How To Do Acrylic Nails

What Are Acrylic Nails

Acrylic nails are artificial nail extensions made of acrylic plastic, placed over your natural nails. This can be done to match the nail shape or to extend the nail length. They are perfect for people who want the look of long nails but have trouble growing out their own nails or have weak nails that break easily.

It’s easy to get confused between acrylics and hard gels, especially since more and more salons are offering both. The two share a lot in common – both are part of the acrylic family, last for weeks on end and can be used to add length to nails. The difference lies in the type of plastic they’re made of.

If you want extra length, the nail technician may glue a “tip” to the end of your nail bed, and apply acrylic gel over the top. Another technique for adding length is to use a “form”, which is like a little piece of card that the technician builds the nail tip around, and which is removed after the formula has set.

Wash Your Hands Thorougly

Begin your service by washing your hands and having the client wash and brush her nails with a clean, dry nylon nail brush. Dry the hands thoroughly. File and shape the natural nails with a 180-grit file, leaving the free edge flat or square so that the forms will seamlessly fit the underside of the free edge. With a very fine-grit buffer, remove the shine from the natural nails you can also use a fine diamond, round-tip e-file bit on a low speed, holding the bit flat.

Finishing Up Your Nails

1. Shaping Your Nails

Use a coarse nail file to shape the tips and file them to the length you want. Use a buffer on the surface of the nails, the 240 grit file takes away the scratches from the 180 grit file.

2. Paint Your Nails

Paint your nails using the nail polish of your choice. You should also use a topcoat over it.

3. Maintenance

After 2-3 weeks, your acrylic nails will have grown out. You should choose to either reapply acrylic or remove the acrylic from your nails.

Check out my post: 4 Amazing Ways To Repair Your Nails After Acrylics

Update: For some people, this might seem like a lot to handle just for nails. If so, you should consider trying a poly gel nail kit.

Don’t Miss: Diy Vinyl Nail Decals

What Lasts Longer: Acrylic Or Gel

With proper maintenance, acrylic nails can last up to two months. Because nails dont stop growing, you will need to fill in acrylics every couple of weeks if you dont want gaps to show. Even with proper maintenance, gel nails usually only last about 2 to 3 weeks.

See More: How Often Should You Get A New Set Of Acrylic Nails?

Diy Acrylic Nails In 10 Steps

According to an article from Byrdie, you should look for an acrylic nail kit that is marketed for beginners. Dont get ahead of yourselves here!

If youve selected a basic kit and have everything you need in place, you can expect to follow a set of instructions that will read something like this:

Read Also: Does Dollar General Have Nail Polish

Decide On Reverse Of Traditional Application

You can do a reverse or traditional application to create pink-and-white acrylics. For the traditional style, apply the white product first. Applying all the whites first keeps you focused on one technique and will allow you to go back and set the C-curve if needed. Your liquid monomer will become slightly milky as you work another reason to do all the whites first, and then change out the liquid to apply the pink product. Its best to apply the white powder for each tip in one ball pick up a ball of white powder, flip the brush over and press out excess liquid on a clean spot of your table towel.

Why Do You Wanna Get The Acrylic Nails

Acrylic Nails are very resistant and avoid the cracking of the nails, so they are perfect for you with weaker nails or tend to break. Its maintenance is every 15-20 days and they are very durable.

The advantages of acrylic nails: Durability, Versatility, Creativity, Perfection, Uniformity.

So dont you wanna try to do your acrylic nails at home by yourself?

Come on! Start learning now.

Don’t Miss: How To Remove Nail Glue From Wood

How To Do An Acrylic Manicure At Home

You need to start out with properly prepped natural nails before you move on to applying acrylics. This will ensure your nails have a clean surface to stick to, which will make them last longer overall. We suggest cleaning your nails with soap, water, and isopropyl alcohol. After cleaning your nails, you should push back and trim your cuticles as well. This will help your acrylic nails bond with your entire nail bed and last as long as possible. Then, make sure to buff your nails so the acrylic nails will have a rougher surface to stick to.

Its incredibly important that you prep and cleanse your nails and cuticles before applying acrylic nails. If you dont, you run the risk of the acrylic nails popping off or not adhering properly.

Most DIY acrylic nail kits come with several different nail sizes so you can choose the acrylic nails that best fit your natural nails. You can also buy the tips separately, but beginners should start out with a kit for the best results. The free edge of your natural nail should fit right under the acrylic nail tips. If you cant find the perfect size for each nail, you can gently file the acrylic nails to fit.

Now that youve applied the acrylic nail tips, you can cut and shape them to your liking. Make sure to be gentle when filing you dont want to loosen the bond with your natural nail.

Are Acrylic Nails Safe

While acrylic nail application involves a lot of chemicals, if done safely and with proper ventilation, the process shouldn’t pose any risks. As with any beauty procedure, make sure the environment is clean and all the tools have been properly sterilised. The removal process, on the other hand, can cause problems if done incorrectly, including injury to the nail bed and even infections. Proper, gentle removal is key, ideally by a professional nail technician.

Don’t Miss: Remove Contacts With Long Nails

Acrylic Nails At Home: Method

To do acrylic nails at home successfully, I have broken it down into five key stages. Each stage is a vital part of making sure your application is as smooth as possible and your natural nails are kept in the best condition throughout.

A key piece of advice before you begin your acrylic nails at home is, make sure you have everything you need at hand. Once you start, it will become harder to come away from what you are doing, so make sure you have easy access to everything you need, and you can open them easily.

How Long Do Acrylic Nails Last

The life expectancy of acrylic nails differs widely from person to person. If someone utilizes his or her hands for a job fairly a little bit especially for hands-on labor that person could find out quite swiftly that acrylic nails wont last too long compared to a person who uses their hands for little more than the input. However for how long do acrylic nails last in a general feeling? Professionals state you need to return to the beauty salon every two to three weeks to fill in the spaces that look like your all-natural nails expand. To make sure thats a great general rule to comply with for how long you can expect your acrylic nails to look remarkable. Exactly how frequently should acrylic nails be changed? If you enjoy using acrylic nails frequently, it could be worth considering removing them every 2 to 3 months to let them breathe in-between collections.

Recommended Reading: Nonyx Nail Gel Para Que Sirve

Wrong Liquid To Powder Mix Ratio

Runny acrylic is normally an indicator that you are making use of way too much fluid as well as your brush is as well damp. Suggestion: A typical, healthy fluid to powder proportion is 1.5 to 1, specifically. You might have to re-calibrate your fluid and how to do acrylic nails professionally to powder use to represent seasonal moisture as well as temperature level adjustments.

How Long Do Acrylic Nails Last & Tips To Make Them Go Longer

Acrylic Nails are one of the most popular forms of manicures available. And one of the main reasons why they are so popular is because once applied correctly acrylic nails are durable and extremely long-lasting.

Now in this article, I am gonna explain exactly how long acrylic nails can potentially last for you.

And I am gonna share with you how you can prevent your acrylic nails from peeling, lifting, and chipping prematurely to make them last longer.

Table Of Content

Read Also: Get Rid Of Nail Ridges

Acrylic Nails At Home: Equipment

It is very important to make sure you have the correct products needed to do acrylic nails, as this can be a vital part of making sure your acrylic nails look good and also dont cause any damage to your natural nails. I have split all the products and equipment into two lists an essential beginner list and an optional list. The essential items list consists of every product necessary to do a set of acrylic nails, and the optional list is if you want to add nail tips or items that may make it easier for you to do your nails but arent essential.

Essential beginner items

Optional items

Whats The Difference Between Gel And Acrylic Nails

Although gel and acrylic nails can provide similar results, there are key differences with each nail style. As we mentioned, gel nails typically consist of brushing coats of polish on your natural nails and are cured with a UV lamp. The process is much faster than applying acrylic, and the nails often look more natural too. These days you can find online kits that let you get gel nails right at home. Once complete, gel nails will usually last for around 14 days without chipping. Toward the end of this period, they may start to peel or lift at the corners.

When youre ready to remove gel nails, all you need to do is soak them off, and youre good to go. Typically, a cotton ball soaked in acetone is placed over the nail, then each nail is wrapped in aluminum foil. After around 10 minutes, the gel polish is easily able to be removed. While gel nails can be prone to peeling, they are known to be more flexible than acrylic nails, although be warned that both styles run the risk of damaging your natural nails with continuous wear.

Editors Tip: You can actually mix the two styles and get gel polish cured over your acrylic nails for the ultimate manicure that has strength and lasting power.

Also Check: Los Angeles County Nail Salons Reopen

Recommended Best Acrylic Nails Supplies

1. Acrylic Nail Tips

These are white tips, you can go for natural color, pink or any other you want. There are plenty of colors and designs. Just click on above image and you will find lots to choose from. Select as per your desire.

2. Nail Glue

Yes this one is the best glue for applying tips on your nails. Dont go with the cheap ones if you want your acrylics to stick on your nails for a long time.

3. Acrylic Nail Clipper

Certainly one of the best nail clippers out there for your acrylic nails related jobs.

4. Nail File

This is a pretty good file that does it job really well. You may want to consider an electric file kit if you want a faster alternative. Look at the 6th option.

5. Nail Buffer

This is a good one you want to have for all your nail buffering requirements. Again if you want, buy an electric kit instead which does both filing and buffer. Look at the next option.

6. Electric File Buffer Kit

This is a good quality electric nail kit for filing and buffering. This is really good product for the beginners. Complete value for money.

7. Acrylic Liquid

You may want to buy bigger volume to get true value for money. Regarding quality, do not worry as this product has stood the test of time.

8. Acrylic Powder

No this isnt something too expensive but also not some cheap quality. This is the most popular acrylic nail powder which you cant go wrong with.

9. Acrylic Dish

10. Acrylic Brush

11. Acetone Nail Polish Remover

12. Nail Primer

13. Cuticle Stick

What Do I Need To Fill My Acrylic Nails

Getting fills is the most common maintenance activity your acrylic nails require.

Lets see what you need to do and how you can fill your nails at home.

You are going to need:

A refill is needed when there is a gap between your natural nail and the acryl.

When you apply the artificial enhancement, your own nail underneath does not cease to grow and eventually, a growth gap appears. I

t is not a very pleasant sight and that is why refills are needed every two-three weeks.

The two most common reasons for refills are:

• Natural growth gap

Recommended Reading: Does Nail Polish Remover Stain Clothes

Don’t Miss: How To Get Rid Of Fingernail Ridges

How To Take Off Acrylic Nails At Home

Taking off fake nails on your own can seem almost impossible. When all the nail salons closed down due to the Coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, many women were seemingly trapped with no way to fill or remove their fake nails! This is because most types of fake nails need to be removed by a professional at a nail salon.

The most common way to remove fake nails is by using acetone. Acetone is a powerful chemical solvent thats quite potent and isnt exactly beneficial for your nails .

Even though acetone is the most common and effective way to remove fake nails, there are other methods that you can try that dont involve using this strong chemical.

How To Remove Acrylic Nails

Removing acrylic nails is done one of two main ways. The first is the quickest but can be really annoying for those with weaker or more brittle nails. With this method, the acrylic nail is clipped down around the edges, and they use faux nail to slip in between the acrylic nail and the natural nail. The fake nail is slid around between the acrylic and natural nail until the acrylic comes off.

The second method is gentler but also more time consuming. The acrylic nails are soaked in acetone, then filed down a bit, and the process repeated until the old set is completely removed. Both of these methods can be done at home or at the nail salon. Check out our guide to removing acrylic nails at home to do it on your own!

Also Check: What Is The Best Polygel Nail Kit For Beginners

*ready To Get Your Own Fimo Check Out These Options:

I realize there are some people who arent into going all out with design, fimo etc. Some just want a pretty, natural nail. I love that style as well. So I set out to see just how natural nail forms could look. I was very happy with the results.

First attempt: Semi-transparent natural nail tip with clear acrylic in a nail form. I polished just the tips with Sally Hansen Disco Ball.

For my second attempt I used a traditional nail tip and overlayed with natural acrylic on the tips and soft pink on the nail beds. Again, applied with nail forms. This gave me a different natural look with more pink and it was a little bit stronger than the first try. However, both looked great and even more natural than what I usually received at the nail salon.

Gel Nails Vs Acrylic Nails: Should I Get Acrylic Nails

If youre considering obtaining acrylic nails, youve probably listened to some people suggest that you attempt gel nails instead. Considering that gel nails are usually organized in the same kind of elegance treatment as how to apply acrylic nails like a professional, its very easy to puzzle both, or perhaps blunder them as terms that might be used mutually. In truth, theyre quite a bit different and they both have benefits and drawbacks.

While polymers are nail improvements made by integrating a liquid acrylic product with a powdered acrylic product, gel nails belong to a more homogenous gel product that needs to be treated or secured onto the nail with making use of a UV light between each layer. According to Nails, a helpful method to comprehend the difference between gel, as well as acrylic nails, is to think of gel as premixed acrylic.

While acrylic nails are much more solid and also resilient than gel nails, the gel can be used to strengthen the all-natural nail as well as helps shield it as it expands. That said, acrylic nails are a little bit simpler for you to preserve in the house, because you can both fix them soak them off without the assistance of a nail service technician, unlike a lot of gel nails. Gel nails might be a more practical choice for people that use their hands quite a bit they are far extra adaptable than acrylics. A gel is generally pretty odor-free, and the same can not be said for acrylics.

Read Also: How To Remove Excess Nail Glue