Lifting is NOT normal – about adhesion and professional nail products

  Let’s call things by their right names…

I know, lifting is frustrating. I remember very well how frustrating it was for me at the beginning of my nail journey, especially when something went wrong, and I heard the words nobody really wants to hear: “It’s your fault.”

It hurts, especially when you are still learning, trying different techniques and doing everything you can to give your clients beautiful nails that last.

But after more than 25 years working with nails, there is one thing I want every nail technician to understand: Lifting is not something we should simply accept as normal.

Yes, lifting is one of the most common problems we see in gel services, and very often we hear explanations such as “It’s just this client” or “She has difficult natural nails.”

Sometimes the condition of the natural nail absolutely matters, but before we blame the client, we need to look at the whole system we are working with.

Because good adhesion is not created by one thing alone.

It starts with proper natural nail preparation, continues with choosing the right adhesion products, and concludes with how those products are applied. Your preparation, primer, base, or gel, and your application technique all need to work together as a professional system.

This is something I had to learn myself.

Like many nail technicians, especially at the beginning, I tried different products, methods, and ways of working. Sometimes we try to save money on the products we cannot really “see” in the finished set, and primer is a perfect example.

It is such a small amount of product, but its job is incredibly important.

When your adhesion system is not working correctly, you may start seeing lifting around the cuticle or sidewalls, separation from the natural nail, reduced durability and, eventually, clients returning before their next appointment because something has gone wrong.

And this is where I want you to stop blaming yourself and instead analyse your system professionally.

Ask yourself: Was the natural nail prepared correctly? Was all the invisible cuticle removed? Was the nail plate properly cleansed? Did I touch the prepared nail afterwards? Am I using the correct primer for this system? Did I use too much or too little? Is my base or gel suitable for this client's nails? Was the product applied and cured correctly?

This is how we grow as nail technicians. We don't guess; we troubleshoot.

For me, adhesion starts with the foundation

For the last 11 years, one of the products I have consistently used in my salon work and education is Magnetic Soft Bond Primer.

Why have I stayed with it for so long?

Because when I find a professional system that delivers predictable results, I don't feel the need to constantly change it just because something new appears on social media. Consistency matters.

I want to know how my products behave, how much I need, how they interact with the rest of my system, and what I can expect when my client returns for her maintenance appointment.

That confidence doesn't come from a beautiful bottle or clever marketing. It comes from understanding the chemistry you are working with, learning your system and seeing the results repeatedly in real salon work.

The same applies when choosing a professional nail brand. For me, a professional brand is much more than attractive packaging or whatever happens to be trending this month. I look for product development, professional knowledge, testing, consistency and a system of products designed to work together.

These things take time to develop, and as professionals, we should learn to look beyond the label.

So if you are struggling with lifting…

Don't immediately decide that your client has “problematic nails.” Go back to the beginning. Look at your preparation. Look at your adhesion. Look at your primer. Look at the amount of product you are using. Look at your application and curing. Most importantly, look at whether all the products in your system are actually working together.

When you understand the foundation, you gain much more control over everything that comes afterwards.

And this is exactly what I want you to learn as my students: don't just learn how to make beautiful nails; learn to understand why your products and techniques work.

That knowledge gives you confidence when something goes wrong because instead of thinking, “What did I do wrong?”, you can look at the nail, analyse the problem and know where to start looking for the answer.

I learned many of these lessons the hard way, through years of salon work, education, mistakes, testing and thousands of sets of nails.

Now I'm curious about you.

Have you ever gone through a period when lifting was driving you absolutely crazy and you couldn't understand what you were doing wrong? Or did you find a preparation and adhesion system that worked for you quite early in your career?

If you have questions about lifting, adhesion or product application, ask me. After more than 25 years in this beautiful industry, I have probably seen most of it by now.

Although we don't need to discuss exactly what those 25+ years say about my age. 😉

With love 

magda