Kiara Sky - DIP Dipping Powder System Starter Kit

Delivery good, product good, happy client!

Not too proud to say that I am vain, and REALLY wanted to keep my dip nails up through this Corona virus crisis, so I took matters into my own hands and bought this kit (I will go back to the nail salon when this is over, because let’s face it, a lot of small businesses are really going to need our support). Back to the kit- overall, it’s awesome. It’s professional quality and it has all full size bottles and powders. While I have had the dip done at the salon many times, I had never done them myself. Overall, I found this kit super easy to use — though here’s a tip, google Kiara Sky videos and follow them. They make it very easy and if you take your time, you can easily get this right on the first try (the kit has written instructions too, but the videos are better in my opinion). This French Kit comes with full size bottles of bond, base, seal protect, top coat, oil and brush saver. It has 5 powders (natural, white and 3 shades of pink - all sheer). The kit also comes with the dip case and a pack of brush replacements. I was hoping the pinks were a little more opaque but what can you do. My dip is pretty thin, the way I like it! If you want to do this right, I recommend getting a package of medium grit nail files and buffers and maybe a fluffy brush for the dust. If you want to go crazy, you can also get the drill/eFile for shaping (there is a $20ish dollar one on Amazon that works well), but honestly, if you follow the videos, you can get good results with a hand file. I’ll put the links to the accessories I bought below. One more important tip - put a lot of paper towels or old towels underneath your hands! No matter how neat you think you are, this powder is very fine and you will have some on the table. Hope that helps! Here are the links to the accessories I bought: Buffers/Files: Nail Files and Buffer, TsMADDTs Professional Manicure Tools Kit Rectangular Art Care Buffer Block Tools 100/180 Grit 12Pcs/Pa https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FQMXB55/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_HAACEbENFH949 Fluffy dust brush: RUITASA Soft Nail Art Dust Remover Powder Brush Cleaner For Acrylic & UV Nail Gel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PX1DVRC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_aBACEbMWDNEQT Drill/eFile: MelodySusie Portable Electric Nail Drill, Professional Efile Nail Drills for Acrylic Nails，Nail E File Nail Kit for Gel Nails, Manicure Pedicure Polishing Shape Tools Design for Home Salon Use, Purple https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H05EDK0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_RzACEbK5NG54V

Updating my review as of May 16th and knocking this down to one star. Last week I attempted another full set and was sorely disappointed. The issues with the polishes still exist. The top coat is absolutely useless, it doesn't even work. It's not a clear shiny protectant that most top coats should be. This top coat just dissolves into the dip powder on your nail and that's it. After 3 days all of my nails started the crack and fall off, ive included a picture below. This is such a waste of TIME AND MONEY. Do not buy this product, every aspect of my experience with this product has been negative. April 28,2017- What a disappointment. Here is what I experienced: -The seller has increased the price of the product almost weekly since I started researching dip manicures. When I started looking they listed is at around $70, now its over $115, which is absurd! Stick to a price fair price and leave it at that. The price has skyrocketed nearly $50 bucks for the same low quality product. -The package was delayed almost 3 weeks.The product comes with free shipping but my package was delayed 2 times and arrived 3 weeks after it was supposed to. - The product didn't come with instructions?!?!?!!!! Even though this system is for professionals, instructions, tips and best practices for using the product is necessary, especially since there are so many steps! -It took me 2 attempts at the full set to get a semi-acceptable manicure. Perhaps my kit was sitting in a warehouse for a long time because of all of the liquids were super clumpy and not a clear/liquid/consistent polish. My first try the manicure came out so bubbly and lop sided because of the clumpy polish I soaked it off and tried again. I had to vigorously (super super hard) shake each bottle so that it wasnt clumpy. - This system only comes with colors to do a french manicure. If you don't like french manicures (like me), then you paid an astronomical amount for polish and a bunch of powders you'll never use. You'll have to buy additional colors, making this kit an even worse deal.

I am new to using the dip powder system but already love it. Although there is a learning curve to using it, it's MUCH easier than using the acrylic nail system with brushes. I'm posting photos below to show what the nails looked like after 2 weeks of my first use with the product (with gel polish rather than dipping powder color) and then after I did my fill (with dipping powder color). I still need practice as filling the nails is not as easy as I would have thought and the product ended up being somewhat thicker than I would have liked. Since I used dipping powder product for color this time, I was afraid that too much filing would take the color off and I wasn't sure how to fix that if I went too far. Regardless, I am super happy with this product. I had absolutely zero lifting which was a huge problem for me with the acrylics. I was not extra gentle with my nails and not one of them was even close to breaking in two weeks. Using the acrylics I had constant breakage (I think because I don't know how to build the nail that well) and was constantly fixing them. Other than minor filing with the dipping powder set, the upkeep was minimal. The process is also much shorter (for me) than using the acrylics. It used to take at least half a day to do acrylics (fill or new set) and with this dipping powder system I'm done in an hour and a half (start to finish). You can't beat that. I did have a problem this time with the brushes detaching from the handle, but I just screwed the handle back on and pressed down as I was unscrewing and that seemed to work. There is a set of extra brushes that comes with the kit but I'm trying to hold off from using them for now (after all, it's only my second time using them!). There is also minimal odor! This kit does not have the same noxious odor as the acrylics do. At the most it might just smell like nail polish. This is a great system and I would only say that it gets better with practice. Knowing how to file is also a huge help! But all-in-all I highly recommend this product and cannot wait to try new colors.

So I've been using this stuff for a while now and can give a review. Instructions are easy to follow, however they don't include important information you need to prevent issues that WILL happen if you don't go online and learn about these issues first. Such as brushes hardening. VERY BIG ISSUE when you're trying to get a nice look and the brush hardens during the top coat preventing you from being able to put it on! So I highly recommend doing research before attempting to do this for the first time. I did that and it went much easier for me because I'd purchased everything I was going to need (brush, electric file, lint free wipes, tray for clear powder, clear powder). Unfortunately the base coat was stuck after 6 uses (complete sets I mean so this is a few months) and my husband broke the whole bottle opening it for me. I've been searching how to keep it from getting piled up around the neck and it's hard to find any hacks! (Finally found one that says put petroleum around before first use so I'm going to try that on my next bottle I order.) The top coat is the worst! I've tried washing my hands, rubbing the lint free wipe really really good, and the brush wouldn't harden that bad. I'd use the brush saver when it hardened (making sure to wipe the brushes). Of course this stuff is like super glue so it's horrible to wipe the brush clean! But after all of extra care I took, my top coat turned GOOEY!!! There is NOTHING online about it becoming gooey and what to do! I called Kiara Sky and she said the bottle probably wasn't closed all the way. She didn't even know! I tried to apply it anyways (it was like melted cheese lol!) but it dried in glossy little lines or patches. Filed it off and just applied a regular top coat. Ordered a new one and was so sad when the brush hardened on 2nd coat. Ugh!! Lastly, the last two times I worked on three sets of nails one after the other (you know, because everyone wants me to do their nails now), and I suffered from a horrible cough and my nose was completely stuffed I could only breathe thru my mouth. The last time I thought I was sick, but it lasted 2 days with no other symptoms. Last night I did the three sets and coughed and wheezed all night and can't breathe AT ALL thru my nose! Wish I'd seen a warning to wear a mask in a review or on their tutorials or something. I'm giving 3 stars because I feel this is average of a powder kit and probably no better or worse than the other brands. It lasts 2 weeks. Chipping occurs depending on how many layers you apply. The more layers, less likely to chip. I don't feel like I really got my money's worth since I'm already replacing bottles that were not done. I am looking at trying other brands now and they all seem to have these same issues, so this seems to be the norm for powder dips.

I really love how easy this kit is to use, but I will not be using the topcoat again. After painting 3 nails with #4 topcoat, the first nail bed began to burn. I submerged the nails into acetone, which stopped the burn. This burn may strictly be unique to me, or user error (I only used one layer of dip product and maybe this caused the burn? I will appreciate a comment on this if someone knows.) Regardless, I would HIGHLY suggest new users to test one nail through the whole process. I have very thin nails with vertical ridges. I decided not to stress my nails with removal, so I left on the #1, #2, or #3 products. I waited half a day, buffed them smooth, then painted on a different brand of topcoat. I may use #1, #2, and #3 again because it does a great job of filling the ridges and making my nails sturdier. I will post later on how well they wear and how easily they remove. UPDATE: As I mentioned before, I did not follow the instructions exactly because the topcoat #4 burned. I suspect this is the reason that the product chipped in two days. I also had another problem on my bad vertical ridges. When I tried to remove the product, it stuck too well into the ridges. Rather than tear my paper fine nails, I just left it in the grooves. My conclusion is if your nails are sturdy and smooth, this this product is fantastic. If a person has ridged. grooved, and super thin nails (like mine), this product may not be the best choice. Still, I hate to give up. I would LOVE to hear from anyone with thin ridged nails who has adapted this product and has made it work, MAYBE with peel off base coat???