Why do my tipped nails always look rubbish? Help

[Bluebelle Nails]

When doing extensions the nails i've tipped always look awful, squat and silly. I keep looking back at videos but they always start with the perfect shape nail, rectangle. I don't do many extensions (literally hardly any!) but most of the time i come up against difficult nails...like nail biters or nails that are square. The ones that are most difficult are nails that are longer one side than the other, so more nail bed is showing on one side but u can't file the other side down because this would cause pain- how do you tip these nails without one side of the tip sticking to the nail bed instead of the nail? I've started to feel a bit more confident in my acrylic application, i seem to be getting the beads on nice and smooth now instead of all lumpy, so not much filing to do. But tipping!!! still feel very uncomfortable doing it unless i have a nice straightforward nail (which is hardly ever!!) I wish i could learn to sculpt but i don't want to run before i can walk.
I use pro impressions well less tips btw, which i sometimes blend in a little. i also have nsi tips but haven't used these in a while...tips with wells scare me even more than well less. cheers x

 

[Bluebelle Nails]

ALSO (what a stupid question this is gunna be!).... how long are the nails supposed to be in comparison to each other? Am i correct in saying that the free edge should be the same length on each nail? I had my confidence knocked last night when i did a set of nails and i wasn't happy with the end result...a couple of the nails looked square, others nice and rectangle. Her middle fingers were square though...could i have done anything about the end result?? Should i have made the nail longer so it looked more rectangle like the others, even though the free edge would have then been longer than the others?
I know i'm going back to basics here!

 

[deanosnana]

Can you post a pic of your work? That way, we can see the nail and offer advice.

 

[Bluebelle Nails]

Not all of them are tipped, only three on each finger. Look at the middle one, really square. ..could I have done anything about this? X

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[Bluebelle Nails]

Its the orange middle finger thats tipped, tje other is natural x

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[Absolutebeautyx]

It looks to me in that photo that the tip you have used is too big for the nail that's why it looks different to the non tipped nails x

 

[Bluebelle Nails]

but the smaller tip was too small fingers that have tips on= On the bottom hand its index and ring finger, hand on top its middle and index, plus both thumbs x

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[Sarahjayne82]

I agree with absolutebeauty I think the tip is too big.
Try and keep the sides nice and parallel and they'll look longer and sleaker.
Don't be disheartened you'll get there. Xx

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[Absolutebeautyx]

To be honest I've just got this too, I've been doing acrylics since December but not done that many sets since and only recently realised why they were never looking right. Like said above you will get there eventually
Sarah x

 

[Xzentrix13]

Have u thought of using forms?! That's all I ever use, it's the most natural look u can get AND the more product to nail there is the better they hold. Glue breaks down (under the applied tip) and can cause lifting. But all this is just my opinion as I am pro form / anti tip

 

[Bluebelle Nails]

I've been learning acrylics since september 2011...lol I just don't do enough to 'get it'. Sometimes I do and I feel like *punch the air* yeh I've got it! Then I get nails like yesterday and it puts me back to square one I fitted the tip perfectly to the natural nail(width wise), so I just don't get how it cud be too big? I struggle also on the look of it when its just the tip on, the nail looks squat. Oh its sooooo annoying! Xx

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[Bluebelle Nails]

Have u thought of using forms?! That's all I ever use, it's the most natural look u can get AND the more product to nail there is the better they hold. Glue breaks down (under the applied tip) and can cause lifting. But all this is just my opinion as I am pro form / anti tip

I absolutely agree with u! I love the look forms give but I don't feel confident enough to do them. I've had a bash at the odd few to repair a chip, but that hasn't gone brilliantly. I hate tips! Lol x

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[Wooshka]

You always must remember that we are not miracle workers and if a client has a wide nail, then any extension applied that is a tip and overlay is going to look wide.
The only was to ensure you don't do anything to make them look worse, is to ensure you don't use a tip that is too big, ensure you file your sidewalls straight and keep your lower arch straight but at the end of the day, a horse is a horse and a stallion is a stallion

With the nail in the pic, it does look slightly shorter than the others and you could have maybe gone a teeny teeny bit longer than the others to give the slimmer illusion but again, a wide nail, is a wide nail

Alos, it could just be the pic but the nails look a tad thick, sometimes when we have to have shorter lengths, if the structure of the nail itself is too thick, it will make the nail look wide and bulky.
Everybody seems to have a bit of a different view of how thick an enhancement should be but I like to stick to no thicker than a credit card, even just a tad thinner most of the time.

You will get there hun, it's practice that helps and patience too but don't practice bad habits, practice the right techniques.
If yo are feeling you are not improving in this area, then maybe some one on one training might be in order and you can get some help to tweak this area more.

 

[geeg]

Sculpted nails do not look more natural than a well done tipped nail. I could do one of each and I bet you could not tell which nail was sculpted and which was tipped. I have seen many horrendous sculpted nails and believe you me, there was not a single thing about them that looked natural. It' all down to the operator's skill as to whether a sculpted nail or a tipped nail looks natural or not.

Using a tip with a well would have made these nails look much better than they do and to be honest, looking at the natural nails even without tips, these are not naturally pretty nails at the best of times. A tip with a well gives you the extra length on the sidewalls that is needed, plus it will enclose the irregular shape of what ever free edge is there and it will also be less bulky looking. Don't ignore the things that are available to help you give a first class result instead of a second class result. Well less tips were meant to be used only on nails with a free edge ... for others or misshapes use tips with a well and blend them properly and you will get a much improved result.

You can change the length and shape of a person't nails to suit the hand as best as you can, but if a person's hands are not pretty and the nail shape is not regular, you cant always do much to improve it over all.

 

[Bluebelle Nails]

Thanks guys geeg when you say use tips with a well, would it need to be a full well or could I use tips with a half or small well area? The thing I 'don't get' about tips with a well is: if the person has no free edge, so you can't file it curved to fit snugly against the well of the tip, you end up with part of the nail butted against the tip, but the other part is too short to reach the well so you're then left with a sort of gap in the well....do you guys get what I mean? I did most of my practice on the nail trainer, using full well tips. Although this was great for practicing blending and product placement, it hasn't introduced me to all the different nail challenges. ..which is why I struggle x

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[Bluebelle Nails]

This is a nail I have just tipped on my right hand using nsi dura tips. Any pointers?does everything look correct?x

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[geeg]

Thanks guys geeg when you say use tips with a well, would it need to be a full well or could I use tips with a half or small well area? The thing I 'don't get' about tips with a well is: if the person has no free edge, so you can't file it curved to fit snugly against the well of the tip, you end up with part of the nail butted against the tip, but the other part is too short to reach the well so you're then left with a sort of gap in the well....do you guys get what I mean? I did most of my practice on the nail trainer, using full well tips. Although this was great for practicing blending and product placement, it hasn't introduced me to all the different nail challenges. ..which is why I struggle x

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You have explained what you mean perfectly and you are right ... Sometimes you can't file the free edge to fit the well ...... Everything is not always perfect ... If the well-fit against the stop point of the tip isn't perfect, then it isn't. That's not the end of the world is it?

The answer to your other question is that, no you do not have to use a full well tip ... Great tips like the CND Velocity tips, have a small well area and generally speaking, that will allow you to extend the side walls sufficiently to get a better finished 'look'.

You did a great job with fitting the tip in the image above ... Different class to the other images you posted originally ... However you did not go far enough with the blending. Here's how.

http://www.salongeek.com/nail-finis...le-control-part-2-thinning-blending-tips.html