In a nutshell, BIAB is a manicure that’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 underneath, which is why it’s been fan-girled across the internet for helping the girl’s to achieve longer natural nails. It can also be used to infill nails, without the whole mani being removed and it be used to sculpt extensions on the end of your nails for extra length. It was created to provide extra strength and protection against breakages, allowing customers to grow their nails to new lengths. 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.

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. 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.