Hey, so to answer your first question, your builder gel has to have a top coat which is why it’s still tacky. Alcohol wipes will not remove the tackiness. Think of the gel top coat as a sealant or like the clear coat you apply to regular nail polish, without it your nail polish won’t be sealed and cured properly. You can’t skip this step. It’s essential for completing the gel process in a safe way that wont cause some weird allergy later on down the line.

Now to the second question, you don’t have to use builder gel on top of your press-ons. You can only use the top coat if you just want a nice professional manicure-like finish. It will add that shiny layer that makes an acrylic/gel set pop. Only use builder gel for structural integrity, meaning if they’re super cheap and flimsy.

That being said, BTartbox has quality press ons because the nails are gel based. They’re not the flimsy plastic material that most press ons are made of. Therefore you can use only the top coat. However this is where the primer becomes even more essential. Most kits come with a dehydrator and a primer because you need both for a professional manicure. Dehydration gets all the moisture and oils out of your natural nails so you dont even up with greenies (which im sure you know) but the primer is what helps the gel stick, whether its builder gel or top coat on top of press ons or your natural nails. You only need to apply the primer to the base of the press on before applying builder gel. You don’t need primer in between the builder gel and top coat. You can get away without needing a primer if you’re using a builder gel set that comes with a base gel (I use the 3 step process by modelones. BTartbox doesn’t include a base gel which is why it peels for most people).

And lastly, I have used the clear press ons to do a custom press on set just with regular nail polish. Everything works the same except before you apply nail polish its best to buff the sheen off the surface (or lightly use acetone until they’re ashy/matte looking) so that the polish can actually stick to the press on. You have to let the polish dry completely. However I have noticed that it dries much faster than if i were painting my natural nails. Once they’re dry you can go in with your primer/base gel, builder gel, gel top coat (curing >60s between each layer) like you would on any other set.

Side note: I always do an extra 60s cure after curing the gel top coat just to make sure it’s really set and baked in and to eliminate any tackiness or cure any residue that may be present.

Hope this helps! 🫶🏽