Narsingi, Hyderabad

Gel polish in Narsingi, Hyderabad

at The Nail Lounge by Aura & Armour

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Gel polish is colour that hardens under a lamp instead of drying in air. Each coat is cured before the next goes on, so you leave with nails that cannot smudge, and it comes off by soaking rather than wiping. We do seven finishes, from a single flat shade to chrome and cat-eye, on natural nails or over extensions.

What we offer

What each finish involves

The finishes differ in how the colour is put on the nail, which is what makes some of them slower than others.

Classic is one shade laid flat across all ten nails. Gel is applied thin: a coat flooded on too heavily will not cure evenly through its depth and shrinks at the edges as it sets.

Classic French turns on the smile line, the arc where the tip colour meets the base. It is drawn freehand on every nail, and it has to be drawn in the same place on all ten or the set reads as crooked from across a table. Fancy French keeps the structure and changes a variable: colour instead of white, a deeper or thinner arc, or a line that follows the nail rather than cutting straight across it.

Matte top coat replaces the glossy sealer with one that scatters light instead of reflecting it. The colour underneath looks deeper and slightly chalky. It also shows the oil from your skin more readily than gloss, so a matte set wants hands kept off the surface.

Ombre blends two shades into each other while both are still uncured, feathering the boundary with a brush or a sponge so no line survives the fade. Fancy ombre does the same across more than two shades, or works glitter or chrome into the gradient, which means more passes over each nail and more blending before it can be cured.

Glitter is flake suspended in gel, and it needs enough sealing on top to bury the texture so the surface reads smooth under a fingertip.

Chrome is not a polish. It is a mirror powder burnished onto a cured no-wipe top coat with an applicator, and it only takes on that specific surface: rub it over a tacky layer or the wrong sealer and it goes patchy and dull rather than reflective. Once it has taken, it is sealed again.

Cat-eye polish carries fine magnetic particles in the gel. A magnet held close to the wet nail pulls them aside, and the bright band you see is the gap they leave behind. Because the particles end up standing at an angle, the line slides across the nail as you turn your hand. Each nail is magnetised on its own, so the ten will never match exactly.

Gel polish or regular polish

Regular polish dries in air, wipes off with remover in a minute, and is the sensible choice if you change colour often or only need it for one evening.

Gel is the opposite trade in both directions. It survives washing up, a keyboard and the inside of a handbag, and it also has to be taken off deliberately. Picking it away pulls layers of the nail plate with it, which is the real source of the thin, bendy nails people blame on gel itself.

Who gel polish suits

Anyone who wants colour that outlasts a working week. Length is irrelevant to it: gel goes on a short nail as readily as a long one, and on a short nail it often holds longer, because there is less free edge sticking out to catch and lever the coating up.

If your nails flex or peel and you want them held together as well as coloured, an overlay underneath does that, and colour goes straight over it in the same appointment. For colour with length, gel polish is applied over extensions once the set is built.

What gel polish costs

The finish decides the price, because a flat single shade and a chrome or fancy ombre are not the same amount of work. We quote in person or on WhatsApp before starting rather than publishing a list. All prices are inclusive of 18% GST.

How long does it take?

A single classic shade takes 30 to 45 minutes. A fancy ombre, the longest on this menu, takes 60 to 90 minutes. The rest sit between the two, and what separates them is whether the finish is painted across the set in one pass or built on each nail in turn.

• Classic Gel Polish30 to 45 minutes
• Classic French40 to 60 minutes
• Gel Polish + Matte Top Coat40 to 60 minutes
• Glitter / Chrome / Cat-Eye40 to 60 minutes
• Fancy French50 to 75 minutes
• Ombre Gel Polish50 to 75 minutes
• Fancy Ombre60 to 90 minutes

Two things push a booking towards the top of its range: cat-eye and chrome, where every nail is magnetised or burnished separately, and blend work on an ombre, where the fade has to be feathered before it can be cured. Coming in with old gel still on adds a removal of 15 to 30 minutes on top, so say so when you book.

How long does it last?

Gel polish lasts 2 to 3 weeks on natural nails. It rarely chips at the end of that. What shows first is a strip of bare nail at the base as your own nail grows out from under the colour.

Over extensions the colour runs on the set's cycle instead of its own, so it comes off and goes back on at the refill.

Frequently asked questions

Does gel polish ruin your nails?

No, but taking it off badly does. Peeling a set off removes layers of the nail plate along with the colour, which is why nails come out of it thin and tender. Soak it off and the nail underneath is unharmed.

Can I put gel polish on my own short nails?

Yes, and it usually lasts better on them. A short nail presents less free edge for the coating to be levered off from.

Do I need to book a removal separately?

No, tell us you are coming in with gel on and we do the removal and the new set in one appointment. It is the appointment length that changes, not the number of visits.

What is cat-eye polish?

A gel polish with fine magnetic particles in it, drawn into a bright line with a magnet before the nail is cured. The particles sit at an angle once the gel sets, so the line appears to move as you tilt your hand.

Can I bring a picture of the colour I want?

Please do. Screens shift colour badly, so we hold the picture against the actual shades in the studio and match it in the room rather than promising it beforehand.

Why is chrome more expensive than a plain colour?

Because it is a separate step rather than another coat. The mirror powder is burnished onto a cured no-wipe layer nail by nail, then sealed, which is work that a flat shade does not involve.

Can I add nail art to gel polish?

Yes, charged per finger, so a design on two nails costs less than a design on ten. See nail art.

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