works. I read lots and LOTS of posts on this and Salon Geek forums, it's just SO different to what my native forums say that I got really confused. I think the confusion passed now, I just still can't get my head around how little safety knowledge is spread on the other ones.
I know I only posted yesterday asking about the lamp, but I think even then I knew that the good thing is to get a proper one.
I just found this:
http://www.redcarpetmanicure.co.uk/shop/essentials/rcm-led-lights/salon-pro-5-30-led-light.html
What do you think of that? I think it's fairly similar to the 5-45 Gelish one (both are 18W). RCM is not a professional product, but I'm gonna be doing this for myself, so I don't care about that too much. Apparently they're owned by the same company as Gelish and a few other brands and the polishes are nearly the same. Although I know it doesn't mean that the products of the brands owned by the same company must be interchangeable, that makes me think that they must check their products well before distributing them. That's what you don't get with no name stuff, even if they seem "the same".
Anyway, it's cheaper and easier accessible for me than the 5-45 one, as I'm struggling to find a Gelish authorised store that will sell the lamps to a non-pro person. If I'm spending £100+ for a lamp I'd rather be 100% sure I'm getting a good product from a reliable source.
What's interesting is that the Gelish 5-45 lamp says you need to cure the colour for 45 seconds, while the RCM one says only 30 seconds. Where does this difference come from?
I know that Gelish lamps cure OPI gelcolour as well and a couple of other brands. I actually think it was your post I was reading that said that.
Anyway, I understand that anything that cures with wavelength around 400nm will be cured by the Gelish lamp, and I understand same goes for RCM lamp.I've got one other question, not related that much, but you seem like someone who could know. When researching the allergy issues (and how to avoid them) I was struggling to find how common they actually are provided you take safety measures (use branded lamp, avoid skin contact as much as possible etc.). Do you know? Maybe from experience at least?
Actually, please let me have yet one more question.
Are those lamps often fakes? I see there are some Artistic Pro 30 on Ebay for £165
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Artistic-...er-UV-Color-/201414743683?hash=item2ee5411683
It seems to be a better lamp than the 5-45 Gelish, isn't it? But how do I know it's genuine?
What about 18G?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harmony-G...-Nail-Dryer-/231665603931?hash=item35f058955b
It's very cheap, on the Nail Harmony website it's £300, so I would assume that this one must be fake?
They're not that much more expensive than 5-45 (only £15 difference), but I've got trouble trusting Ebay.
Also, how do I determine how long to cure the polish in any branded lamp, say it's Gelish or OPI gelcolour? Should I just stick to what the LAMP manufacturer says?
Edit: Sorry, I thought those posts would merge!
Edit 2: I'm thinking about that and I don't think I will use Ebay for such important purchase.
So now it's mostly down to whether Gelish 5-45 or Red Carpet Manicure Salon Pro is better choice? And where do the differences in curing time come from?
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I think you are very wise to put this kind of effort into finding a good lamp. A bad lamp is such a headache and the potential for a sensitizing reaction is serious. There's not a lot of studies out there but studies suggest that less than 2% of the population is sensitive to acrylates, but among dental professionals the rate jumps to close to 25% (http://www.journal-imab-bg.org/issue-2013/issue4/JofIMAB2013vol19b4p363-370.pdf). That's telling because many of the compounds that we use in the nail industry come from the same methacrylate and acrylates in dental compounds. So, I think that tells us that the potential for developing an allergy due to constant exposure is significant - constant exposure though can mean one who works with these compounds, but can also mean someone who wears uncured gel for long periods. So it's worth being careful.
Red Carpet Manicure is made by the same company that makes Gelish is it is considered to be identical to Gelish; even the colors are dupes. It is a well regarded brand and an excellent option for DIYers. I don't know why the Gelish 5-45 and RCM Salon Pro 30 have different timings even though they have the same wattage, but wattage is only a sign of input not output. Also, the design of the lamp - hand placement, reflectors, etc. does make a difference.
The lamps you show look genuine, but check the seller's feedback - that's a dead giveaway. I have found quite a few deals on lamps on eBay - students, salons, distributors selling extra lamps. Assuming you buy a lamp of equal configuration to the manufacturer's, I'd go with the manufacturer's timings. So, for example, if you buy the Gelish 18G, use a 30 second timing on your OPI, but if you go with the Gelish 5-45 (a lesser l amp), use the lamp's timings.
Red Carpet Manicure is made by the same company that makes Gelish is it is considered to be identical to Gelish; even the colors are dupes. It is a well regarded brand and an excellent option for DIYers. I don't know why the Gelish 5-45 and RCM Salon Pro 30 have different timings even though they have the same wattage, but wattage is only a sign of input not output. Also, the design of the lamp - hand placement, reflectors, etc. does make a difference.
The lamps you show look genuine, but check the seller's feedback - that's a dead giveaway. I have found quite a few deals on lamps on eBay - students, salons, distributors selling extra lamps. Assuming you buy a lamp of equal configuration to the manufacturer's, I'd go with the manufacturer's timings. So, for example, if you buy the Gelish 18G, use a 30 second timing on your OPI, but if you go with the Gelish 5-45 (a lesser l amp), use the lamp's timings.