The Power of Acrylic Nails and Correct Preparation

Who doesn’t love acrylic nails? The most endurable artificial nail enhancement forms when a monomer liquid (catalyst) and a polymer powder (initiator) forms together. The key to knowing the acrylic nail and being an expert in acrylics goes beyond technique.

Acrylic nail technicians need to be aware of the science and math behind it. Many monomers cure at 20-23 degrees Celsius, when using acrylic, it is best to work at room temperature. This is where the science comes in, if the room temperature is low, the product is cold or your client has cold hands, this can cause crystallisation. Crystallisation is where the monomer starts to evaporate leaving polymer powder on the nail and will form something that looks like tiny crystals.

Let’s say your room temperature was too high this will speed up your process of the drying out of your bead of acrylic and also cause your acrylic nail to become brittle.

Ratio, this is where the maths comes in. This is a tricky factor to control but through practice, you can learn to control it carefully. The correct ratio of product on the nail is 2:1, the consistency should be so that the product is movable but working too wet with too much monomer on your brush will form a runny paste.

Sometimes if your client has a weak nail bed this may even cause an exothermic reaction (heat spike) to the nail bed, working too dry with not enough monomer on your brush will make your bead of acrylic bumpy and powdery, this consistency will be hard to move with your brush.

An out of balance ratio; too wet or too dry can cause lifting to the nail enhancement, discolouration, tiny bubbles in your acrylic and as we spoke about above crystallisation.

Preparation of the nail this the most important part of any nail enhancement. Over the last two years I have perfected my preparation to a high standard which is why my clients get no lifting or “pop off’s”.

I always take my time when prepping nails, so every single nail is prepped and considered before the acrylic application. You will find every nail technician will do this with a different routine.

I think it’s important for nail technicians and clients to understand the importance of nail preparation. Once you have mastered a good high standard routine that’s when you should start to perfect your structure and design work. My preparation routine stays the same for every client - that way there’s no confusion as to what you have already done and what you still need to do.

First of all, I always spray my clients’ hands with hand sanitizer, front and back and then I will spray my own. Once dry I begin to use a metal cuticle pusher starting from your client’s little finger nail working towards the thumb nail, gently pushing back any non-living tissue. Once completed I etch the natural nail with a 180-grit file to remove any shine. Working closely to the cuticle area will remove excess dead skin which can lift from the nail bed thereby pushing back your client’s cuticle.

After I’ve finished gently taking the shine from the client’s nail bed I will remove any excess dust from the nail bed and begin to work with my cuticle nippers using this tool to remove the cuticle up to the eponychium and lateral fold, making sure the nippers are completely dry

Starting from the little finger nail making your way to the thumb nail gently nip around the loose bits of cuticle or hang nails I squeeze my nippers release just slightly and remove do not pull the nippers while cutting cuticles, removing any cuticle from my nippers on an antiseptic wipe. It’s so important when removing cuticle that we only remove the dead skin from the cuticle and do not nip the living skin which sits just above the cuticle area called the living skin (eponychium) this will bleed and cause your client discomfort.

Once I have finished with my nippers and I’m happy that all the dead skin is removed I will file the length of the natural nail down to the correct length then dehydrate the nail bed with dehydrator and a non-acid primer.

Now let’s talk design!

The most magical thing about working with acrylic is most definitely how creative you can be, the possibilities are endless and it’s so important you push your skills to the very limit with every single set of nail enhancements.

My favourite nail art design has to be 3D acrylic nail art, I could spend all day creating the most beautiful flowers. Weather you encapsulate with clear acrylic or place them onto a freshly filed acrylic nail I think they make stunning nail art.

Here’s a little tip from me to you… When creating 3D acrylic designs, I always try to stick to core powders. My favourite core powder to use is white, I find when picking my bead up then draining a little liquid out onto absorbent roll, the acrylic bead is a lot easier to work with so you can mould the acrylic into your perfect flower petal or shape.

There are so many techniques, designs and methods to form nail art. Inspiration for designs, colour formats and placement is everywhere, it just depends how deep you look.

Most of my clients love glitter. You can spruce up any plain set of acrylic nails with a glitter, such as glitter fades, glitter ombré, glitter stripes, glitter gel designs, the list is endless.

Adding Rhinestones little or large is so effective, the Swarovski flatback crystals are long lasting, hard wearing and always a favourite with clients. I love making designs and shapes with rhinestones or even random placement on the nail enhancement – they can really make the nails stand out. There are a number of ways to place rhinestones on a nail enhancement, this is my way:

First; I will file and buff a fresh set of acrylics, brush any excess nail dust away from the nail, apply a small amount of glue onto the nail and onto a small ended dotting tool, pick a flatback rhinestone with the same tool and place it onto the glue you applied to the acrylic. Once the glue has set the rhinestones to the nail and you have completed your desired look, finish with a non-wipe topcoat and cure for the correct setting time in a nail lamp. After trailing a lot of techniques, I find that this method ensures that my clients never lose any rhinestones.

Nail art foils are very popular around Christmas time, my clients love a little bit of gold or silver foil and a little bit goes along way. Always make sure you have applied your desired gel polish colour or a tacky base coat and cure, once cured and the gel is still tacky I will dab my foils onto the nail to produce a sketchy look from the foil, this looks so abstract and different but it’s an incredibly easy technique to achieve this look.

To finish I always apply a non-wipe topcoat cure for the correct time and then apply the second and final coat. Once cured this will save the foil from lifting or chipping.