BIAB Nails – overlays on natural nails

What is BIAB?

For starters, BIAB is a professional-only soak-off soft-gel “specifically formulated to be used as an overlay on the natural nail,” It’s gentler than acrylic, but thicker than regular nail polish and gel polish. The protective shell it creates over nails is designed to encourage natural nail growth and strength.

“It was created to provide extra strength and protection against breakages, allowing customers to grow their nails to new lengths,” says Giorgia. In terms of appearance, it looks similar to gels and shellac, creating a smooth shiny, manicured finish, but the application process looks a little different.

How is BIAB applied?

Prep

Your manicurist will start by prepping the nails (filing, buffing, cuticle work) and removing any residue on the nail with pure acetone.

Base

Next your manicurist will apply the base (a thin layer of the BIAB polish over the natural nail, or the brand’s rubber base if you want to use the clear or white shade), which is cured like a normal gel base on a low heat mode.

BIAB

Here’s where things start looking a bit different. Rather than traditional-looking liquid polish, the BIAB nail colours come in thicker gels. Rather than a thin coat of your nail colour of choice applied over the nail, your manicurist will apply a thick bead of BIAB, spreading it side to side and dragging the soft gel away from the cuticle. You can choose a natural colour and use BIAB as your base before following with a gel colour on top. Or you can choose from BIABs wide range of colours and make this step your colour coat. Your manicurist will work to avoid creating a thick build-up around the free edge and cuticle, then seal the free edge. You can do this step twice if you want a more opaque finish, building and curing one nail at a time.

Refine and buff

Next your manicurist will wipe each nail with alcohol to remove any stickiness, then they’ll refine the finish of the polish by filing it (which makes it more glossy), removing any dust with a duster brush.

Extras

Once you’ve got the base, you can go in on top with nail art, or if you’re just using the BIAB as a base, you can apply any regular gel shade you like on top, then finish with a thin layer of top coat.

 

How long does BIAB take to apply?

In general it takes slightly longer than other gel services. Your manicurist should spend a good amount of time on perfectly prepping the nail, so block out around an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half.

What’s the difference between BIAB and shellac or other gels?

“BIAB differs from other gels and patented brands such as ‘Shellac’ due to its formulation. BIAB is not a regular gel polish in itself. It is thicker in consistency and comes in a range of pigmentations, which allow it to be worn as an overlay, a strengthening base for gel colours or as the colour, paired with our extreme shine top coat,” “Whilst all products are still considered a ‘gel’, we can categorise base coats, gel polish colours and top coats as regular gel formulations, BIAB as soft gel and Gel Pot as hard gels,”