SOG LED nail lamps

[jjanedoe]

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.

I think I'm not gonna get the Ebay ones, as I've got no experience with that, or comparison to other genuine lamps, and I don't want to spend £170 thinking I got something safe while it might be quite the opposite.

So I think I'm back to Gelish 5-45 vs RCM Salon Pro decision, but the timings got me really confused.
If OPI should be cured for 30 seconds in Gelish 18G, than what should I do if I get the RCM one? It's a weaker one, and yet claims to cure in 30 seconds. So I would assume it won't cure OPI well in 30s?

Since the Gelish and RCM polishes are the same, they should take the same time to cure.

Times for Gelish 18G:
foundation - 5 seconds
colours 20-30 seconds
Top it off - 30 seconds

Gelish 5-45
Foundation, colour & TIO - 45 seconds

Gelish Mini
Foundation, colour & TIO - 45 seconds

And then wasn't 6G also curing in 30 seconds?
and what about 9G?

Regarding OPI, you say "a lamp of equal configuration to the manufacturer's" but how do you judge if it's equal if it varies SO MUCH?

I absolutely don't get how it works.
I'm starting to think it's nearly impossible to get it right.
Like, what makes 18G cure foundation in 5s and colour in, say, 20s if all those need 45s in other lamps? Unless 18G is both emitting different kind of wavelengths than 5-45 and the foundation responds to different wavelengths than colours it just doesn't make sense to me.

And then wattages either don't mean anything (Mini is 6W and 5-45 is 18W!) or even Gelish people have no idea?
It's strange though, because I know what Doug Schoon says about wattages, but they do actually mean something. He may say that his 1200W hairdryer wont cure the polish, but it's a little bit silly logic to me. Watts have of course nothing to do with UV emission per se, but generally if it takes more energy the output is usually stronger. This is not to say that I don't believe that lamp design can matter a lot, it just confuses me how those times seem consistent with... nothing.

If £100 RCM lamp cures in 30s, than what are we all doing considering lamps like OPI or 18G?

I mean, seriously, how the hell do I get it right?
TBH, I would assume it's best to stick to lamp guide regarding cure timings, because it would seem to me, that it's more lamp-related than polish-related.

So basically, Gelish cures under 18G, or any of their other lamps, and the time differs from lamp to lamp. And then Gelish also cures under RCM lamp for 30s, because, well, RCM polishes are Gelish ones. And also under the OPI lamp, as they say off record.

I'm going crazy!

And then...
Is it better to over cure? That can cause onycholysis, but I'm not sure if it happens when the polish is 15 seconds over cured or more like a few minutes.

How common do you think allergy is with people that just get gel polish every few weeks? I honestly didn't realise before the risk was so high.

I assume it's rather safe if you cure well, but then, again, I'm so confused about the timings!

 

[SIMNAILS]

Jjanedoe I've been reading this thread today and firstly I love that you are investigating all of the options thoroughly.

I'm off to bed now but one thing I will say its you're right to be so thorough with your choice of lamp.

In my experience OPI cures best in the OPI LED or a UV lamp. It didn't do so all for me in DIY lamps. I always cured polish in my DIY lamps for the duration of the lamp rather than the polish.

I would say to be sure of the right cure if using different brands a UV lamp may be safest and most economical. Now that CND have the LED lamp I have seen many techs selling their UV lamps at great prices. Also, If you know a professional with trade discount they could help you get a lamp didn't from the brand.

Perhaps if you prefer not to get UV you could get a keep and stick to the brand of polish for that lamp and that way you can rest assured that the system is made to work with the lamp you have chosen.

I have the OPI LED and the CND UV, I think they are two of the best lamps available. I'll never part with my UV lamp as it is excellent to have as a back up should I ever run into a polish which doesn't cure in my LED lamp.

The best DIY lamp I had was the Kiss lamp. I still have it and use it for swatch sticks, pedis and repairs. It's 2 yes old I think and still works perfectly. That said, I don't cure OPI in it. 😉

 

[artiemd]

Jjanedoe, I agree that you should research your options well. I personally went through several lamps before I was happy. Less expensive lamps may not really be less expensive if you end up replacing the lamp because it doesn't meet your needs .

I agree with SIMNAILS, if you plan to use OPI Gelcolor then get the OPI LED lamp or a good CFL-UV lamp like the CND UV lamp. I have heard the Gelish 18G does OK with OPI. In my experience OPI Gelcolor is generally problematic in DIY LED lamps, so I wouldn't trust them.

Like SIMNAILS, I have the OPI LED lamp and the CND UV lamp. And a couple of DIY lamps that I never use.

A downside of the UV lamp is the need to change bulbs, so be sure to consider that. Even with light usage the bulbs in a UV lamp may need to be changed 2-3 times yearly and that cost adds up. Apparently they lose potency over time even if not being used a lot. For a DIY'er, the "hundred hours" bulb life may not be accurate.

The LED lamp bulbs can't be changed but they are supposed to last practically forever. The original OPI LED lamp is built like a tank so it may well last that long.

Hth

 

[AddictedToGel]

My first lamp was a generic lamp off eBay. I didn't know if I was going to keep up the SOG hobby and was in the process of buying a house so couldn't justify the cost of a professional lamp. It was an led lamp but as these ladies have said, I wasn't sure about its curing time so I used to follow the timings for uv lamp on the polish I was using. I figured the biggest issue was under curing, so I made sure that never happened. That seemed to work well for me as a starter lamp. Two years later, SOG had become a bit of an addiction for me and I wanted a quicker, better quality lamp. I did a lot of research, checked prices etc and bought the Gelish 5-45. That was well over a year ago now and I've never looked back, it's a great little lamp. Yes it takes longer to cure than the 18g but it's still a professional lamp and was cheaper than the 18g so I'm happy to sacrifice a few seconds every few weeks. It's nice and compact yet still cures all 5 fingers at once so it's nice and efficient without taking up half my workspace. Overall I love this lamp, I don't think you can go wrong with it. Hope that helps. 😁

 

[AddictedToGel]

Forgot to mention that the Gelish 5-45 cures all the polish brands I've got, including Gelish, OPI, IBD, Progel, Le Chat, Sensationail, Elite 99, Polished, Couture, True, Gelicious, Gelaze, Cuccio and Artistic Colour Gloss. So I'm confident when I buy new brands that it will cure them.

 

[jjanedoe]

Jjanedoe I've been reading this thread today and firstly I love that you are investigating all of the options thoroughly.

I'm off to bed now but one thing I will say its you're right to be so thorough with your choice of lamp.

In my experience OPI cures best in the OPI LED or a UV lamp. It didn't do so all for me in DIY lamps. I always cured polish in my DIY lamps for the duration of the lamp rather than the polish.

I would say to be sure of the right cure if using different brands a UV lamp may be safest and most economical. Now that CND have the LED lamp I have seen many techs selling their UV lamps at great prices. Also, If you know a professional with trade discount they could help you get a lamp didn't from the brand.

Perhaps if you prefer not to get UV you could get a keep and stick to the brand of polish for that lamp and that way you can rest assured that the system is made to work with the lamp you have chosen.

I have the OPI LED and the CND UV, I think they are two of the best lamps available. I'll never part with my UV lamp as it is excellent to have as a back up should I ever run into a polish which doesn't cure in my LED lamp.

The best DIY lamp I had was the Kiss lamp. I still have it and use it for swatch sticks, pedis and repairs. It's 2 yes old I think and still works perfectly. That said, I don't cure OPI in it. 😉

Jjanedoe, I agree that you should research your options well. I personally went through several lamps before I was happy. Less expensive lamps may not really be less expensive if you end up replacing the lamp because it doesn't meet your needs .

I agree with SIMNAILS, if you plan to use OPI Gelcolor then get the OPI LED lamp or a good CFL-UV lamp like the CND UV lamp. I have heard the Gelish 18G does OK with OPI. In my experience OPI Gelcolor is generally problematic in DIY LED lamps, so I wouldn't trust them.

Like SIMNAILS, I have the OPI LED lamp and the CND UV lamp. And a couple of DIY lamps that I never use.

A downside of the UV lamp is the need to change bulbs, so be sure to consider that. Even with light usage the bulbs in a UV lamp may need to be changed 2-3 times yearly and that cost adds up. Apparently they lose potency over time even if not being used a lot. For a DIY'er, the "hundred hours" bulb life may not be accurate.

The LED lamp bulbs can't be changed but they are supposed to last practically forever. The original OPI LED lamp is built like a tank so it may well last that long.

Hth

Thank you!


I don't own any OPI Gelcolor polishes, so I'm good and don't need to buy them I guess. Although I did use this example, as Gelish apparently said off record, that their lamps work for OPI Gelcolor and vice versa. That's what got me thinking.

I don't want to buy an UV lamp. It's close to impossible to get the CND one from a reliable source for me, and if I'm gonna try Ebay I might just as well get the 18G of Artistic one for a few quid more. But then again - I don't trust Ebay, and even though the thought of getting amazing lamp for £170 instead of a relatively good one for £150 seems tempting, I just don't want to spend those money and not be sure.

The issue with UV is that indeed they do stop working quite quickly and there's no way to estimate when exactly. I know that the CND one tells you when to get the new bulbs, but I understand it simply bases it on how long it's been on? I think it might work if you use the lamp every day for work, but I'm not convinced it will work for a DIYer. And then, if I have to change the bulbs every few months it stops being the budget option. And because they're discontinued I think it's gonna get harder and harder to get the right bulbs.

And then I don't trust the generic UV ones at all. I'd assume most of them might have much worse quality bulbs, and since there's no way to determine how much UVA they produce/when they stop, I'd just be really careful with those.

That's why I'm generally leaning towards some branded LED one, especially that if quality diodes are used the way it works is consistent over years.

What also gets me thinking though is how many bad reviews of Gelish Mini 45 (the 4 finger one) I stumbled upon. A lot of people say that it didn't cure properly, while, well, it should, if we assume that the branded lamps are the ones that can be trusted! And if it didn't cure well and someone was able to see it, then it's really pretty bad, isn't it?
So apparently even Gelish can make not-so-safe product?
No such reviews for the 5-45 though.

I don't want to spend £30-£40 for a cheap-ish lamp, as I already spent £25 I'm never getting back And I'm a bit paranoid, so I know if I get something that doesn't come from a reliable, trusted brand I'll regret it.
The only reason I was considering RCM is that the brand is basically Gelish in different packaging and I'm pretty sure they check their products rather well.

If the RCM 5-30 cures RCM polishes it means it cures Gelish. And if it cures Gelish then I can't really see the benefit of getting the 5-45 Gelish one? The wavelength must be the same. The design might be a bit different, but still, if it cures RCM, it must cure Gelish.
The only problem is there are virtually no reviews of RCM 5-30 and there's a lot for Gelish 5-45.

AddictedToGel, thank you for your message. I might just go with the 5-45 one.
If I knew I would be doing this for years I'd get the 18G, but for now I think that doesn't make much sense.
5-45 is £40 more than RCM and harder to get, but maybe if it will buy me the peace of mind it's worth it. Although I do like the fact that RCM is supposed to cure RCM/Gelish gels in 30s and it is much easier for me to buy...

 

[AddictedToGel]

Thank you!


I don't own any OPI Gelcolor polishes, so I'm good and don't need to buy them I guess. Although I did use this example, as Gelish apparently said off record, that their lamps work for OPI Gelcolor and vice versa. That's what got me thinking.

I don't want to buy an UV lamp. It's close to impossible to get the CND one from a reliable source for me, and if I'm gonna try Ebay I might just as well get the 18G of Artistic one for a few quid more. But then again - I don't trust Ebay, and even though the thought of getting amazing lamp for £170 instead of a relatively good one for £150 seems tempting, I just don't want to spend those money and not be sure.

The issue with UV is that indeed they do stop working quite quickly and there's no way to estimate when exactly. I know that the CND one tells you when to get the new bulbs, but I understand it simply bases it on how long it's been on? I think it might work if you use the lamp every day for work, but I'm not convinced it will work for a DIYer. And then, if I have to change the bulbs every few months it stops being the budget option. And because they're discontinued I think it's gonna get harder and harder to get the right bulbs.

And then I don't trust the generic UV ones at all. I'd assume most of them might have much worse quality bulbs, and since there's no way to determine how much UVA they produce/when they stop, I'd just be really careful with those.

That's why I'm generally leaning towards some branded LED one, especially that if quality diodes are used the way it works is consistent over years.

What also gets me thinking though is how many bad reviews of Gelish Mini 45 (the 4 finger one) I stumbled upon. A lot of people say that it didn't cure properly, while, well, it should, if we assume that the branded lamps are the ones that can be trusted! And if it didn't cure well and someone was able to see it, then it's really pretty bad, isn't it?
So apparently even Gelish can make not-so-safe product?
No such reviews for the 5-45 though.

I don't want to spend £30-£40 for a cheap-ish lamp, as I already spent £25 I'm never getting back And I'm a bit paranoid, so I know if I get something that doesn't come from a reliable, trusted brand I'll regret it.
The only reason I was considering RCM is that the brand is basically Gelish in different packaging and I'm pretty sure they check their products rather well.

If the RCM 5-30 cures RCM polishes it means it cures Gelish. And if it cures Gelish then I can't really see the benefit of getting the 5-45 Gelish one? The wavelength must be the same. The design might be a bit different, but still, if it cures RCM, it must cure Gelish.
The only problem is there are virtually no reviews of RCM 5-30 and there's a lot for Gelish 5-45.

AddictedToGel, thank you for your message. I might just go with the 5-45 one.
If I knew I would be doing this for years I'd get the 18G, but for now I think that doesn't make much sense.
5-45 is £40 more than RCM and harder to get, but maybe if it will buy me the peace of mind it's worth it. Although I do like the fact that RCM is supposed to cure RCM/Gelish gels in 30s and it is much easier for me to buy...

I'm not sure which RCM lamp you're looking at getting, but some of theirs only cure 4 fingers at once (so you'll have to do your thumbs separately). I had this with my first lamp and found it quite frustrating. I recommend you get one that cures all 5 fingers at once. Just a thought

 

[AddictedToGel]

Have you looked at the Melody Suzie lamps? Chickettes does a couple of great reviews. They might be worth considering:
http://www.chickettes.com/melodysusie-24-watt-led-nail-lamp-review/
http://www.chickettes.com/melodysusie-48-watt-led-nail-lamp-review/

 

[jjanedoe]

I'm not sure which RCM lamp you're looking at getting, but some of theirs only cure 4 fingers at once (so you'll have to do your thumbs separately). I had this with my first lamp and found it quite frustrating. I recommend you get one that cures all 5 fingers at once. Just a thought

I wanted to get this one:
http://www.redcarpetmanicure.co.uk/shop/essentials/rcm-led-lights/salon-pro-5-30-led-light.html

I red some bad reviews about the 45s lamp that only cured 4 fingers, basically, that it would sometimes cure really badly, so I decided to take a different one.

The one from the link is 18W just like Gelish 5-45, but is cheaper, easily available and claims to cure in 30 seconds, not 45.
Couldn't find any reviews of it though.
I just checked and the Gelish lamp is unavailable at the moment from the only place I can get it from that is authorised, so I think I'll go with the RCM one.

I don't want to get MelodySusie, as I don't trust the brand at all. Apparently it's founded by two housewives with, I believe, no prior beauty-related experience or training. The website looks cheap and they also provide some questionable beauty advice which is not their own content (and no, they don't credit the source).
It screams "cheap" and "unprofessional" to me.

I think the thing is, that yes, those lamps might look similar or even the same. And yes, they might even all be from China. But a reputable company (if they don't produce their own product) checks properly what they get from the supplier, before starting to redistribute under their own name and can modify some elements, so the product is better (that's my experience from working with people selling some electrical supplies, not UV lamps, but I bet the way they work is the same). So I wouldn't be surprised if you'd find two lamps with the same specs, and yet one would be £50 and the other £150 and they would look the same, but the more expensive one would, for example, have better quality lights inside.

I think it's even more risky with the CFL-UV lamps, considering how CFL bulbs have a very limited lifespan, and how they can generate all kinds of wavelengths what might not be useful for gel curing, while being harmful. Is this actually the problem with the cheap lamps? I don't know, but there's no way for me to know, and I just want to have nice nails, not play Russian roulette.

I bet a lot of them is fine, otherwise the whole thing would have been a much bigger issue, but still, it's our health we're talking about.

So that's why I want to get a branded one, and I feel RCM is probably just fine, as the brand is big and seems trustworthy.

 

[SIMNAILS]

I really rate the Kiss Everlasting lamp as a low cost reliable option. It is a 4 finger 1min cure but you can easily cure 4 fingers plus the thumb of the opposite hand at the same time as it's pretty roomy. I have recommended the lamp to my sister and others who have all had good experience with it.

That said, a professional map is the way to go.

 

[VonniRnc]

Oh, that's good to know!
I actually realised that there's no way for me to get it from an authorised source, it's driving me nuts. I think that would be the safest choice, as the lamp has consistent, good reviews.
How long were you curing OPI in it for? And would you cure dark colours a bit longer just in case?

Which lamp are you referring to? If it is the 5-45 I have been using it for about 18 months with OPI without any problems . I don't usually do dark colors, but i did a bright red sparkly one for Christmas time last year and I did those about 15 -20 seconds longer . I hope you manage to get one . Have you considered the OPI studio light? It looks interesting and is about the same cost here in the U.S. as the 5-45. I got a discount on mine with a coupon at Sally's , so didn't pay the full price on my 5-45 , but the OPI studio is advertised here for about $125.00 .

 

[VonniRnc]

Yes, I was talking about the new one . It's called the OPI studio model. I got my 5-45 at Sally's and I'm not a pro. I also got my CND one off Amazon.. Do you have a Sally's there, or can you order off the web site? I'm so sorry about your passport , I hope you find it ! I think the OPI studio model is off of Amazon. I also ordered some stuff for pros from a company in Canada and when I registered on the site I was honest and told them I wasn't a pro. They sold it to me anyway . I could PM you that info if you are interested.

 

[jjanedoe]

Yes, I was talking about the new one . It's called the OPI studio model. I got my 5-45 at Sally's and I'm not a pro. I also got my CND one off Amazon.. Do you have a Sally's there, or can you order off the web site? I'm so sorry about your passport , I hope you find it ! I think the OPI studio model is off of Amazon. I also ordered some stuff for pros from a company in Canada and when I registered on the site I was honest and told them I wasn't a pro. They sold it to me anyway . I could PM you that info if you are interested.

Oh, your US prices always seem so crazy to me I'm pretty sure it's much more expensive here.

We do have Sally's, but it's either Sally Express that sells to non-professionals and doesn't sell pro brands, or Salon Services where you can get Gelish etc. but they won't sell to a non-pro.
I checked on the Harmony website and they seem to be the only authorised place to sell their products in the UK, except for the Harmony distributors. That's not to say you can't get legitimate lamp from some other place, I'm pretty sure you can, but I don't know those places.

 

[jjanedoe]

So a quick update.
I bought Red Carpet Manicure salon-pro 5-30 lamp.
http://www.redcarpetmanicure.co.uk/shop/essentials/rcm-led-lights/salon-pro-5-30-led-light.html
This is the one that fits all 5 fingers and is supposed to cure the polish in 30 seconds.

I will be returning it.

The first thing I did after I received it was to compare the curing between this one and the one I already had.
I didn't have any display wheels for swatches or anything, but found some syringes, so I used them.

I put one coat of the Gelish foundation on the syringe 1 (S1) and did the same for syringe 2 (S2).
I cured S1 in RCM lamp and S2 in the no name lamp for 30 seconds.
I wiped it with clean wipe, and then applied one coat of Gelish Hello Merlot over the foundation - both on S1 and S2. Because it's a dark colour I cured it for 60 seconds in both lamps (which is basically twice as long as RCM tells you to).
And then I applied another coat of the Hello Merlot and cured it again for 60 seconds.

After all was done (I didn't put the top coat on) I took a lint free wipe, soaked it in the cleanser and wiped over both polishes to see how well the colour was cured. To my surprise...
After wiping the no-name cured one there was a bit of the colour left on the wipe but generally all was left in place. But the RCM cured one? Oh my, I wiped off half of the colour! This left me with a patchy swatch with very little colour in some places.

Now, I did exactly the same thing using black RCM polish - to see if the lamp works better on the RCM polish, god knows why it would, but I checked it anyway. Exactly the same thing happened.

And I also did the same thing but in the end applied TIO to half of the swatch. I cured it for 30 seconds and then took a wipe and checked what happens. The part with TIO looked fine, nothing happened to the colour, but the part that wasn't covered with TIO, again, got wiped out - and that was after additional 30 seconds of curing.

So for now I will be sticking to the one lamp I had and maybe around Christmas I'll get something better.

I'm a bit tired of this.
I spent so much time trying to figure what is the best thing to buy and assumed that going with the branded product is best - because it should at least work well on the same brand. And it seems wise and everybody says it's best (and the greatest guarantee of success ) to go for polishes and light from the same, trusted company. That's clearly not the case here.

I also doubt that the small pro lamp (the same one as the Gelish Mini) works better. So is every DIYer who is buying those products and sticking to manufacturers instructions walking around with under cured polish on their nails?

It got me thinking before why this RCM lamp is supposed to cure in 30 sedonds and not 45 like the similar one from Gelish (5-45) - the wattage is the same, I think, neither one has reflective bottom etc. So I think it might just be a mistake for RCM to say you only need 30 seconds, while maybe 45 seconds for light colours and 1.5 minute for the dark one is the way to go. But still, it doesn't change the fact, that in this case manufacturers instructions don't mean a thing.

I just got a bit more sceptical regarding this "stick to the branded light" advice.
If I had the money right now I'd get the 18G from Gelish and I'm sure that would be a great choice. I'd also get the Gelish one - either of them, if I was doing this for a living. But considering this history with RCM light I just think that the differences between the lamps, generic or branded, are really not that big.

 

[VonniRnc]

So a quick update.
I bought Red Carpet Manicure salon-pro 5-30 lamp.
http://www.redcarpetmanicure.co.uk/shop/essentials/rcm-led-lights/salon-pro-5-30-led-light.html
This is the one that fits all 5 fingers and is supposed to cure the polish in 30 seconds.

I will be returning it.

The first thing I did after I received it was to compare the curing between this one and the one I already had.
I didn't have any display wheels for swatches or anything, but found some syringes, so I used them.

I put one coat of the Gelish foundation on the syringe 1 (S1) and did the same for syringe 2 (S2).
I cured S1 in RCM lamp and S2 in the no name lamp for 30 seconds.
I wiped it with clean wipe, and then applied one coat of Gelish Hello Merlot over the foundation - both on S1 and S2. Because it's a dark colour I cured it for 60 seconds in both lamps (which is basically twice as long as RCM tells you to).
And then I applied another coat of the Hello Merlot and cured it again for 60 seconds.

After all was done (I didn't put the top coat on) I took a lint free wipe, soaked it in the cleanser and wiped over both polishes to see how well the colour was cured. To my surprise...
After wiping the no-name cured one there was a bit of the colour left on the wipe but generally all was left in place. But the RCM cured one? Oh my, I wiped off half of the colour! This left me with a patchy swatch with very little colour in some places.

Now, I did exactly the same thing using black RCM polish - to see if the lamp works better on the RCM polish, god knows why it would, but I checked it anyway. Exactly the same thing happened.

And I also did the same thing but in the end applied TIO to half of the swatch. I cured it for 30 seconds and then took a wipe and checked what happens. The part with TIO looked fine, nothing happened to the colour, but the part that wasn't covered with TIO, again, got wiped out - and that was after additional 30 seconds of curing.

So for now I will be sticking to the one lamp I had and maybe around Christmas I'll get something better.

I'm a bit tired of this.
I spent so much time trying to figure what is the best thing to buy and assumed that going with the branded product is best - because it should at least work well on the same brand. And it seems wise and everybody says it's best (and the greatest guarantee of success ) to go for polishes and light from the same, trusted company. That's clearly not the case here.

I also doubt that the small pro lamp (the same one as the Gelish Mini) works better. So is every DIYer who is buying those products and sticking to manufacturers instructions walking around with under cured polish on their nails?

It got me thinking before why this RCM lamp is supposed to cure in 30 sedonds and not 45 like the similar one from Gelish (5-45) - the wattage is the same, I think, neither one has reflective bottom etc. So I think it might just be a mistake for RCM to say you only need 30 seconds, while maybe 45 seconds for light colours and 1.5 minute for the dark one is the way to go. But still, it doesn't change the fact, that in this case manufacturers instructions don't mean a thing.

I just got a bit more sceptical regarding this "stick to the branded light" advice.
If I had the money right now I'd get the 18G from Gelish and I'm sure that would be a great choice. I'd also get the Gelish one - either of them, if I was doing this for a living. But considering this history with RCM light I just think that the differences between the lamps, generic or branded, are really not that big.

Why did you wipe the foundation with a wipe before putting on the color ? This is not the normal procedure, and it may be part of your problem. I sometimes use a dry nail brush to lightly go over the foundation or base, but not a wipe. This is supposed to rough up the surface a bit to help the color adhere better. Did the wipe have cleansing solution on it ? If so you probably just removed your base coat . You need to put on the topcoat to seal it or it will wipe off.