French Acrylic Nail Kit

Nothing beats a perfect French manicure which is neat and long lasting. I am a huge fan of Acrylic nails and I've learnt how to perfect acrylic nails at home. However before I learnt how to master it, I purchased this KISS French Acrylic Kit to try it out.

The kit contained:

• 44 French tips in different sizes
• Speed set glue
• Acrylic powder
• Acrylic liquid
• Mini nail file
• Cuticle rose wood stick
• Sculpture brush

Other things you will need:

• Paper towelettes
• Pure acetone
• Top coat
• Nail buffer
• Tip cutter or nail clipper
• A dampen dish or a tot glass
• Cuticle oil

The process is quite simple, but can get a little bit hard, you use the cuticle stick to push back cuticles, and a mini nail file which is used to roughen the nail bed so the acrylic can last longer on nails. And the hard work begins.

Once nails have been roughened, find the perfect shapes for nail tips and use the nail glue to apply a small amount of nail glue to the well on the tip (the well is where you apply glue) and place on finger and hold for around 30 seconds. Repeat the process for one hand, once completed use a tip cutter or a nail clipper to clip down the tips to your size. It would be easier to use a tip cutter, mainly because its meant to cut artificial tips while a nail clipper is meant for natural nail tips, and a nail cutter can loosen the glue.

Once your nails are cut to the desired length, file them into a square or rounded tip which you like. Once completed, do the same for the next hand, once you've completed both hands. The hard work just gets tougher.

Set the paper towelettes around so you don't make a mess and begin. Pour a small amount of acrylic liquid into a shooter or tot glass, and open the acrylic powder, using the sculpture brush, dip the tip in the acrylic liquid and swipe on the edge of shooter glass so that there isn't too much on the brush. Then sweep the brush across the powder, and a small ball will form. Place the ball on the tip and press down using the brush. Once you've completed it on a tip form another ball for the middle and then the cuticle. DON'T ALLOW ACRYLIC TO TOUCH CUTICLES!

Once you've completed the process, allow acrylic to dry and repeat for all nails. Your nails will have a whitish look on it. Tap the end of the sculpture brush against the acrylic to see if it dry, you will hear a tapping sound.

Now take the nail file which has a slightly lighter filing side and file over acrylic to give it a smooth feeling, and then buff over nails to give acrylic a smooth shiny finish. I would then recommend you apply a top coat for a high finish shine and apply cuticle oil to cuticles because acrylic is very damaging towards cuticles.I would also recommend you dip your brush in acetone to remove any hard bits of acrylic and keep clean, store kit away for further use.

I would recommend you give this product a try, it retails for R240 and can give you a good three or four manicures. If you're not willing to spend so much, buy an acrylic filling kit which is R100 and purchase tips from a beauty shop which is around R10.