Will a Gelish LED Light Cure CND Shellac Polish? This is a hotly debated issue on the nail chat boards, but all the back and forth seems to be based on manufacturer claims and conjecture. From what I understand, both CND and Nail Harmony say no. But I am a scince guy and on the simplest level, I thought UV light falls in certain range of wavelengths and the power. The cure times seem to be based on the power output of a lamp -- more power = short cure times. But, before digging deep in to the science, we figured we'd try it. We cured the same color CND Shellac under a CND Shellac Lamp and a Gelish LED Lamp. And the drum roll please... both cured the same, both looked the same, both felt the same and both lasted the same. So YES it works!
We are assuming CND simply wants you to buy the CND Lamp and they don't offer a LED lamp, so they don't want you to use one. We are also assuming Nail Harmony was the first with a LED Lamp and so they wanted another strong point of difference favoring their product (other than than 72 color choices, all in stock, and longer manicure life of 21 days).
The only difference is the cure times. The Gelish LED is more powerful and has a slightly longer wavelength (still in the UV range) which drastically reduces cure times over UV Bulb Lamps. OK, so what is the big deal about using the LED UV Light? Time. How much time? Based on the following chart, about 9 minutes saved per manicure... 18 minutes if you do the thumbs separately like most nail tech do.
| LED UV Lamp | 36 Watt UV Bulb Lamp |
|
| CND Shellac Base Coat | 10 seconds | 10 seconds |
| CND Shellac Color Coat #1 | 30 seconds | 120 seconds |
| CND Shellac Color Coat #2 | 30 seconds | 120 seconds |
| CND Shellac Top Coat | 30 seconds | 120 seconds |
| TOTAL CURE TIME PER HAND | 100 seconds (1.67 minutes) |
370 seconds (6.17 minutes) |
And as we all know, time = money. Quicker service time means happier customers and more customers per day for you. LED UV Lamps are totally worth the higher price. And, as an added boon, the LED Lights don't lose power over time. UV Bulb lights usually need new bulbs every 2 months or so, but LED UV lights have the same power day in and day out for about 5 years!
Here is what we found works with the Nail Harmony 9G LED Lamp:
|
CND Shellac: Base Coat (10 seconds) Shellac Color (30 seconds) Top Coat (30 seconds) Nail Harmony Gelish: Foundation Gel - Base Coat (10 seconds) Structure Gel (30 seconds) Gelish Color (30 seconds) Top It Off - Top Coat (30 seconds) |
Jessica Geleration: Base Gel (10 seconds) Geleration Color (30 seconds) Soak-off Sealer (30 seconds) NSI Polish Pro: Base Coat (10 seconds) Polish Pro Color (30 seconds) Top Coat (30 seconds) Entity One Color Couture: Base Coat (10 seconds) Couture Color (30 seconds) Top Coat (30 seconds) |
FYI for the Geeks like me -- Ultraviolet (UV) light has a wavelength shorter than that of visible light in the range 10 nm to 400 nm. The bulb UV lamps typically have two peaks of output wavelengths at 253.7 nm and 185 nm. 85% of the UV produces by these lamps is at 253.7nm and only 5-10% is at 185nm. The UV LED lamps have very limited output below 365nm. LED efficiency at 365 nm is about 5-8%, whereas efficiency at 395 nm is closer to 20%, and power outputs at these longer UV wavelengths are also better.
CLICK HERE to see the Nail Harmony 9G LED Lamp