How powerful is the lamp for gel polish? How much power does a gel polish lamp need? Is it worth buying a 72.96 W gel polish lamp?

Well-groomed nails are an important part of the image of any representative of the fair sex. Some people prefer to do their own manicure, while others trust exclusively to professionals. In any case, every woman wants to get a beautiful and durable nail coating. At the moment, the most durable manicure is using gel polish; this coating requires drying in special devices.

Photo: dhgate.com

At the moment, there are 4 types of lamps for drying gel polish:

• Ultraviolet lamps.
  They are usually indicated by the UV icon. They were the very first to appear and their principle is the polymerization of gel polish using special fluorescent light bulbs.
• LED bulbs.
  They are usually indicated by an LED icon. In them, the hardening of the coating occurs with the help of LED light bulbs.
• Lamps with a cold cathode spiral.
  They are usually identified by the CCFL icon. In fact, this is an improved version of a UV lamp; it contains a heating element - a cold cathode.
• Hybrid lamps.
  They come in ultraviolet + LED (designated UV+LED) and lamps with a cold cathode spiral + LED (designated CCFL+LED).

What you should pay attention to when purchasing:

• Device power.
  As a rule, you can find devices on the market with a power of 9 to 90 W. Devices with a power of about 48 W are considered optimal; they quickly dry the coating and prevent the material from “wrinkling” in the lamp.
• Lamp size.
  There are devices designed for 1 finger, and there are those that fit the entire palm. Thus, by choosing the right size of the device, you can reduce the manicure time.
• A set of necessary functions,
  such as a timer, display, ability to switch power, removable bottom, motion sensor, blind spot and rear wall. For manicurists, a full set of these options will be important, while for home use you can consider a device with a minimal set of programs.

We present the rating of lamps for drying gel polish 2022. The best 11 models that were selected by our experts based on user reviews and ratings.

How much power does a gel polish lamp need?

Every year the quantity and range of materials, tools, and equipment for nail services increases. A few years ago, most home users tried to save money, so they purchased inexpensive 9 W lamps for drying gel polish. This is a small power that allows you to dry translucent gel polishes, or not very pigmented products.

Now the situation has changed dramatically, no one wants to apply gel polish in 3-4 layers, so they prefer highly pigmented materials. However, the thicker the gel polish and the more pigment it contains, the more difficult it is to dry in the lamp. Recently, there have been situations in which a good, pigmented gel polish, which is applied in one layer, does not dry in a 36 W lamp.

This is possible for several reasons:

• Insufficient drying time
• Low power
• Too thick layer

Powerful lamp
The average home user does not know how much power a gel polish lamp needs. Thus, the girl is forced to redo her manicure several times, removing the wet gel polish. It can form bubbles and peel off during wear. That is why many craftsmen and home users have decided to simplify their lives, so they purchase the most powerful lamps.

The well-known company Sun has released many new products, these are hybrid lamps for drying gel polish, which contain ultraviolet and LED bulbs rated at 72-80, and even 90 W. This power, compared to the standard 36 watt, seems simply enormous. Many craftsmen, in order to reduce work time, seek to purchase similar products. But is it worth buying high-power lamps for home users and craftsmen?

Lamp

Fluorescent UV lamps

A classic UV device consists of a plastic box containing:

• Several fluorescent light sources;
• control Panel;
• timer (optional);
• fan (optional).

UV lamp 9 Watt. Lightweight and compact option for home or travel use.

Well-known brands are UV9W and ruNail. Due to its low power, the unit consumes a small amount of electricity. This is the most budget option.

36 Watt. Type for faster drying of varnish, used by professionals, significantly accelerates the drying process of varnish.

It is larger in size than the previous one, optionally equipped with airflow. Brand RUNAIL, UV LAMP 36 W is a bright representative of this class.

Powers such as
18 and 54 W . The Planet Nails 54W brand has maximum power and built-in fans that protect the device from overheating.

Advantages and disadvantages of UV lamps

The advantage of such devices is a wide spectrum of UV radiation, thanks to which they dry any coating: regular varnish, gel polish, hard gels, biogels, etc.

Fluorescent UV lamps are many times cheaper than their LED competitors.

The disadvantage of fluorescent UV lamps is that at high power it burns the nail plate. If the power is low, the drying time will increase significantly. Here it is necessary to find a middle ground.

UV devices are inferior to ice lamps in the speed of polymerization of the varnish coating (2-3 minutes versus 30-60 seconds for LED).

High power overheats the device and requires forced cooling by fans.

The ultraviolet lamp has a short service life (about 3000 hours), and over time it loses its radiation power. Manufacturers recommend changing UV every 3-5 months.

UV lamps are unsafe for health and the environment. When broken, it releases toxic mercury vapor. These devices require special disposal.

Optimal lamp power for drying gel polish

In most cases, a 36-48 W lamp is quite acceptable for home users. Even pigmented gel polishes dry quite well at this power, drying within 1 minute.

Optimal lamp power for drying gel polish:

• Masters, in turn, want to save their time, so they often purchase powerful paws that allow them to listen to artificial material for 10-30 seconds. If with ordinary gel polish, which is applied in 2-3 layers, a power of 36-48 W is sufficient when drying for 30 seconds, then varnishes that are applied in one thick layer may not dry out in a 36 or 48 W lamp.
• It is for this purpose that highly powerful lamps have been created that allow you to dry even dense artificial turf within 10-30 seconds. It has been noticed that in such lamps the top and base dry out in just 10 seconds. This is a very short time, which allows you to reduce the period of manicure for masters and, accordingly, take on more clients.
• In fact, a saving of 20-30 seconds seems insignificant, but if you consider that the coating is performed on 10 nails in several layers, then you get quite a significant saving of 10-15 minutes. This time is enough to relax, have a snack and drink tea. Accordingly, masters are ready to purchase high-power lamps for drying gel polish.

Powerful lamp

Varnish selection

When choosing gel polish, you should not think that they are all the same in composition and quality, despite their general purpose and application technique. Each manufacturer has its own characteristics, which determine the cost, quality and characteristics of the coating. The cost of professional gel polish varies from 1,500 rubles per 15 ml bottle. If you do not receive clients at home, there is no point in giving that kind of money.

Bluesky

There are manufacturers offering budget gel polishes for home use. The average bill for one bottle will be 300-400 rubles. Of course, their composition is inferior to professional varnishes. But they are easy to use, look beautiful on nails and last up to three weeks.

What power should I choose for a gel polish lamp?

36 W power is not enough to quickly polymerize the entire thickness of the material. Therefore, in such cases, masters resort to tricks and perform extensions not in one layer, but in several.

What power to choose a lamp for gel polish:

• A transparent gel base is immediately applied, then a thin layer of camouflage is applied, which is dried in a lamp, and with the next leveling drop the final layer of camouflage gel is applied.
• But such implementation also requires a decent amount of time, which a manicurist sometimes doesn’t have enough of. It is for this purpose that powerful lamps were created; their main task is to dry camouflage, thick or white gel, which is laid out in a thick layer, in 30 seconds. With powerful lamps there will not be situations that were sometimes observed with 36 W lamps.
• When, after polymerization for 1 minute, the top layer polymerized, but the lower part of the material remained wet. This could worsen the wearability, the nail became soft over time.
• Even if a person walked before removal, then during the removal of the material with a cutter, it became clogged, due to the fact that the gel polish was washed away not by thin shavings and dust, but by wet flaps that heavily clogged the edges of the cutter. Thus, this led to damage to the cutters, cleaning them with iron brushes, or in ultrasound. As you know, such cleaning greatly dulls the cutter, reducing its service life.

Powerful lamp

Choosing a Base Coat

By base we mean a transparent coating that is applied in a thin layer to prepared nails. Without a base, the gel polish will crack and chip, and the manicure will not last as long as promised. The base gel is available in cream and pinkish shades. It is often used as a basis for a jacket or pattern.

Base tasks:

1. Strengthening nails - many manufacturers add caring components.
2. Preventing yellowness on nails.
3. Strong adhesion of the nail to the varnish.
4. By filling cracks and smoothing out uneven surfaces, the base prepares the nail for an even coating.
5. Protecting nails from harmful components contained in varnish.

Applying the base

For beginners, it is better to choose a rubber base. It has a thick consistency, applies easily and does not spread during operation. It evenly fills cracks, giving nails smoothness. The gel polish will lie flat and will be worn without cracks or chips.

Due to its thickness, the rubber base often bubbles, which is why the bubbles remain on the nails. To avoid this, do not keep the bottle open for a long time. And under no circumstances should you shake the base before use, as was previously done with conventional varnishes.

Pastel colors of Haruyama gel polishes

Is it worth buying a powerful 72.96 W nail lamp?

High power is an ideal option for those who do nail extensions using dense camouflage gel, polygel. Very often, white gel, as well as acrygel and dense camouflages, do not dry well in a 36 W lamp.

Should you buy a powerful nail lamp:

• If you are a home user who makes regular gel polish for yourself, then you can save money and purchase one of the available options. Now these are 24-48 W lamps. This power is quite enough to dry standard gel polish at home.
• If you are a master who models nails using solid materials such as polygel and gel, then it makes sense to purchase a powerful lamp.
• It has been proven that such lamps dry dense camouflage, white gels better, without leaving undried areas on the plate. This minimizes the appearance of detachments, as well as premature nail breakage.

San

Appearance, purpose, operating principle

An LED lamp is a device whose main function is to polymerize a special gel polish on nails . This happens due to the energy emitted by LEDs.

The design of the device is a plastic case, inside of which there are special light bulbs that emit light.

A control panel is located on the surface of the case. Almost all nail dryers have this structure. Different models differ in additional devices: timers, fans, retractable additional panels and other elements included in the set.

How to work with a powerful 72-96 W gel polish lamp?

There are features of working with such lamps. The fact is that any polymerization reaction of gel polish is accompanied by the release of a large amount of heat. That is, an exothermic reaction occurs, as a result of which the nail can become very hot. This is especially felt on very thin and weak nails.

How to work with a powerful gel polish lamp:

• Many women who have a thin, weak nail plate, which is very paper-like in thickness, have encountered the fact that the thick leveling layer of base in the lamp burns very strongly. This is despite the fact that a standard 36 W lamp can be used. In a powerful 96 or 80 W lamp, the reaction occurs several times faster. Accordingly, the burning sensation will be more intense.
• This can subsequently lead to onycholysis, chemical burns of the nails, and the formation of voids. Now podiatrists are really alarmed that there are several times more patients than a few years ago. This has something to do with the widespread use of manicure machines, as well as powerful ultraviolet lamps for drying gel polish. When drying in a powerful lamp, the nail becomes very hot, resulting in a burn to the nail bed.
• The nail simply lags behind the flesh, leaving a void. Very often, in these voids, if hygiene standards are not observed, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fungi grow. Which subsequently leads to damage to the nail plate. To prevent this from happening, be sure to use the power boost mode on thin and brittle nails. That is why you should not purchase the cheapest powerful options.

Buy devices that have the ability to set the mode. Some of them already provide for a gradual increase in power. For the first 10-15 seconds, the power is low, at 24-36 W, but towards the end of the drying period, the power increases. This allows you to dry gel polish as efficiently and quickly as possible, as well as artificial material such as gel.

Powerful lamp

Types of lamps for manicure and their purpose

Lamps for manicure and pedicure differ in the following parameters:

• by type of glow: LED, CCFL, UV and hybrid
• by radiation power: 9, 36, 24, 48, 50, 54, 66 W
• presence of a timer: for 5, 30, 60,90, 180 seconds
• presence of mode switch - UV, LED, combined
• the presence of an autostart sensor
• sizes and dimensions
• forms
• colors
• open or closed back wall
• removable magnetic or retractable bottom

Let's consider each of the characteristics in detail. Understanding the features will help you choose the right model for home or professional use, as well as figure out what materials and how to dry or polymerize. All drying materials are polymers that harden under the influence of ultraviolet or LED radiation. That is why the process of drying them is called polymerization. Sometimes you can see the term "baking". It refers to gel paints and gels.

List of Best High Power Gel Polish Lamps

The power of the lamp is strongly felt not only on transparent bases, but also on gels with a camouflage effect. This is due to the high pigmentation of the gels and translucency. This way the nail remains very sensitive.

If you use camouflage gel in your work, before applying it to the nail plate, try to apply a layer of base gel, which is slightly thicker in thickness than with a standard coating under artificial material.

To feel less burning, try to apply a thicker layer of transparent base. Alignment is not necessary if you are not going to do your nails using the filing-free technique.

List of the best high wattage gel polish lamps:

• STAR 5 at 72 W
• lamp SUNUV X Plus, 72 W
• lamp TNL Professional Sun, 72 W
• Manicure lamp SUN Elpaza S-2T 72 W for
  2 hands

Powerful lamp

What is a hybrid lamp

A hybrid lamp is a combined device for drying a coating, combining two types of light - ICE and another type - UV or CCFL. Due to the mixing of glows, polymerization occurs quickly and without compromising the quality of the coating.

There are two types of combination:

• LED+CCFL;
• LED + UV.

LED+CCFL

Before we talk about the features of this hybrid, let’s remember what each of the selected glows represents.

LED is a light-emitting diode that creates optical radiation that helps start the polymerization process when exposed to photoinitiators. LED glow is long, but has a narrow range, which is not enough to solidify some photoinitiators, so CCFL bulbs were added in tandem with LED.

LED lamp - characteristics and how to use it correctly

CCFLs are cold cathode fluorescent lamps filled with an inert gas. When current is applied, CCFLs produce short wavelength ultraviolet radiation with a wide range. The glow is capable of polymerizing material of any density, but due to its spiral shape and location in the manicure lamp, it cannot affect all edges of the nail with equal force. This disadvantage is compensated by LEDs.

The average drying time in an LED+CCFL lamp is 30 seconds.

Advantages of LED+CCFL lamps:

1. Durability . Both the luminescent coil and LEDs differ in their operating time. Minimum service life is 50,000 hours or 6 years of continuous operation. With a load of 4-5 people per day, such a device will last about 10 years.
2. Safety . The device does not emit a large amount of ultraviolet radiation, which affects the condition of the skin of the hands and provokes skin cancer.
3. High power with low power consumption . The hybrid nail dryer consumes half as much electricity as the LED + UV combination.

LED+UV

UV or UV - ultraviolet lamp - fluorescent light bulbs, the glow of which is achieved due to the effect of current on mercury vapor. Most known coatings polymerize, however, they differ in the duration of the complete drying cycle. To reduce the procedure time, LEDs were added to the UV.

ICE and UV glow helps uniform hardening in a short period of time - 30-60 seconds.

UV lamp: characteristics, disadvantages, features of choice

Both types of combination lamps do not differ in performance and drying speed, so you should choose a specific model based on your own habits, desires and price category.

Powerful lamp for gel polish: reviews

Below you can find customer reviews.

Powerful lamp for gel polish, reviews:

Alina. I professionally do nail extensions and gel polish. I do my work at home and buy mostly inexpensive materials, mainly on AliExpress. Last time I ordered a powerful lamp rated at 76 W. In my old 36 W tunnel lamp, camouflage gels did not dry well. There are no such problems with this lamp. The main problem is that the nail gets very hot, clients complain of a burning sensation. I usually tell them to pull the nails out for a couple of seconds, then put them back into the lamp.

Svetlana. I recently became the owner of a powerful Sun lamp designed for 2 hands. A very convenient purchase, especially if you use a thick base and pigmented gel polish that does not flow. This way you can coat all your nails without wasting time drying one at a time. Before this I worked using the conveyor method, but now I cover all my nails at once. Of course, it will not be possible to level the nail plate by immersing both hands in the lamp at once, since usually bases that are well leveled can flow. Therefore, I do the leveling using the conveyor method. I apply a base for extensions to all nails and strengthen them with polygel on both hands at once. It is convenient to dry pedicures in such a lamp, since there is no need for a leveling layer of material, it does not sag.

Oksana. Before that, I had a 48 W lamp, it completely suited me. Recently there has been a fashion for powerful lamps, I couldn’t resist and purchased a SAN. I’m very pleased, but in this lamp almost all the bases bake very strongly. I associate this with high power. Now I try to pull my nails out as soon as the burning starts. Sometimes I set the mode with a gradual increase in power. Fortunately, the lamp allows you to do this.

Lamp
Interesting articles for manicurists and home users can be found here:

How to choose the color of nail polish for a perfect manicure?

Nails peel under gel polish, after gel polish: reasons, what to do? What base is suitable for peeling nails, how to apply the coating?

Primer and degreaser, dehydrator - are they the same thing, which is better? What to use first: primer or degreaser, dehydrator for nail extensions, eyelashes?

For home users who are not experienced craftsmen, it is not recommended to purchase powerful lamps. This can cause onycholysis and burns of the nail bed due to rapid drying of the base.

Using an LED lamp

Before using the device, you must carefully study the operating instructions. Particular attention should be paid to the following information:

• clarify the relationship between drying time and adjustable power ;
• study the list of materials the lamp is designed to work with ;
• read the list of precautions .

Proper use of the lamp will ensure high-quality manicure and the safety of the device for many years.

If you did not purchase an LED lamp from a professional store, this video will show you how to check the package, unpack, install and start using the device:

List of materials for shellac at home for beginners

When applying shellac to your nails yourself at home, you need to buy all the necessary products for the procedure and special equipment for beginners. It is not advisable to save on materials, since the safety of the “native” nail plates and the durability of the manicure depend on their quality. Therefore, whether gel polish is harmful or not depends only on the quality of your materials.

The list of purchases necessary for such a manicure includes:

• base;
• fixative;
• top;
• colored gel polish;
• primer (degreaser);
• cuticle softening oil;
• means for removing cuticles and sticky residue on the coating;
• files of varying degrees of abrasiveness, buff, tweezers;
• cuticle remover tools;
• drying lamp.

Delicate texture, natural radiance - Maybelline cream highlighter.

Shellac is similar to a classic manicure, but requires mandatory polymerization in a special lamp.

Degreaser overview

The very first stage of applying the coating is degreasing the nail plate. The purpose of this action is to remove all possible excess remaining on the nail. The basis of this type of product is alcohol. It is this that promotes the most precise cleansing of the nail. More expensive degreasers, as a rule, also contain vitamins and oils that help maintain the high quality of the natural nail. Another advantage of this product is the ability to disinfect wounds caused by hand treatment. When creating a basic set for gel manicure, you should pay attention to degreasers from brands such as CND and DOMIX.