Builder gel (BIAB) nails in Brighton SA

Builder gel, also called BIAB

Builder gel is also sold as BIAB, short for Builder In A Bottle, which is a brand name for this kind of product in the same way SNS is a brand name for a dip powder. It is a thick gel, brushed on and cured under a lamp, that leaves a reinforcing layer over the natural nail.

It exists for one problem in particular: nails that grow to a certain length and then split or tear at the free edge, over and over, so they never get past it. The overlay holds the nail together while it grows. It keeps some give, so it moves with the nail underneath instead of fighting it, and that is the argument for it over a harder system when strength rather than length is what you are after.

What each row includes

Builder gel on natural nails, from $55, is the overlay: no length added, just reinforcement and a finish. This is the common booking and the one that suits the splitting problem above. Natural-length extensions, from $70, add a small amount past the fingertip, enough to even out a set where one or two nails are shorter than the rest. It is deliberately modest, and asking it to carry a dramatic shape is how it ends up breaking. For that, acrylic nails in Brighton are the material that holds.

Upkeep is a refill from $60 as the regrowth shows, on much the same two to three week rhythm as the other systems. One broken nail is a $5 nail repair.

Removal, and how to book

Builder gel is cured hard and bonded to the nail, so it is filed back and soaked off as a booked service at $25 rather than peeled. Gel that is picked off takes nail with it, and on a nail that was already splitting that is the opposite of the point.

If you are coming from another salon and are not sure whether you have builder gel, a hard gel or SNS dip powder, mention it when you book so the right time is set aside. Vee and Anna do the nail work, and every row above books its own slot on Fresha.