Why choose dip over gel?
Dipping powder outlasts shellac gel by roughly a week and resists chipping better under hands-on use, because the powder-and-resin layer is physically harder than cured gel polish. It also needs no lamp at all. The trade-off is that dip sits slightly thicker than gel and the color range, while wide, is smaller.
In practice we recommend dip to people whose hands work: healthcare staff, warehouse and airport workers, hairstylists, teachers, parents of small children, anyone gardening or lifting regularly. If shellac has been failing on you at week one and a half, dip is very likely the fix.
How is dipping powder applied?
- Nails are shaped, cuticles tidied, and the surface lightly buffed and dehydrated.
- A bonding base is brushed onto one nail at a time.
- Powder is applied to that nail, then the process repeats for a second and usually third layer to build even color.
- An activator sets the resin chemically — no lamp, no cure time.
- The set is filed and shaped smooth, then sealed with a glossy top coat.
Worth asking any salon: whether they dip your fingers straight into a communal jar. Best practice is to pour the powder over the nail into a separate dish, or use a dedicated jar per client. Communal dipping is how the technique earned its reputation, and it's entirely avoidable.
Dip with tips, and adding length
Plain dipping powder works with the length you already have. If you want more, dipping powder with tips is $55 — a tip is applied first, then the powder is built over it. Extra length beyond the standard is $5.
Dip adds a modest amount of strength but it isn't a sculpting medium. If you want a dramatic length change or a coffin or stiletto shape, acrylic is the right service — we'd rather point you there than build something on dip that won't hold.
French and designs on dip
Classic French on dip is $10, and almond French is $15. A design is $10.
The most-requested version here is a nude-to-white blend — a softer take on the French tip that grows out without a hard line. It's worth the extra twenty minutes if you go three or four weeks between appointments, because it looks deliberate the whole way through rather than only in week one.
How is dip removed?
The top layer is filed off so the acetone can reach the product, then the nails soak for fifteen to twenty minutes. Dipping powder removal is $15. Never pry or pop dip off — it's rigid enough to come away in a shell and it takes nail plate with it.
Between sets, a week off with daily cuticle oil restores flexibility. Nails don't 'breathe' — that's a myth, they're dead keratin fed by the nail bed underneath — but they do dry out under product, and oil fixes that.
Dipping Powder pricing
| Dipping Powder60 min | $50 |
| Dipping Powder with tips60 min | $55 |
| Design20 min | $10 |
| Classic Frenchadd-on | $10 |
| Almond French10 min | $15 |
| Extra lengthadd-on | $5 |
These are the live prices from our booking system. Length, shape and art can add to the total, and we quote before we begin. See the full price list.
