In my mind there are now 3 - maybe 4 types of gels. "Gel Polish" can be interchanged with any gel that has color.

Traditional HARD gel

• Must be filed off, impervious to acetone
• Lots of color and viscosity choices
• Enhancement type prep required
• Target client - enhancements, longer nails
• Overlay, tips, sculpts
• HARD - but flexible, an alternative to acrylics
• Maintenance requires fills 2-3 weeks

Soak Off Gels (first generation of soak offs - can be called SOFT Gels)

• "Softer" than traditional HARD gels, but not as soft was the new gel/polish-replacement soft gels
• Can be soaked off but takes 20+ minutes
• Lots of color and several viscosity choices
• Enhancement type prep required
• Porous - can stain from hair color, tanning, smoking etc
• Target client - enhancements, longer nails
• Overlay, tips, sculpts
• Not as hard as traditional gels, but not as soft as the new lines of gels varies depending on line and viscosity used (builder type for instance will result in a less soft/flexible finished nail
• Maintenance requires fills 2-3 weeks

Soak Off UV Gel Polish (second generation of soak offs - can be called SOFT Gels)

• "Softer" than both traditional HARD gels and SOFT gels
• Can be soaked off takes 5-10 minutes depending on brand and how many layers
• Lots of color choices, almost no viscosity choices
• Minimal prep required (basic mani plus white block to remove shine)
• Porous - can stain from hair color, tanning, smoking etc
• Target client - manicure polish replacement, natural nails, short-active length
• OVERLAY or short length tips
• Extremely difficult, if not impossible to sculpt with these types of gels
• SOFT and flexible allowing clients to maintain longer natural nails, but not extreme length
• Allows polish to stay fresh looking with no chips and nice shine for 2+ weeks with little to no breakage.
• Can be used over acrylics and all gels - but should be filed off not soaked off
• Maintenance 2+ weeks, by fill or soak off and re-apply

There are some differences between the new soak off UV Gel Polish lines:
Some brands are in polish bottles (thinner viscosity)
eco So Quick is in pots (thicker more gel like consistency)

Certain lines are gel mixed with nail polish and has an odor of polish
eco So Quick (and other lines) is gel with color pigments and has no odor
All other "soft" & "hard" gels are gel with pigment to my knowledge

Some brands have a matching UV cured top coat
eco So Quick was designed (for time saving purposes) to use a traditional air-dry topcoat - Polish Sealer but you can use the eco Clear gel as the top and forgo the Polish Sealer

Because of polish consistency of certain brands you can not sculpt or "pull out" a corner
eco So Quick is thicker and can be used to "pull out" a corner, sculpting even the shortest of length can be done but takes practice.

eco SO Quick (and most other brands) recommend breaking the seal on the topcoat before soaking.

Other bands strongly recommend capping every free edge, eco So Quick does not stress that point, and if you are capping the edges with eco, you might experience some lifting or chipping.

DO NOT MIX any HARD UV gel top-coat with the new generation of soak off UV Gel Polishes, you will experience shattering because the top is TOO hard for the layers underneath.

These new UV Gel Polishes do take some getting used to on our side and the customers side!  The increased flex takes a little bit to get used to. Application for all should be thin or you will see some lifting and peeling. When transitioning a client from acrylic or enhancement gels, they should expect some breakage, splitting issues for several weeks, not every client will have this problem, but a good number will as they adjust their nail and hand use to not having the protection and length of enhancements.

All of these gel types can be done as French, either regular pink & white or any combination you want because they all have a wide range of color choices. You can even layer the colors (from the same brand is recommended of course!) to create all kinds of effects and colors!

I think I covered it all! I hope that gives you an overview to help you understand gels better!