Green glitter acrylic and Review

I wanted to give you guys a full review of the glitter acrylic experience, but alas it's harder to do with wet nails and the tech demanding your hands as she moves swiftly getting me out of her chair. Read on for more!

Step 1- Pick your color! I pick the glitter design look I want from a selection of boards (imagine.. decorated false nails glued to an emory board.. don't ask.. lol) All types of acrylic are available: solid colors, bar glitter, tiny small glitter, the shard glass glitter that I've had before, all colors.. quite the array. Once I've made my selection, the tech goes to her millions of jars of powder to get my requested one. This is what my glitter acrylic looks like in powder form. You can barely see the glitter, right?


Step 2- Get a 'fill'. To start, she removes the old acrylic with a drill. Lots of dust, wear a mask and don't wear black, lol! She lays the new wet acrylic down and covers my entire nail. Because of the glitter and color concentration, the acrylic nail set is pretty thick, but not in a ridiculous fashion. Here's the finished fill, filed and shaped. It's matte, a bit pasty and looks dry.

Step 3- Application of gel top coat. Then comes the magic gel top coat to give it brilliant and lasting shine! I couldn't get a pic of her applying the gel top coat and seeing the difference, but here are my nails once I got home.

The gel gives it a jelly look with nice shine. This set doesn't have the same glassy shine as other set I've had. The glitter in this set is mostly green but flashes a light blue and deep turquoise in different lights. Since the glitter is deep close to the nail and all the way thru the acrylic to the top, the glitter has great dimension. Sometimes from afar, the glitter looks like flakes of glitter because of the depth.

Step 4- Dry and you're done. The gel has to dry for about 10 minutes or less and then I'm free to go!

I don't know the brand they use-As you can see from the jar in the first picture, there is no label or branding so I have no idea what brand the powder is. I suspect it's Tammy Taylor, but I'm not sure. The gel they use is even out of a generic brown polish bottle.

I only have positive things to say about getting this type of manicure/acrylic fill. I haven't had a broken nail yet, the shiny top coat stays forever until your next refill, you can paint over the nails (though I haven't tried), no chipping, I spend less time in the shop because drying time is cut significantly. Women even pay $$$$$ getting this on their toes. I understand the appeal of the color with shine and no chipping, but I just can't do the acrylic on my feet and getting a fill for that!!

There are only 2 drawbacks I can think of:
1-the price. I've heard quotes from $25 to $50..never will I pay $50.. I have wayyy too many glitter polishes to go around!.. and
2- your tech. I really want my tech to be an artist and get creative with this great medium. I wanted red glitter with white moons or marble 2 colors on my nails. Ahhh, alas, she's not the one to take more time to be creative. The tech likes this because she can do it in about 30-40mins and be on to the next one.

Does that explain everything? Does it make sense? I hope it answers any questions! Let me know if you have more!