Sometime back, I bought these tools and said that I'll show you how to use them after some practise. Well, I didn't get around to trying them out until today. So that is my first attempt and it's not perfect, but thought I'll just share with you this new technique I've just picked up.


 

The acrylic colours used are neon blue, neon orange, neon pink, black and clear acrylic powder.


First prep your nails by filing the top surface of your nails. Push back your cuticles and remove excess oils from your nail surface. Apply 2 coats of the Protein Bond.


I'm using the reverse application method to create french acrylic nails. I've seen it being done before and it helps to create a beautiful smile line. However, this is my first attempt so it looks a bit messy.

Take a large size ball of acrylic and apply it to the top part of your nails, leaving a 'U' shape at the bottom.


Take your black acrylic and cover the bottom half of your nails. Once that's dry, apply a coat of clear acrylic on top of your black acrylic only.


Dip your impression tool into the clear acrylic powder before stamping to prevent any wet acrylic sticking onto it.


Press the impression tool firmily into the slightly dry clear acrylic.


Wait for your clear acrylic to dry, then using the neon acrylic powder, apply randomly over the stamped out shapes. To ensure that the neon colour acrylic goes into the cavity, I also use my fingers to press the colour in.

Wait for the neon colours to dry, then file off the top layer from the entire nail. You can see my index finger in the background. It's already had the excess filed away, clearly showing the remaining neon colours in the stamped out shapes.


Remove all the dust from your nails, then seal it with a gel top coat and cure under the UV lamp.


It looks a bit uneven :( But I'm happy with it being my first attempt.



The only problem I had was that some bubbles kept appearing under the clear acrylic overlay. Does anyone know how to prevent this from happening?

Comments (30)

On June 2, 2010 at 4:29 AM , Unknown said...

SO so sorry that i only update with your blog today.. >< i like this technique and i think is very creative and fun, i wish i could try it one day..
I went to our biggest beauty fair last week and i finally got some acrylic powder and stuff to try out!
But careless me i forgot to buy the primer! Did french acrylic extension and didn't realise the difference until i accidentally scratch one of my finger and feel the acrylic got 'loose' with my natural nails and it peal off easily with little pressure, haha....
I need a lot of practice making the layer smooth in short time!How long did you took to get use to acrylic?

 
On June 3, 2010 at 8:28 AM , Jin said...

Hi Rachel, this technique is really fun but I was very lucky to have purchased the nail drill or else it will take me ages to file it down. Asia always have such big and interesting beauty fair. We don't have any good ones here in Perth. It took me a while to get used to applying acrylic. Doing 3 D art was easy for me but acrylic overlay was quite difficult. I think the most important part is to prep your nails properly and push away all cuticle. This will help to prevent lifting. To make the layer smooth, use the side of your brush even the layer out. I am still no good at this. Need lots of practise. Hehe

 
On June 3, 2010 at 9:38 PM , Shanghainesedumpling said...

This is way too cute!!! it's just like filling the gaps hehe :)

 
On June 4, 2010 at 2:25 PM , Unknown said...

I wish they could always have such beauty fair too, but this is the annual one that i know:(
anyways, i feel really good to finally got myself into practice for acrylic, i hope i can manage it at least like yours! hehe..

 
On June 5, 2010 at 1:05 PM , Jin said...

Hi Ena, yes it's like filling in the gaps. You don't have to use the impression tools. I've seen people use paper clips twisted into all kinds of shapes to make the impression.

 
On June 5, 2010 at 1:09 PM , Jin said...

Hi Rachel, all the best in your practice with acrylic! I'm sure you'll be able to master it!

 
On July 1, 2010 at 5:20 PM , Violet LeBeaux said...

Oh this is such a fun technique! I haven't seen it before but I really like the results you had with the hearts :D

 
On July 2, 2010 at 9:08 AM , Jin said...

Thanks Violet. I've only just learn't this technique from a friend. It looks simple, but it's actually quite time consuming, especially having to file down all the acrylic evenly. I'll give it another try with some different colours. But first I must give my nails a break. All these acrylic and gel overlay and filing down of my nails are making them really thin! ;)

 
On August 10, 2010 at 12:48 AM , Makeup Mama said...

Hi great blog you have here and nice tutorial! I've been looking everywhere for a store near me that has these and I think I found one, hopefully they have it in stock!

And if you're still having problems with the acrylic bubbling you might be patting the product on too quickly. You can also try holding your brush flat against the side of your dappen dish for a few seconds when squeezing excess liquid out, it will relase any bubbles from your brush. Good luck and sorry for the long message ;)

 
On August 10, 2010 at 7:53 PM , Jin said...

Hi Makeup Mama, thank you for the great tips! I'll try it out next time when I do clear acrylic overlay. The bubbles was a real big problem for me. Oh I am glad you found the impression tools! You'll have to give this a try. It's really fun.

 
On August 11, 2010 at 11:10 PM , Anonymous said...

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On August 12, 2010 at 5:29 AM , Anonymous said...

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On August 22, 2010 at 1:59 AM , Anonymous said...

Bubbles come if you are patting the acrylic. You should just press it on the nail without patting too much with the brush.
Don't put the acrylic too close to the cuticle area, it will start lifting easily.
I can see you have shades between the pink and black acrylic. Try to push back the acrylic gently with the tip of your brush when making smile line. And keep the acrylic even from side to side. You should also press the black firmly against the pink.
When you change the style, you don't file all of the old acrylic away. Just thin the black part off and little bit of the pink. Then add new colour. And always remove air if the nail has lifted. Go to www.youngnails.com and see tutorials, there are very good ones and Greg Salo (the founder of Young Nails) shows the way to do it (This only if you do it with Young Nails, it seems that you do :). I do with young nails products and have taken a proper course in this and I do nails in a salon. Have you been to a course where someone teaches you to do this in the correct way? :) You really should go and learn properly if you haven't. Don't learn from a friend if she/he is not well experienced with this product. You can't do acrylics to someone else if you don't know how to do it without harming clients own nails. You can easily harm client's (or your!) nails with wrong filing and all. Good luck with acrylics, practise a lot and it will go well some day!

 
On August 22, 2010 at 2:03 AM , Anonymous said...

You do very pretty nail art! :)

- The one who advised you with Young Nails acrylic use :)

 
On August 23, 2010 at 12:40 AM , Jin said...

Hi thank you for sharing your acrylic application tips. Yes I've been to the young nails website and seen all their videos. My friend who was giving me some pointers is also a qualified nailist. She's gone for the young nails course that's why I was asking her to show me some stuff she's learned. I will definitely go for a professional course if I am serious about making this my profession. However it's more of a hobby for me at the moment. Having said that I am still very keen in improving my skills. I'll definitely practice more and hope to perfect it soon!

 
On December 11, 2010 at 3:13 AM , Anonymous said...

Nice post, kind of drawn out though. Really good subject matter though.

 
On December 14, 2010 at 1:25 AM , Anonymous said...

Wow, that's crazy man. They should really try to do something to fix that.

 
On January 22, 2011 at 11:25 PM , Anonymous said...

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On January 25, 2011 at 9:24 AM , Anonymous said...

Wonderful article! It is good for any fresh blogger much like myself.

 
On January 26, 2011 at 10:32 AM , Jin said...

Thank you. I'm glad this write up's been helpful.

 
On January 30, 2011 at 12:15 AM , Anonymous said...

Excellent post! It's essential for a new blogger in particular myself.

 
On February 2, 2011 at 4:13 PM , Anonymous said...

For me personally it's a very desirable write-up. I'd like to read a bit more concerning this particular subject.

 
On February 4, 2011 at 6:48 AM , Anonymous said...

Kudos for this great blog post

 
On February 5, 2011 at 12:05 PM , Anonymous said...

Observed your post exactly when it wasuseful. Thanks to you. It's recently been very beneficial

 
On February 7, 2011 at 1:09 PM , Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. Quite simple and very simple to understand. Done well!

 
On February 8, 2011 at 12:37 AM , Jin said...

Thanks to everyone who's taken their time to write me comments. Really appreciate your encouragements.

 
On March 14, 2011 at 6:16 AM , SammieDoo said...

Very pretty. This is so fun. So much can be used as an impression too. Even a paper clip opened up for a half circle. Beautiful!

 
On March 14, 2011 at 10:48 AM , Jin said...

Hi SammieDoo you are absolutely correct. You don't have to get the impression tools. A paper clip can do the job just as well.

 
On November 29, 2011 at 9:22 PM , NailGloss said...

Hey, where did you have bought it?

 
On February 26, 2012 at 1:16 AM , Jin said...

Hi Nail-Gloss, I bought these from a local nail shop called pro nails essentials. But if your are really interested you can contact Young Nails for a list of shops they sell these too.