1 November 2025
Every new tech asks the same question: which brand should I buy? Wrong question. Switch brands mid-training and you're re-learning cure times, application technique, and product behaviour from zero, every single time. Pick a base coat, gel polish, and top coat from the same range, and stay with it until it's muscle memory.
For the full checklist on judging any brand (ingredient transparency, sourcing, track record, pricing, actual performance versus marketing claims), read How to Choose a Nail Brand in Australia: 6 Things Every Nail Tech Should Check. The short version for a starter kit: go HEMA-free while you're still building skin contact control, insist on a published SDS you can actually read (not a marketing PDF, see Understanding Safety Data Sheets), and buy from a supplier who backs the product with real training, not just a checkout page.
We run five class types. None of them are a mandatory ladder, pick whichever one matches the gap you actually have:
Already solid on fundamentals but stuck on one technique? Skip straight to the class that fixes that. You don't owe anyone a full sequence.
Every class is run by a Planet Nails Certified Educator: techs who've worked extensively with our systems and are approved to teach them, not a generic trainer reading off a slide deck.
Most courses come with or without a product kit. Already own the gear the class requires? Book the no-kit option and pay less for it.
None of these is "better." The right one depends on how you learn and what stage you're actually at, not what a course catalogue thinks a beginner needs.
We're not going to name one and call it a day. Look for a supplier that gives you a complete, consistent system (base, gel polish, top coat from the same range), a published SDS, a HEMA-free option while you build technique, and real training behind the product. If a brand can't give you all four, keep looking.
It depends on your state and the specific service. Some treatments need a beauty therapy qualification, some don't, so check your state's regulator directly. Beyond that legal minimum, most working techs build real skill through independent modules: fundamentals, design, intermediate, expert. Pick based on what you're missing, not a fixed sequence someone else designed.
Both, honestly. In-person gets you hands-on correction early, when you need it most. Online is for going back to fix one specific thing, an E-file habit, an extension system, on your own time, without re-sitting a whole course to get there.
Not a legal requirement, but a smart call. New techs get more skin contact while they're still refining application, and repeated contact with any methacrylate, HEMA or not, is what drives sensitisation over time. Cut that risk early rather than dealing with it later.
Stop chasing whichever brand shows up first in a search. Understand the system you're using, buy from a supplier that shows you the ingredients instead of just the marketing, and pick training that matches the actual gap you have, from absolute fundamentals to expert-level technique. That's what actually gets you competent faster, not a brand name.
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