How to Apply Nail Tips With Acrylic Instead Of Glue

Learn how to apply nail tips with acrylic. This article is for nail technicians to learn how to apply nail tips with acrylic rather than glue. These steps are designed for the acrylic with overlay false nail procedure, not just for applying the tips.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acrylic powder, acrylic monomer, primer for acrylic nails, nail brush, paper towels, hair dryer and acetone.

1. First, you will want to clean your nails well and make sure there is no oily residue on them. Dry them for a minute with your hair dryer. Next you will need to rough up your whole nail with a nail file. Just rough it up gently and make sure that you rough the whole nail. Take a nail brush and brush off the dust when finished roughing up the nail.

2. Next will be the primer. You will need to put the recommended amount of nail primer on your whole nail. Do not touch your nails with your fingers or get anything on your nails after applying the primer. Then you will need to use the hair dryer and dry them for about ten seconds each hand or until the primer is all the way dry. Get your nail tip ready that you are going to apply to your nail.

3. After you have dried them, take your brush and dip it in the acrylic monomer and wipe it lightly. Then dip it in the acrylic and get an acrylic ball about the size of a pencil eraser. Apply the acrylic on the nail where the tip is going to go only. The acrylic should be about 1/16th of an inch thick. Make sure that when you apply the nail tip that you are rolling it on the nail so that the extra acrylic will squeeze out the top of the nail tip. Before you apply the nail tip, you will need to wait until you see the acrylic start to get dull like it is drying, then quickly get the nail tip and roll it on your nail squeezing it down and holding it. You may need to hold the nail tip on for at least 30 seconds and watch to make sure that it is not coming back up. Using a quick setting acrylic is best so that it will set faster, but you can use other acrylic if you wish. As you get better at it, it will be a faster process. You will see some acrylic squeeze out of the nail tip, but dont worry about that yet. Hold the nail tip on until it looks like it is set and then roll off the excess acrylic that has squeezed out. After you have cleaned off the excess, then the nail tip can be roughed up and the acrylic can be applied over the top of your nail and the nail tip.

4. Don't forget to clean your nail brush with acetone when finished.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wipe your brush on a paper towel to keep it clean during the process, then clean it with acetone when finished.
• Applying nail tips with acrylic works faster with a quick setting acrylic.
• Make sure your acrylic is not too watery or too dry.
• If you find that it takes way too long for your nail tip to adhere, then wait a few seconds until you see the acrylic just start to loose its shine and apply the nail tip.
• Always make sure that your primer is good and dry on your real nail before attempting to put the tip on with acrylic.
• This method does take practice, but after you do a set of nails like this and learn it, it gets much easier.
• I recommend trying this on your nails first and getting the hang of it before doing this on one of your nail clients. Then you will know how it will last and you can adjust if it doesn't work right the first time.
• This article is intended for nail technicians who would like to apply their nail tips with acrylic rather than glue and then apply an overlay of acrylic on the tips. This is not recommended for people who are doing their nails at home who are not licensed nail technicians.

[annvans]

on 1/11/2009 Well I would not say that wearing acrylic nails would be healthy at all for the nail bed. If you put acrylic nails on with nail forms, this is basically the same thing other than the actual nail tip is there with acrylic on it instead of a form and a whole acrylic nail. It is not any more unhealthy than just putting acrylic nails on with a nail form. I used this method for years and have never had a problem, it actually worked better than glue and is really easy.

[anewwoman08]

on 1/10/2009 This may be not be not be healthy for the nail bed, the acrylic already weakens the nails. Just be careful. And I am an upcoming Nail Technician, I must say this is a very "interesting" article.

[annvans]

on 12/15/2008 Thanks for your comment. I have heard of clients offering their nail tech advice, it can't hurt.

[LizzieB]

on 12/15/2008 Even though I'm not a nail tech this was good info to have. Hopefully my tech won't get upset when I offer her advice!