Glitter tips or powder - NEWBIE!!

[TumbleD]

Hi,
Ive recently done an acrylics nail course and am trying to get a bit of experience. I am currently working towards my NVQ. At the mo have only done white tips or natural tips, and havent managed to perfect my smile lines so have used white tips rather than powder for the tips.
Ive been looking at coloured tips and glitter powder......
Is it best to use tips or just practice my application of the powder on the tips, getting smile line right etc?????
Also whats the best powders to use, Ive got an NSI kit with attraction liquid which is working well for me at the moment. Im a great believer in you get what you pay for, but being a complete novice and not having a lot of disposable income at the moment, should i get some cheap glitter powders to get some practice...? :sad::sad:
Any advice welcome. Seen some really cheap stuff an ebay from honk kong or somewhere and am tempted to get it and try just for practice.
Thanks

 

[Holly berry]

Hi Hun, I've been doing acrylics about 6 months so I'm rather new too. I use nsi and it's fab. They do a little coloured powder kit and it's about £23 but you get 14 colours and a bottle of acrylic liquid and a few spare pots. It's well worth it. I tend to just use white tips too as I'm not very confident with using the white powder (I try to practise when I do friends nails but I can spend 3 hrs!!)
Anyhoo I did some glitter tips the other day and was forced to use glitter powder and it was easy peasy!! Honestly! It didn't set as fast as the white So had a little more time to perfect the smile line and they looked great. Just maybe buy a couple of pots of glitter and colour acrylic and have a play.
I will put a pic up if the silver ones I did! X x x

 

[TumbleD]

Holly - the glitter tips look amazing!!!
Thank you so much for your response, its nice to know im not alone!!
So m- with the glitrter tips, which powder did you use, and what powder did you mix it with - and ratios etc.......
Thank you so much xxx

 

['chelle]

Hi, I would strongly recommend sticking with your powders as opposed to coloured tips, the more coloured tips you use, the less practice you are getting with your smile lines and you'll never perfect the technique! It takes lots of time and patience to perfect smile lines but its so worth it, a hand done smile line looks so much nicer than a stuck on tip, and you can extend the nail bed making the nails look elegant.

Regarding getting cheap powders I wouldn't. Firstly the powders probably wont work with your monomer (you should use a complete system) and working with a cheap product probably wont be anything like working with your NSIi so you wont be getting proper practice.

You'll be so glad you stuck to practising your smile lines once you conquer the skill, there are so many nail techs out there who use coloured tips and clear overlay, that being able to use coloured powders and hand-do the smile line makes you stand out and makes you more than just an average nail tech. More importantly you can charge more for your skill that a stick on tip tech can.

 

[Holly berry]

The silver one is actually the edge acrylic glitter powder. Already mixed. It was one I just picked up coz I needed it in a hurry. But I did some other ones with my nsi colours as well and I just used the same mix ratio as I would with normal nsi powders. I think the powders that already have glitters in them are easier to use than mixing your own. (just my opinion!)
Check them out on the nsi website they have some lovely ones. (I especially love the red sparkle. Ruby slippers I think it's called)
Keep practising your smile lines, we'll both get there eventually! Show us a pic once you've had a go with the glitter x x x

 

[Holly berry]

Opal shimmer x

 

[Holly berry]

Opal shimmer x