Camouflage gel: camouflage technique, choice of colors, rules for applying varnish and useful tips from experts

• October 25, 2018
• Nail care
• Katerina Belokon

Nail extensions are a fairly popular procedure both in professional beauty salons and at home around the world. It has a huge number of advantages and is aimed at creating an attractive appearance for your hands. To perform this procedure, you need to use a special product - camouflage gel.

What is it for?

First of all, this product contains various colored pigments, which distinguishes it from a standard gel. It is aimed at strengthening the nail plate, helping to increase the length and give the manicure a well-groomed and beautiful look. Camouflage gel is great for creating a French design, as it does not require the additional use of a decorative coating.

The application technology is practically no different from the colorless product, but has some individual features. Unlike acrylic, gel coating is considered safer, since it does not interfere with the penetration and circulation of air, and also does not contribute to the development of fungal diseases. Camouflage nail gel is in demand among professional manicurists, as well as among girls when building and strengthening plates at home. They highlight many advantages, but what attracts them to a greater extent is the variety of shades that allow you to choose a color that matches your natural color.

What is a camouflage base for nails, what is it for, how to choose it?

Such a product appeared in the nail art industry relatively recently, a little later than the first gel polish or shellac. Just 5-7 years ago, extended nails, which were lengthened using gel or acrylic, were quite popular. Nowadays, naturalness, nude manicure and classics are at the peak of popularity, so many girls have given up having their nails done and are doing a manicure with gel polish, while strengthening the nail plate with a base.

What to do if you want to get a French manicure and you have natural nails with a short nail bed? How to lengthen the nail bed and hide the ugly color of the plate? Many girls get out of this situation by using regular gel polish in beige or pink shades. But the fact is that such a coating does not look very beautiful, because a French manicure should be as natural as possible.

Camouflage base

Advantages and areas of use of the camouflage base:

• Regular gel polish is quite highly pigmented, so it completely covers the nail plate. When it grows back, the regrown part of the nail is quite clearly visible. Many manufacturers have found a way out of such situations and have created camouflage bases especially for manicurists, as well as girls who adore classic French manicure.
• The product is nothing more than a regular nail base with the addition of a small amount of pigment. Accordingly, the surface of the nail is tinted, acquiring a pastel, natural shade, but the coating itself is translucent. It helps eliminate minor defects and hide the blue or yellow tint of the nails.
• Accordingly, with this base you can not only paint your nails, but also improve the adhesion of the natural nail to the artificial material, that is, gel polish, and perform leveling. The properties of camouflage are absolutely the same as those of a regular, transparent base for applying gel polish. Only it differs in its color.
• Now many companies sell a variety of bases; they can be white, milky, cream, or pinkish. Black and white bases are also available. This greatly simplifies the application of rubs, or in the case when a base is needed for a manicure. That is, in such cases when a magnetic design, volumetric inlay or lace manicure is used.
• The most popular are camouflage bases in beige and nude shades to create a French manicure, the popular French gradient or Baby Boomer design.
• It is worth noting that the camouflage base can be used both to improve the adhesion of a natural nail to gel polish, and for leveling . In this case, you can even perform drip leveling, when a large drop is placed on the nail, distributed to the free edge and to the cuticle, then the nail is turned over to form a beautiful apex, and dried in a lamp.
• Many manicurists have noted that a camouflage base is ideal if you use stained glass or light translucent, slightly pigmented varnishes. In this case, the design seems brighter and richer. At the same time, the natural nail does not show through, which helps save time and the number of layers of application. Even lightly pigmented varnishes need to be applied to a camouflage base in a maximum of two layers.

Camouflage base and jacket

Varieties

After the appearance of this product, manufacturers began to produce several varieties of gel. Thanks to this, a classification based on application technology appeared. Before purchasing this cosmetic product, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of each type and choose the most suitable one.

Varieties of camouflage nail gel include:

1. Single stage system. The name speaks for itself and indicates the number of steps that must be completed during application. This system is distinguished by its versatility and is quite often used as a base, topcoat and corrective agent. Thanks to the presence of polymers in the composition, the nail plate becomes smooth and shiny. It takes about five minutes to dry completely, and the girls do not have any difficulties during filing.
2. Two-phase - it is aimed at strengthening the natural nail. Professional manicurists note that this camouflage gel system comes in different thicknesses and is used by highly qualified specialists. It significantly improves the appearance and quality of the design after visiting the salon.
3. Three-phase. An even more complex system of application technology. Due to the rather liquid consistency, oxygen bubbles may appear throughout the surface when used. But this gel is extremely durable against chips and cracks. And it can even withstand numerous impacts on hard surfaces.

What is camouflage gel for nail extensions

Camouflage gel is an innovative and fairly new product in the nail industry, but it has already taken pride of place. The name itself makes it clear that it serves to mask all imperfections of the nail surface.

This product allows you to give your nails a flawless and fairly natural appearance. The color palette of camouflage gel varies from light pink to flesh-colored. The consistency also has varying degrees of viscosity. In other words, camouflage gel is a kind of sculptural manicure material for modeling an artificial nail plate.

Gel camouflage, depending on the consistency and method of application, is divided into 3 types:

• single-phase;
• two-phase;
• three-phase.

Shades

A huge advantage of camouflage gel is its fairly wide variety of color palettes. Thanks to this, professional craftsmen can easily select the appropriate shade for each client. This cosmetic product helps you create a French manicure in a short period of time without much effort. The shades that are presented on store shelves are ivory, various versions of pink, peach, light and dark beige.

Thanks to a fairly large selection, the final result is as natural as possible and is absolutely no different from a natural nail. This makes camouflage gel even more popular among manicurists.

Application technology

You can get a manicure using gel both in a beauty salon and at home if you have the necessary materials. This procedure is absolutely simple if you follow all the steps and listen to the advice of professionals. Necessary tools include a UV lamp for drying, camouflage gel, brushes, a form (for the first extension), nail files, base coat, degreaser and topcoat. But before you start applying, you need to do a hygienic manicure, disinfect all tools and remove the cuticle.

The gel application procedure consists of several stages:

• prepare the plate, treat it with a degreaser, apply a base coat, which should be dried in a lamp for 1 minute;
• if you use a form to build a nail, then you need to remove the adhesive part and attach it to each finger;
• if the extension procedure is not happening for the first time, then its use is absolutely not necessary;
• apply a small amount of gel to the brush and distribute evenly over the entire plate, it is recommended to start from the center and move to the edges;
• put your hand in an ultraviolet lamp for 1-2 minutes;

• after drying, proceed to the next nail until all the plates of one hand are covered;
• once all fingers are covered with gel, put them in the lamp for one minute for a more durable result;
• after this you can proceed to the next hand;
• Once all fingers are covered with camouflage nail gel, the molds can be removed to build the plate;
• then a top coat is applied, which must be dried in a lamp, and then you can do a French manicure or leave your nails natural.

Advantages and disadvantages

Manicure with camouflage gel is in great demand in beauty salons around the world. Thanks to the many positive aspects of this procedure. They are as follows:

• strengthens the nail plate;
• stimulates rapid growth;
• helps to increase the desired length;
• the effect lasts for a month;
• the procedure is quite quick and easy;
• eliminates the need to use decorative coating;
• protects against the formation of pathogenic microorganisms that cause fungal diseases;
• levels the surface;
• does not interfere with air circulation.

At the same time, manicure has a number of disadvantages. Namely:

• the plate rejects the gel coating in many women;
• contributes to nail damage;
• needs proper removal to prevent unwanted consequences;
• if a chip or crack occurs, the camouflage gel must be reapplied;
• if the coating is done in a beauty salon, then you will need to visit it once a month and pay a certain amount of financial resources.

Three-phase camouflage gel for nail extension

Giving length to nails using three-phase material requires special training. The system of its application itself consists of the use of 3 components:

• base;
• top product;
• main gel.

The consistency of the main gel is liquid and tends to foam, so you need to work carefully. To achieve the desired effect, you need to apply a large number of layers, and this takes a lot of time. The reward for patience will be a strong manicure that is resistant to any kind of damage.

Top brands

On the cosmetics market you can find a huge number of different brands that produce manicure products. This abundance makes it easy to choose high-quality and budget products. Thanks to reviews from girls and professional manicurists, we can highlight several brands with high-quality and relatively inexpensive products:

1. “Kodi” is the most popular gel that helps you quickly and easily create a beautiful and durable manicure. It has a fairly large selection of shades for any natural nail color.
2. “Hypnosis” is an equally popular brand that is used by many professional hairdressers in beauty salons. Helps strengthen the nail plate and is highly resistant to chips and cracks.
3. "Pop Neil." A huge advantage of this camouflage gel is its large packaging volume. It lasts a long time and is famous for its high quality.

Recommendation from professional manicurists

In order for your nails to be strong and beautiful, so that oxygen bubbles do not form on the surface, you need to take into account several expert tips. They recommend degreasing the surface before application. This helps the base coat adhere more strongly to the plate, and subsequently to the camouflage nail gel.

If the surface is too uneven or if you want to change the length, you should give preference to a thick consistency of the product. With its help, it is easier to correct the natural shape and disguise all the irregularities. But such a gel must be dried in an ultraviolet lamp for three minutes.

Types of gel

Depending on the consistency and its purpose, camouflage is divided into three types:

Single phase

The most common and easy-to-use type of polymer.

• It is transparent, has a thick viscous consistency, does not bubble, and quickly polymerizes in the lamp.
• Provides reliable adhesion of the natural plate and subsequent layers.
• After drying, the camouflage is easy to file and create the desired shape for your nails.

Can be used as a base coat, also to create the main layer of manicure and as a top coat with a glossy effect.

The layers of single-phase gel are removed from the nail plates by filing.

Two-phase

It has a more liquid consistency, which is easier to work with.

Used for extensions, laid out on an architectural base layer when modeling nails in natural shades.

Two-phase camouflage is applied in three layers, each of which performs its own functions. The first layer provides high-quality adhesion, the second layer is used in the process of creating the architecture of the plate, the third layer works as a fixative, after application of which all flaws and irregularities disappear.

This type of gel is not particularly popular because the result of its application is not very durable and takes time, as when working with three-phase material.

Three-phase

It has the most liquid consistency, so it quickly spreads over the plate and is easily applied in a thin layer. But to achieve the desired effect, you need to make several such layers. During application, the gel may bubble, so you need to distribute it over the plate carefully.

A lot of time is spent on creating a manicure using this type of polymer, but the result is a strong manicure that is not afraid of any mechanical damage or stress.