Nail Tips

Plastic tips are rigid ABS with a well that is glued on and then blended into the natural nail with a file. Soft gel tips are made from cured gel, are full coverage, and bond to the whole nail with an extend gel, so they flex like a natural nail and need very little blending. Plastic is cheaper per tip; soft gel is faster to apply and gentler on the nail plate.

The tip should sit sidewall to sidewall with no gap and no overhang, and should not be forced onto a narrower nail. Size boxes run from largest to smallest, so pre-size all ten fingers before applying any adhesive. If a tip sits between two sizes, take the larger one and file the sidewalls down.

Yes. The tip itself is already cured, but the extend gel that bonds it to the nail must be cured under a UV or LED lamp. Traditional plastic tips glued with cyanoacrylate adhesive do not require a lamp for the tip application itself.

With correct sizing, prep and product, a tip set typically wears two to three weeks before a fill. Wear time depends far more on nail prep and apex placement than on the tip itself, and lifting at the sidewalls is usually a sizing or prep issue rather than a product failure.

Yes. C8 Nail Supply stocks nail tips in 50-piece bags through 600-piece boxes, single-size refill bags and case quantities for salons and individual technicians, shipping nationwide from Garden Grove, California, with pickup available at our Garden Grove showroom.