Acrylic nails - what you need 3

| July 25, 2010 |

The only time I love the drill is to use it on the underside of the nail. It smooths everything out and keeps it clean. If you use a drill, by all means keep doing so. As long as you have had the proper training it’s fine and many nail technicians would not do acrylic without the use of a nail drill.

My favorite files are 100/180 grit and I use a fine block. I use the emery board type and stay away from metal or crystal. I find those types of files are harsher on the nails, harder to work with and don’t work as well. Again the brand isn’t important, find some you like and use them. This is one area where less expensive files can be just as good, if not better then the expensive ones. Unfortunately trial and error is the only way to find what works.

If you are going to sculpt the nails instead of overlay or fill, then you will need to invest in some nail forms. There is no one right type to use here. Different forms will work differently on each client, depending on their nail bed and finger size. I always have a few different forms so if one type doesn’t work I don’t waste a lot of time trying to get it to fit. I just move on to the next style and see if it works better and usually it does.

There are many different shapes of forms. The sticky coated forms come in a horseshoe shape and rectangle and there are quite a few types of reusable ones. More and more brands are customizing their forms to give them a unique look and so the work more efficiently. Don’t be afraid to give them a try. I have both the horseshoe shape and the rectangle shape as well as reusable forms. If you keep a variety on hand you have a better chance of easily fitting a form to the nail edge.