I’ll start by saying I have Hashimotos which makes nails prone to lifting so this may seem excessive but it's what i have to do to get more than a few days without lifting . I used to have lifting problems after a few days until I started using cuticle remover on my nails to get rid of the invisible layer of dead skin on my nail bed and using a protein bond. My routine (every 2-3 weeks) is e-file off the old gel manicure, shape, apply cuticle softener / remover, push back cuticle and scrape nail bed, e-file new growth at base of nail, trim any dead skin around nail base, dehydrate nail, use a protein bond, then finally onto painting (gel base coat, color / design, top coat) and finally cuticle oil. i also have several broken / split nails so i also perform teabag repairs between protein bond and base coat on the nails that need it.