Apres Nail Tips

Apres Gel-X refill bags: 164 single-size bags across twelve shapes and lengths

This page holds the Apres Gel-X Natural refill bags at ND Nails Supply: 164 bags, each 50 soft gel tips of one size, across twelve shape and length combinations, Square in short, medium, and long, Coffin in short, medium, and long, Almond in short, medium, and long, Stiletto in short and medium, and Round in medium, in sizes 0 to 9 with half sizes between. Apres Gel-X is the soft gel tip that made the full-cover extension a salon service: a tip molded from Apres's own soft gel, bonded with the Apres Extend Gel and cured, worn as the nail for four weeks and more, and soaked off in acetone instead of filed. The refill bag is how a working Gel-X salon keeps its box sets full, because a box of 500 empties its middle sizes long before its ends; a bag of 50 in the one size that ran out refills it at the single-size price. The Natural line has a flatter surface and less C-curve than the Apres Sculpted line, made for the client with a flatter nail bed. Everything is wholesale-priced for everyone, no license and no minimum.

What is on this page

Every bag is one price, whatever the shape or size, and 12 of the 164 are out of stock at the time of writing, most of them Almond Short and Almond Medium sizes. The sizes run 0 to 9 with the half sizes, 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5 among them, that the Gel-X system uses to fit a nail that sits between two whole sizes; the bag label carries the line, shape, length, and size as a code, N-SM-0 for Natural Square Medium size 0, and the listing title says the same in words.

How the Gel-X sizing works

• Sizes 0 to 9. 0 is the widest tip, for the thumb on a wide nail bed, and 9 the narrowest, for the smallest pinky; most hands fit between 2 and 7, which is why those sizes empty first.
• Half sizes. The half steps, 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5, are there so a tip sits sidewall to sidewall without filing the natural nail; a client who is between a 5 and a 6 gets a 5.5 rather than a filed-down 5.
• One size per bag. A bag is 50 tips of one size, so a salon reorders exactly the size that ran out rather than a mixed box with sizes it does not need.
• Natural or Sculpted. This page is the Natural line, the flatter tip with less C-curve for a flatter nail bed; a client with a strongly curved nail wears the Sculpted line, which is not on this page.

Which shapes and lengths to keep in the drawer

1. The core. Almond Medium, Coffin Medium, and Square Short in sizes 2 to 7 are the tips most Gel-X sets use, and the sizes a salon holds two bags deep.
2. Length up. Coffin Long, Almond Long, and Square Long for the long-nail book, in the same middle sizes.
3. The point. Stiletto Short for the everyday point and Stiletto Medium for the client who wants a longer one; ND lists the Natural Stiletto in short and medium only.
4. The natural set. Round Medium and Square Short for the client who wants strength at her own length, and for the toe on a pedicure extension.
5. The ends. Sizes 0, 1, 8, and 9 one bag each; they go slowly but the thumb and pinky of an unusual hand cannot be fitted without them.

Applying a Gel-X tip

1. Size. Fit each tip sidewall to sidewall from the bag; take the half size before filing a whole size down, and never file the natural nail to fit a tip.
2. Prep. Push back, remove shine, dust, dehydrate, then the Apres pH Bonder and the Non-Acidic Gel Primer, which leaves the tacky surface the tip bonds to.
3. Extend Gel. A thin layer of Apres Extend Gel on the nail and a little in the well of the tip; buff the inside of the tip first if it is not pre-etched.
4. Seat and cure. Press on from the cuticle side at an angle, push toward the free edge to clear air, flash-cure a few seconds, then full-cure through the tip under the lamp.
5. Shape and finish. Keep the length or trim it, refine the edge, then base, color, and top as for a gel manicure. The Apres Base Gel Coat and Non-Wipe Glossy Top on the base and top page are the matching finish.

A Gel-X set soaks off like gel: file the top and color through, wrap in acetone, and let the tip and Extend Gel soften rather than prying the tip up. The tip is the same soft gel through and through, which is why removal does not need a drill.

Refill bag or box set

An Apres box holds 500 tips, 50 of each of ten sizes, and it is the way to open a Gel-X shape at a salon. The refill bag is what keeps that box useful after the first month: a busy salon empties sizes 3 to 6 in weeks while sizes 0, 1, 8, and 9 sit nearly full, and a second box would only pile up more ends. Buying the bag of the size that ran out, in the shape and length the client book uses, keeps the drawer balanced and the spend on the tips that are placed. Because every bag is one price, a salon refills by size without a price conversation, and because the refill is the same soft gel as the box, a set built from refills wears the same four weeks and more.

Why a Gel-X tip lifts or pops, and the fix

• Lifting at the sidewall: a whole size where a half size was needed, so the tip bridged the nail. Refit with the half size.
• The tip pops off: the primer step was skipped or the Extend Gel was applied thick and never cured through. Bonder, primer, thin gel, flash then full cure.
• Air under the tip: pressed straight down instead of rolled on from the cuticle side. Seat at an angle and push toward the free edge.
• Lifting on a curved nail: the Natural line on a client with a strong C-curve. She wears the Sculpted line.

Reading a Gel-X bag label

The listing title spells the same code out in words, so a reorder is a search for the title rather than a guess at the bag; a salon that keeps its drawer sorted the way the codes read pulls the right bag without opening three.

Storage and reorder

Keep the bags sealed in a drawer sorted by shape, length, and size, in the order the labels read, so a tech pulls N-CM-5 without opening three bags. Soft gel tips keep for years out of sunlight; a bag left open on the desk picks up dust that shows under the Extend Gel. Reorder by the listing title, which carries the shape, length, and size, and count the middle sizes of the core shapes weekly, because those are the bags that empty between orders. The Extend Gel, bonder, primer, base, and top are on the Apres base and top page and are bought once for many sets.

Wholesale pricing at ND Nails Supply

Every Apres Gel-X refill bag is wholesale-priced for everyone, with no business license, no minimum order, and no membership fee, and all 164 bags sit at one price whatever the shape, length, or size, so the drawer is refilled by what the client book uses rather than by cost. There are no kits on this page; the box sets and the liquids are on their own pages. Free shipping on orders $100+, and in-stock bags ordered before 2pm PT on weekdays leave the same day.

Related collections at ND

• Apres base, top, and pH BonderThe liquids that bond and finish a Gel-X set.
• Apres soft gelThe Gel-X box sets and the Extend Gel.
• Soft gel, all brandsApres beside LAVIS, LDS, and DND.
• LAVIS soft gel tipsThe private-label boxes with matte and half matte finishes.
• LDS soft gel tipsCoffin, stiletto, and toe boxes.
• DND soft gel tipsClear boxes of 1,000, five shapes in five lengths.
• Nail tips and glueHalf-well tips for acrylic and glue-on sets.
• Nail lampsThe lamp that cures the tip through.

Related reads

• BIAB vs Builder Gel vs Hard GelWhat goes over a soft gel tip.
• 10 Biggest Nail TrendsWhere Gel-X extensions sit this year.
• How to Do Gel Nails at HomeThe gel steps after the tip is on.