{DIY) Designing with UV Gels

UV Gels have been in use for at least a decade now. More commonly used in Asia, it is just making an appearance in the U.S. during the past few years. UV gels are commonly used as manicure products – yes, on fingernails – because they are almost odorless, more porous than acrylic (allowing surfaces underneath to breathe and flex) and cure crystal clear under a UV lamp. UV gel however can be applied on other surfaces to create custom designs on toys, models or any roughened plastic surface. They make really cute designs on any plastic makeup holder like eyeshadow boxes or trinket boxes. 🙂

For example, here is what a very basic UV gel application on my nails look:

Contrary to popular opinion, UV gel can be applied at home and is a totally doable DIY project. You just need to understand the system, have a little patience and use the right materials 🙂 I will outline the basic process using the IBD gel system, Other systems have their own products and unique application procedure but IBD has a more general application procedure so if you buy other gel brands, you can still follow a similar process to some degree.

You will need:

Application is as follows:

  1. lightly roughen the surface which you plan to design on with a file (for nails) or small grit sandpaper (other surfaces)
  2. apply bonder sparingly and cure under the UV lamp for 30 seconds
  3. use a lint free wipe to blot the surface with bonder but don’t wipe anything off. you just want to create a tacky surface as a base for the clear gel layer. be careful to avoid cuticles if applying on nails or else the latter gel layers will cure on top of the cuticle and cause lifting.
  4. apply a layer of clear gel with a brush and cure for one minute
  5. apply your gel color, glitter color gel design with a brush. To create layering, gradation effects and 3D effects, cure for 2 min. before applying another design element so the gels don’t blend into one another. You can use builder gel in a color of your choice with a brush for nails to preserve a smile line on the nail (i suggest watching a few youtube tutorials first because builder gel is thick and viscous). Application of this color and builder gel layer is the art part of using UV gel. you need a lot of patience and time. If applying on nails, don’t get anything on the cuticles because even though thick, the gel can run. cure this layer for 2 minutes.
  6. use 90% isopropyl alcohol to wipe off tacky surface after curing.
  7. you can file the nail around and down if doing a manicure. be sure to wipe off any dust and debris.
  8. apply top coat sealer with a brush to seal your nail or custom design. cure for 3 minutes. other top coat sealers have different curing times so be sure to check the product’s label.

That’s it! Note that if you are applying UV gel as a manicure, the resulting manicure will be thicker than regular nailpolish. It will resemble more of an acrylic nail art kind of manicure. You can always file down the gel (refer to step 7 above) before applying the final top coat sealer so the look isn’t as thick.

There are other UV gel nail products that are applied and cure more like nailpolish (for instance, Gelish) but I would not recommend using those products to customize toys or other surfaces other than on nails. The most time consuming part of using UV gel is applying the color/builder gel layer and curing. But with a little patience, reference a few youtube videos on technique, customizing UV gels can be very fun!

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