Frequently asked questions
What comes in a QT duo set?
Two 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) bottles in the same shade under one number: a soak-off gel polish for professional use that cures under UV or LED, and a matching nail lacquer that air dries. The gel is the long-wear half, described by the brand as a high-gloss finish that wears up to three weeks and soaks off in ten to fifteen minutes. The lacquer is the quick half. One number therefore covers both the client booked for a gel manicure and the one who wants polish the same day.
What does peelable lacquer mean in practice?
The lacquer half comes off without acetone, which suits event color, toes during a pedicure where the client will not sit for a lamp, clients who cannot or do not want gel, and display tips that get rebuilt. The trade is wear: a film designed to release lifts at the edges once water gets under it, so it is not the finish for a client who works with her hands or washes up without gloves, and it should not be sold as a two-week manicure. Say which half is which at the chair.
What shades are left on this page?
Nineteen numbers that lean toward effect finishes: nine carry glitter and six carry shimmer, so over half the page sparkles under a lamp. By hue the largest group is purple with five, then blue with four, gray with three, and three multi-tone shades, with pink, red, green, brown, coral, white, and a clear filling in singly. What is missing is a deep bench of nudes and classic reds, which is what goes first on any range that is selling through, so keep the everyday neutrals on a line that is still restocked.
These are clearance. How should a salon buy them?
Swatch what is bought and write the number on the back of the stick, because the number is the only identity these shades have and the range will not come back once it sells through. Buy shades that fit the wall the salon already has rather than the prettiest bottles, taking two of any accent that is already on the chart. Then plan the replacement: swatch each QT number beside its nearest neighbor from a line still in production, so a client can be moved across at her next appointment without a discussion about discontinued stock.
What is in the QT gel and lacquer collection
19 QT duo sets at wholesale, each one a soak-off gel polish and a matching nail lacquer in 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) bottles, sold as a single listing under a number rather than a shade name. Five of the nineteen are out of stock as this page was written. The line is listed at ND under the Gelixir brand, and every QT duo here carries the clearance tag, which means the shade sells at its regular wholesale price until the stock is gone and is not reordered. What is left is the tail of a much larger chart, so the numbers on this page are the numbers a salon can still match.
What is in one duo
| Bottle | Type | Cure or dry | Removal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gel polish | Soak-off gel, for professional use | UV or LED lamp | Soaks off, which the brand puts at 10 to 15 minutes |
| Nail lacquer | Peelable air-dry lacquer | Air dries, no lamp | Peels off |
Both bottles are the same shade and the same size, which is the whole point of a duo: one number covers the client who books a gel manicure and the client who wants polish on the same day, without the salon buying two chart systems. The brand describes the gel as a high-gloss finish that wears up to three weeks without chipping or peeling, applies thin, and cures under either UV or LED.
The peelable lacquer is the unusual half
Most gel-and-lacquer duos pair a soak-off gel with an ordinary solvent lacquer. The QT lacquer is a peelable, air-dry formula, and that changes where a salon uses it. It comes off without acetone, which suits a client who wants color for an event and gone by Monday, a teenager whose parent does not want remover involved, and toes in a pedicure where the client will not sit for a lamp. It also makes swatching easy: a peel-off coat on a display tip can be lifted and replaced when the chart is rebuilt.
The trade is wear. A peelable lacquer is designed to release, so it is not the finish for a client who works with her hands or washes dishes without gloves, and it should not be sold as a two-week manicure. On the gel side of the same duo she gets the long wear; on the lacquer side she gets the easy removal. Saying which is which at the chair prevents the only complaint this product generates.
What is left on the chart
The nineteen remaining duos lean toward effect finishes rather than flat creams. Nine carry glitter and six carry shimmer, so more than half the page sparkles under a lamp. By hue the biggest group is purple with five, then blue with four, gray with three, and three multi-tone shades, with pink, red, green, brown, coral, white, and a clear filling in singly. That is a useful tail rather than a random one: purples and blues are the colors a salon runs out of first in autumn and winter, and a glitter or shimmer is what most clients pick for an accent nail.
What is not here is a deep bench of nudes and classic reds, which is what sells out first on any clearance range. A salon building a wall should take the effect shades from this page and keep its everyday nudes on a line that is still restocked.
A QT gel manicure, step by step
- Prep. Push back the cuticle, break the shine over the whole plate including the sidewalls, dust, and dehydrate.
- Base. A thin gel base coat, capping the free edge, cured in the lamp.
- Color. Two thin coats of the QT gel, cured between; a third for a pale or a sheer shade rather than one heavy coat.
- Top. Gel top coat, capping the edge again, cured, and cleansed if the top leaves a tacky layer.
- Oil. Cuticle oil at the end, and the reminder to use it daily.
- Removal at the next visit. File the shine off the top, wrap in acetone with foil, and push the softened gel away rather than scraping.
Using the lacquer side
- Toes during a pedicure, where the client is not going to sit under a lamp and wants to walk out.
- Event color for a client who wants it gone in a few days without a removal appointment.
- Matching hands and feet: gel on the fingers, the same number on the toes, one shade on the card.
- Chart and display tips, because a peelable coat lifts off when the display is rebuilt.
- Clients who cannot have gel for medical or preference reasons but still want the salon shade.
- Not for a client who works with her hands, or anyone expecting a lacquer manicure to last a fortnight.
Buying from a numbered range that is not restocked
Numbers are the only identity these shades have, so the first thing a salon should do is swatch what it buys and write the number on the back of the stick. A QT number that a client asks for by sight will be impossible to find again otherwise, and the range will not come back once it sells through. The second thing is to buy the shades that fit the salon's existing wall rather than the prettiest bottles: an accent glitter is worth two jars if it already appears on the chart, and a one-off multi-tone is worth one.
The third is to plan the replacement. Any shade the salon promotes should have a near neighbor on a line that is still produced, swatched side by side on one stick, so a client who liked a QT number can be moved to its replacement at her next appointment without a conversation about discontinued stock.
Wear, and what clients should expect
The gel half is a standard soak-off system, so the wear a client gets depends on her prep and her hands more than on the bottle. Product kept off the skin, a capped free edge, thin coats fully cured, and daily cuticle oil are what turn a three-week claim into a three-week set. Water is the enemy on the lacquer side: a peelable film lifts at the edges once water gets under it, which is why gloves for cleaning matter even more with the lacquer than with the gel.
For removal, the gel soaks and the lacquer peels, and neither should ever be pried off dry. A client who peels her own gel takes the top layer of nail plate with it, which is the damage she will blame on the product at her next visit.
Applying a glitter or shimmer shade well
More than half of what is left on this page carries flake or pearl, and effect shades are applied differently from creams. A glitter laid straight on a bare nail spreads unevenly, because the flake follows the brush instead of the color. The fix is a solid base layer first, either a thin coat of the same shade cured on its own or a neutral gel underneath, and then the glitter coat laid over it so the flake has something to sit on. Work the brush in one direction rather than back and forth, since dragging the brush across a partly set layer pulls flake into ridges.
Two more details decide how a glitter set looks after a week. Cap the free edge deliberately, because flake at the edge lifts before flat color does, and float the top coat rather than pressing it, so the top fills the texture instead of dragging flake out of it. A shimmer is more forgiving than a glitter, which is why the six shimmer numbers on this page are the easier sell for a tech who is not confident with effect finishes.
Keeping a duo chart usable
- One stick per number, gel on one half and lacquer on the other, so a client can see the difference in finish between the two halves of the same shade.
- Write the number on the back, not on the display side, so the tech reads it and the client chooses by eye.
- Group by hue, not by number, since the numbering follows release order and nobody picks a color from a list.
- Mark what is discontinued with a dot, so nobody promises a shade that cannot be reordered.
- Rebuild the display when a shade sells out rather than leaving a stick that will disappoint the next client who points at it.
Wholesale pricing at ND Nails Supply
QT duos ship at wholesale pricing for everyone, with no business license, no minimum order, and no membership fee. The clearance-tagged shades sell at their regular wholesale price until they are gone and are not reordered. Free shipping on orders $75+, and in-stock sets ordered before 2pm PT on weekdays leave the same day.