Hi all!

I had some fun several years ago painting stick-on nails and have recently re-discovered my 'kit'.

My now defunct kit consisted mainly of old nail varnish which is all gunky now and dried up, some brushes, one or two gems and some striping tape.

I have moved on alot these days and have some better tools available to me such as an airbrush and would love to start making stock-on nails again and also nail tips (?) specifically I would like to make some tips for my wedding next year!

Now I've had a brief read through of some threads and realise that professionals probably don't use 99p nail varnish that goes thick two weeks later and is generally a nightmare to use and definitely not to be used in air-brushes so can you tell me what you use please?

If possible I would like to be recommended a brand name air brush friendly 'paint' and some other bits and bobs such as transfers or where I can get good quality nail tips from etc?.

Also, do I just use normal nail varnish for painting on freehand things or acrylic paint?

I'm a bit confused right now but would like to start up my hobby again and this time with the right tools and materials. A suggestion for a basic kit would be very much appreciated!

Many thanks for your time and I look forward to sharing some work with you in the not too distant future

I think I should point out (given a post above) I will not be attaching these, purely painting them for other salon professionals to attach as I wouldn't dream of attempting it myself!!

99% of nail professionals do not use stick on nails hun,
even if you were to decorate tips with polish they wouldn't be much use to us as we don't apply acrylic or gel over polish,
have a look through the gallery on here and you will see what is achievable with the products that we do use,
you sound very interested in nails and it may be a good thing for you to take some training and do nails yourself professionally, hth

Thanks for replying

Ahhh... I see the snag with my idea then lol

I will just stick to (bad pun) stick on ones then as I just want a hobby really and I don't have the time or money to go and do courses outside of things relating to my jewellery at the moment.

Have you any suggestion as to what airbrushing paints would be used for airbrushing though please?

I was considering the high pigment Vallejo game colour paints my OH uses for his Warhammer models but would really like to know if there's a brand that *should* be used instead!

Thanks!

If it is wedding nails that you are wanting and your artistic enough to design the nails that you would like then why not draw it out and then visit some nail tech's that are local to you and see if you can find one who can give u the nails that you want for your big day using your ideas? Even stick on nails that seem to be harmless can do quite a lot of damage if you do not know how to prep or remove them properly.
But It sounds to me like you are more interested in nail art than just for your wedding day so why not also call your local collage and ask them if they run any nail art courses in your area? If they don't they may know who dose. I know you said you didn't really want to follow that route but what harm could it do ? Most classes are part time to so it wouldn't mean you couldn't fit it around your work and other commitments.
Hope this helps
C