Clay sculpting is another hobby of mine, though I don't do much of it anymore. In a sense, working with acrylics is similar, so I've always been really interested in trying it out. Now, I'm not a big advocate of a full acrylic overlay because then it has to be sanded or filed off, which can destroy your natural nails!
I do, though, love the 3D accents and decor you can make and customize with them! You can wear them on top of your natural nails with no problem! Treat them like any other 3D nail art, be it rhinestones, beads, or whatever.
I am torn between methods when it comes to acrylics, though. I like being able to put them on a piece of plastic to sit aside and dry, then peel them off and stick them on. That leaves the back flat, though, so they stick up a lot. If you mess up, you don't have to wipe off your whole nail to start over, though.
I've thought about getting some fake nails, maybe a nail wheel, and laying plastic on top of the nail, then doing the acrylic work on that, so it would be more curved and fit to the nail better, but I have not been able to get any fake nails yet, so I haven't tested it.
So today I am going to have flat 3D art sticking out. But I am okay with that. And they have no flexibility whatsoever once solidified! I thought maybe I could get it to bend just a little, but ended up snapping it in half.
I decided to go with the blue powder first and create a simple bow.
Then I got the crazy idea that maybe I could do some pumpkins, too! More intricate, but a pretty simple design...
The acrylics dry really fast, so I couldn't quite get them the way I wanted. I suppose it was a nice try, though. And those yellow bits, they're supposed to be vines... Shhh.
The acrylic takes no time to solidify. Just peel it right off and you can file the sides a little to shape them better if you need to.
It is a little hard to tell, but I filed the excess bits off with a 100 (I believe) file on the right side, and left the other side alone for comparison. It just looks a little cleaner and gets rid of unnecessary bits.
I wore my bow on a base of Revlon Metallic, and my pumpkins, minus the atrocious vines, on a base of China Glaze Tree Hugger. I would have preferred more of a curved back to the pumpkins, but I wasn't thinking ahead when I went into it!
I could have gone a little thicker with the acrylic on my pumpkins, but this was my first shot at them, so...
I do love that bow, though! One side got a little lumpy because it started to dry on me too fast, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out.
I really like this little set! They are pretty easy to get the hang of. An assortment of 6 acrylic powders retails for $6.16 USD, and the liquid is $3.50. Both great prices!
The liquid does have a pretty strong smell to it, though. I would definitely recommend working with it in an open area. I mean it is far worse than acetone or polish. I tried going into the bathroom to play with these because the baby was sleeping in the bedroom. I even left the door open. But after about half an hour, I started to get light-headed and had to call it quits!
I am pretty excited to make my own 3D nail art with this, though! It's a lot of fun! I will definitely be making more pretties with these! I'd like to perfect my pumpkins for a Halloween nail art this year! ^.^
Also, I've always heard that you should use your acrylic out of a glass dish because it can eat through plastic, but I just put mine in an old thick plastic cap from a bottle of polish remover and I haven't had any problems with it thus far.
As per a request, I created a video tutorial on making an acrylic bow as well. :)
So, as always, if you'd like to shop Born Pretty Store, use my coupon code ANL91 and you'll get 10% off your entire order!
Later today, I'll have another one of their stamping plates to share with you! I reviewed their plate QA5 a few weeks ago, (which you can check out here) and this one is just as great!
