Dallas has come far from the glory days of $25 nail sets and $15 fills. No kids, that’s not a myth or fable. Beauty is pain, and sometimes that pain looks like a three-figure bill for a bi-weekly manicure. The disillusionment is real until innovation has us tiptoeing back to the salon. 2025’s innovation: builder gel nails, best known as BIAB nails.
Beauty connoisseurs have seen BIAB nails all over their "for you pages," but what is this trend? We stumbled across the service in our search for the prettiest nail salons in Dallas, and learned all about it.
Builder Gel 101
BIAB is an acronym for builder in a bottle, both a brand and the service's name. Think of BIAB as an acrylic and gel hybrid nail enhancement, according to our nail technician at Richardson’s Kalos & Muse. It’s stronger than gel, but not as hard on natural nails as acrylic.“Builder gel is used to help add thickness and strength to either nail tips to create extensions or directly on the natural nail,” according to The GelBottle, which is credited as the original builder gel manufacturer. “Builder gel is an all-in-one primer and base, so it could be used as a base coat before adding more gel polish on top for an extra layer of strength on the nails.”
BIAB's popularity spread from the United Kingdom to the U.S. over the last three years. It is marketed as a must-have for stronger, longer nails. Nail biters and those seeking to add some length are the trend’s biggest supporters.
Application
At Richardson’s Kalos & Muse, the BIAB service begins like many others. Nail trimming, shaping, buffing and cuticle maintenance prep the nail for application. The builder gel comes in two versions. One is polish-like, with a myriad of available colors. This version soaks off. Our nail technician used a gel pot builder option, which is transparent and requires filing to remove.The thick self-leveling gel is applied with a small brush, starting with a thin base layer. A droplet of gel is then placed on the lunula, the moon-like portion of the nail base. Small horizontal strokes spread the cruelty-free gel to the tip of the shaped nails. Builder gel can be used to artificially add a moderate length. Nails must be cured under a UV/LED nail lamp.
The weak-nailed and pain-unenduring should heed the warning. BIAB nail curing entails a “heat spike.” A wave of heat — unlike any other we’ve experienced in two decades of nail services — sweeps over the nail beds for the first 15 seconds or so of curing. Imagine an eye-bulging burning sensation courtesy of the gel solidifying. The temporary exothermic reaction is an unadvertised detail that our technician says varies by client.
The one-and-a-half-hour service ended with a nail polish cocktail of OPI’s Funny Bunny and Put it in Neutral and a top coat for a light pink corner-office-ready almond-shaped manicure.
The Verdict
A full set of BIAB nails is $65 at Kalos & Muse, not including special shaping or design. Special shaping, such as the almond nails we tried, is an additional $5. BIAB fills are $55 for sets previously done at the salon.For $70 plus tax and tip, we walked out of the salon with nails that are still going strong a month later despite weight lifting, traveling, housekeeping, and heavy-duty typing. The low-viscosity gel is lightweight, resembling a polish-only manicure, yet it’s proven to be highly durable without one chip in sight. Unlike acrylics, we have yet to experience pesky lifting.
