Gel top and base coats
The structural half of a gel service. Base and top coats are bought far more often than colour, because every service uses them regardless of which shade the client picks — a wall of a hundred colours still runs through one base.
The single most useful rule here is to keep the system matched. Base, colour and top from one line are formulated to cure together, and most lifting blamed on a colour turns out to be a mismatched pairing. If you run Gelish colour, run its base and top; the same applies to DND and iGel.
Finish is the other variable — a matte top gives a different result from a gloss, and no-wipe formulations remove the cleansing step. Matte finishes are stocked in matte top coat.
Cure time and lamp compatibility are set by the manufacturer, not by us. Follow the directions supplied with the product and the guidance for your specific lamp.
Order these deeper than feels necessary. A salon with a hundred colours still runs every service through one base and one top, so those two products deplete at roughly the rate of your total bookings rather than at the rate any single colour sells. Running out of top coat stops every gel service in the building.
Rubber and builder bases are stocked separately in builder gel for clients who need added strength under colour.
