About This Treatment
- Nailist: Mami
- Menu: Full Design Custom (removal / rebalance by fill-in)
- Guest: a visitor from Brazil
The set was done at lull. in Harajuku, with English spoken throughout the appointment.
Design Points
Full Design Custom means every nail is planned on the spot rather than picked from a sample chart. Mami works out the layout nail by nail, adjusting the scale of the art so that the shorter nails and the longer ones read as one set.
The base was handled with a fill-in instead of a full removal. The sound gel from the previous set stays on the nail plate, and only the regrown area near the cuticle is filed down and refilled. From there the apex is rebuilt so the curve runs smoothly from the cuticle to the free edge, and the new art is applied over that reshaped surface. The result keeps the thickness even, without the ridge that can appear where old and new gel meet.
Guest Story
The guest is a fourth-generation Japanese Brazilian, and the chair-side conversation turned to SALOMON — shoes, trail gear, and which models are worth hunting for. It carried on comfortably through most of the appointment, and she looked genuinely pleased when the set was finished.
Care and Style Notes
A fill-in is an option for anyone who already has a healthy gel base and wants to keep going without stripping everything back each time. Because the existing layer is left in place, the nail plate is filed less often, which many people find easier on thin or peel-prone nails. It also shortens the removal stage, so more of the appointment goes into the art itself.
A few practical points:
- Roughly three to four weeks is a common interval. Waiting much longer lets the regrown area get wide enough that the balance of the nail shifts.
- If a lifted corner or a chip appears, it is better to book earlier than to file or pick at it. Moisture trapped under lifted gel is the main cause of trouble.
- Cuticle oil once or twice a day keeps the regrown area flexible and makes the next fill-in cleaner.
- Fill-in is not always the right call. If the base has lifted widely or the colour underneath clashes with the new design, a full removal is the better starting point.
Full Design Custom suits people who want something specific to them, or who are travelling and want their nails to match the trip rather than a catalogue image.
Comment from the Nailist
Mami: “Talking about SALOMON while working was fun — we compared models and where to find them, and the time went quickly. On the technical side, this set was mostly about the fill-in. Getting the boundary between the old gel and the new layer to disappear is what decides whether the finished nail looks like one clean surface, so I spent time on that before starting the art. Seeing her reaction at the end made the session.”
Book Your Visit to lull.
Bookings can be made online.We are an English-speaking salon in Harajuku, and first-time visitors to Japan are welcome. Our latest work is also posted on Instagram (@nail_lull.tokyo) and TikTok (@nail_lull.tokyo).
