How Thick Should You Apply Bottled Builder Gel?

Bottled builders have been a magnificent invention in the nail industry. Their purpose is to overlay natural length nails.

But unlike potted builders (soft or hard), bottled builders have defined parameters. 

Specifically on how thick they can be applied and the length of nails they should be applied to.

Today, I will show you the thickness you should work with when using bottled builder gel and why it is particularly important with bottled builders.

Let’s begin.

What is bottled builder gel?

A bottled builder gel is a gel with low to medium viscosity that allows for leveling and reinforcing the surface of natural nails.

Bottled builders are sometimes referred to by their trendy names, BIAB, which stands for builder in a bottle, and “rubber base.” (I recently did a whole video on what rubber base gel if you are interested.)… 

Because hard gel is often more viscous, making it not ideal to be dispensed from a bottle…

Bottled builder gels are typically -like 99% of the time- soft gel, meaning they can soak off in acetone. In addition, these bottled builders cure with a semi-hard rigidity, making them capable of being rebalanced, meaning that they do not need to be soaked off in acetone and reapplied every service. But if you wanted to soak them off, you could, after filing them down very thin.

Bottled builders are very popular because they are lightweight and fast to apply. Some brands require no bonder or pH dehydrator before applying the base gel to the natural nail. I use a bottled builder like that. It is the Nail Thoughts by Kokoist bottled builder.

Bottled builders are fast to apply because they are base and builder in one formula, and very often 3-in-1 because they are offered in tinted shades. This is essentially what makes them super popular—the ease of application.

Who is bottled builder gel for?

First, I want to address the parameters we should uphold when using a bottled gel builder.

By that, I mean bottled builder gel is not for everyone, although it fits most nail types.

Bottled gel builder is especially for short to medium-length natural nails and, as mentioned, should not be applied thicker than 2 credit card thickness.

While bottled builders do exclude some people, they actually include and fit the majority of people because the truth is, after servicing hundreds of clients, most want their natural nails a short to medium length, and enhanced not fully reconstructed, as is usually the goal with hard products.

The primary focus of structure soft gel systems is to enhance the look and feel of natural nails by leveling and adding support.

So here we go. Let’s jump into the studio real quick to review the thickness of a Bottled Builder application.

Reasons why bottled builders should not be applied too thick…

There are three main reasons why bottled builders should not be applied too thickly.

Reason #1 Improper Cure

Light needs to penetrate effectively through the material to cure properly. A proper cure may not be the issue with a clear gel, but with tinted gels, it is definitely. Too thick and light will not penetrate and properly cure that gel.

Make sure to stir your tinted builders often to avoid color separation, which can lead to an improper cure.

Improperly cured gel is a leading cause of allergies.

Reason # 2 Not Cute.

Simple. I haven’t met anyone who purposely wanted thick nails. Clients and I want only as much thickness as is necessary to improve the look and strength of our nails.

Reason #3 Wasting Product

Say you didn’t apply your gel in just one thick dollop, and instead, you got to a thickness by doing a base layer, a build layer, and another build layer, curing in between layers, of course. And say you did that because you wanted to make those nails thicker.

Well, actually, the answer is not more layers of bottled builder; the answer is to switch to a more viscous gel, as a soft gel specialist, that would be your potted soft gel builder. This gel has more viscosity and, therefore, more strength, which makes it the answer for when you want to reinforce nails more, which is typically the case when the nails are longer.

Final Thoughts…

A bottled builder is not really there to reconstruct the natural nails. It is there to accentuate them. You’re working with the nails you have, your or the client’s, and merely enhancing them with a bit of structure. If you need to reconstruct nails because they are misshapen fully, or if reconstructing nails to a specific standard is your thing, then hard products are what you’re looking for, whether that’s hard gel, acrylic, or poly gel.

If you’re just starting out in your nail journey, it is imperative that you choose one area of focus: soft gel or hard gel. Personally, I recommend soft gel systems as they are easier to master and will fit nearly all of your clientele. As you get more experienced, you can start incorporating hard gel into your work, but only if you want to.

Specializing in a niche that truly lights you up using high-quality products is something I teach in my free masterclass.

And if you’re seriously digging bottled builders and would like to expand your knowledge of them and learn how to apply them safely and precisely, then I would love for you to join me in this season of Nail Thoughts Online Certification. 

The Nail Thoughts Certification is a program to certify you in the application of long-wearing structured overlays on natural nail lengths using Nail Thoughts Bottled Builders, which is the bottled line for KOKOIST Japanese Gel.

Enrollment is now open; you can view more details or join us using the link below.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Don’t forget to subscribe and stick around for the next topic. Bye for now.

Paola Ponce is a licensed nail tech of 10+ years and a certified Japanese gel educator.

Learn more about her journey as a specialized gel nail artist and her gel nail application course inside her free masterclass here.

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