LONGER NAILS, LONGER LIFE
There are two main ways to achieve a long nail set. It all depends on how you want to get there. If you're patient, the best way to get the best looking set of long nails, is to stay with your current natural length and apply product to support your natural growth. You don't even need to visit the salon. Read all about growing your natural set here.
If waiting is not for you, you've come to the right place.
Scroll down to choose a method and make sure you have the right tools and the right products.
The methods detailed here are ordered by difficulty, so start where you're at.
Just before you dive into nail extension, be sure to manicure, clean and prepare the nails for extension or coverage.
Extension Methods
Three main ways to extend your nails with builder gel or polygel, each with it's own advantages and challenges. How to Choose the best one for you.
Beginners
A tip made of gel that is cured onto the natural nail and then left there.
Advantage: perfect top surface and inner nail. Quickest way with hardly any filing needed.
Disadvantage: May last less than structured builds.
Advanced
Dual Forms are used as molds with product laid into them, and removed after curing.
Advantage: Perfect top surface, easy length.
Disadvantage: may need filing near the cuticle and or under the nail.
Forms
Experts
A Paper form, placed on finger as a supporting platform for product.
Advantage: perfect inner nail, Full control of build.
Disadvantage: requires practice and filing.
Gel X Tips - The Quickest Easiest Nail Extension
If you're low on time or want to build long nails with minimal tools and product, start with Gel X Tips. These tips are made of gel so they can blend with both rubber base, building gels and gel polish.
Products & Equipment
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Gel X Tips in your favorite shape (Almond, Coffin, Stiletto etc.)
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A nail file or electronic file (e-file)
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Rubber base or builder gel
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Nail Dehydrator
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Primer (Bonder)
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Nail Lamp
The Process
Start with your natural nails. Do your manicure as you like it. Clean and Prep the nail bed.
Then, when all is clean and ready to go, your nail should look like this:
You should make sure to have pushed back cuticles, buffed up nail surface.
If you skip the actual manicure, make sure to gently file the surface of your natural nail for two purpuses: the first is that the product will adhere best to a scratched nail surface than to a smooth one and the second is to make sure you exfoliate any dead skin on your nail plate, as that will cause really quick lifting.
Apply a nail dehydrator product on the natural nail surface, this will help avoid lifting due to the natural oils of the nail bed, follow up with primer which is in charge of bonding the natural nail with the product that will be applied to it. If you skip this step, your nail set isn't going to last long. The dehydrator and primer will leave the nail slightly tacky in texture.
Prep the tips by measuring them on your own nail. Make sure they reach each side of the nail in width, so no part of your natural nail is protruding or is uncovered. The tip should be able to be laid flat on you nail bed. Place all the tips you will use by setting them in order of placement, this will make the application process faster. Also, make sure your lamp can be accessed easily by setting it upright or by using a standing cure light.
Then, when all tips are placed on your desk, apply some rubber base to the tip and set the tip on your natural nail, by first attaching the end closes to the cuticle and then pushing downwards, to help the rubber base flow down towards you nail tip - the free edge. When you see that there are no bubbles in the rubber base between the tip and the natural nail - cure the nail for 30 seconds.
When all tips are on, slip your hand in the lamp to cure the set for 1 minute. Use your nail file to slightly file and smoothen the line where tip meets the natural nail nea the cuticle. Use the nail file to remove the shine from the entire top surface of the nail. Make sure all is smooth, this will help any material you apply to the nail adhere to it for longer.
Now you can either add structure to your nail to strengthen it even more or simply go in with your favorite gel polish color or design. After that gel polish or design are cured, apply top coat and cure for 1 minute.
Bam! Long nails, for at least a week are done!
Next time you work on them, they'll be longer.
Dual Forms - The Best Compromise
Dual forms give you an amazing result in terms of looks and durability with relatively low effort. Also, dual forms can be used multiple times, as they are removed from the nail after curing, unlike the gel tips that you leave in so this method requires one set of forms only.
Products & Equipment
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Dual Forms - look for boxes that offer multiple nail shapes
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A nail file
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Rubber Base
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Easiest to do with poly gel, but builder gel will work too
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Nail Dehydrator
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Primer (Bonder)
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Nail Lamp or standing light
nail extensions with dual forms step by step guide
Once your cuticles are manicured, with the nail plate filed gently, you can start measuring the forms. Apply a nail dehydrator product on the natural nail surface, this will help avoid lifting due to the natual oils of the nail bed, follow up with primer which is in charge of bonding the natural nail with the product that will be applied to it. If you skip this step, your nail set isn't going to last long. The dehydrator and primer will leave the nail slightly tacky in texture.
Have your nail lamp ready standing up or use a stand alone nail light, as you will want to hold on to the forms when the product is curing under the lamp. Apply a bead of product onto the form, covering the entire area of your wanted nail length from side to side. The layer should be as thick as the gap between your nail and the tip when you place the tip on it without pushing downward into the nail. You can flip over the tip to see the product is evenly placed on the tip (easier to see when the product is tinted and not clear).
If you're using poly / hybrid gel you can use the special slip solution that makes the poly gel much more controled when used with the brush.
Place the tip on the nail close to the cuticle with a small gap from it, without pushing it down and slide it gently towards the cuticle.
Before curing the product, flip the nail over to see the underside of it, where the extension product meets your finger tip. You can use the slip solution again to shape the product smoothly and evenly near the finger so you don't have lumps of product under your nail.
Now you can cure the product while holding the tip for a few seconds to keep in place and move to the next finger. When the full hand is done - cure the entire hand for 1 minute.
Now, after the full cure, you can start to remove the dual form molds, grab each mold by the thumb and index and tilt and lift to each side gently, the form should come off easily.
Now you can finally examine the quality of the application and fix it if it isn't to your liking. Look at the product next to the cuticle, is it smooth and aligned with the cuticle or does it have lumps or a line that is thicker than the rest of the nail?
Go ahead and file off those lumps gently to not hurt the cuticle, the best tool for the job is a precise e-file drill bit that can touch these narrow points only, but if you only have a nail file it will take a bit longer but can be done the same.
However, if you have lumps under your nail, these cannot be cleaned with a hand file, that can't reach the small space between your nail extension and your finger tip. To clean out any lumps under the nail, use a specialized thin but coarse drill bit to remove lumps gently. Make sure to protect the nail tip when doing do.
Forms - The Expert Extension
Forms are stickers that fit on your finger, around your natural nail, providing a platform to place product on to sculpt a nail extension. The stickers are used once per extension on one finger. Usually done with builder / hard gel, but you can also use forms with poly / hybrid gel.
Products & Equipment
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Forms - look for stickers that work best for you
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A nail file
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Rubber Base
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Easiest to do with builder gel, but poly gel will work too
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Nail Dehydrator
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Primer (Bonder)
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Nail Lamp or standing light
nail extensions with forms step by step guide
Once your cuticles are manicured, with the nail plate filed gently, you can start measuring the forms to plan out how you will attach them to your fingers. Apply a nail dehydrator product on the natural nail surface, this will help avoid lifting due to the natual oils of the nail bed, follow up with primer which is in charge of bonding the natural nail with the product that will be applied to it. If you skip this step, your nail set isn't going to last long. The dehydrator and primer will leave the nail slightly tacky in texture.
Start by applying a layer of rubber base on your nails and cure that in UV/LED lamp for 1 minute. Now you can place the form on the finger by removing the circle in the middle of the form, and fit that right under your natural nail, the ends of that slot in the form should be stuck to your finger holding it in place and the front part can be slightly bended into a barrel.
When the form is secured on the finger, apply a layer of builder / hard gel on the nail, from cuticle to free edge and follow with a bead of builder gel placed on the middle to end of your natural nail and extend it downwards to create the first platform layer that will allow you to build the nail extensions with strucure that protects them. Cure that in the UV/LED lamp for 1 minute, do each finger separately.
You can now remove the forms from underneath the cured gel, file the shape you want your structured nail to be, like almond or square.
Start the structure correction, by applying a thin slip layer of builder gel from the cuticle down to the free edge of the nail, not curing it and then applying a bead of builder gel at the apex area, which is the middle of the natural nail plate, the part of the nail excluding the free edge.
With your gel brush, slightly slide the gel downwards and then use a thin liner brush to correct the application, moving the gel so it creates the apex of the nail the thickest, highest point of the nail structure.
Flip the nail upside down to get the self leveling effect of the gel to keep the gel centered. Cure it for 30 seconds and move to the next nail, and repeat the process of building a platform layer with the forms and then building the new nail structure without them.
Once you're done with the whole hand, cure it all for 1 minute. Now, file off any lumps and clean the nail for gel polish color application or some decorations on your tinted gel structure.