18 essential tools for nail design – starter kit

The content of the article

• Manicure tools
• Nail brushes
• Dots for nail art
• Orange sticks
• Tweezers and small scissors
• Lint-free cotton pads and sponges
• Cuticle forceps
• Buffs for manicure
• Design Accessories
• Stickers, tapes and foil
• Glitter powder
• Beads and rhinestones
• Stamping
• Base and top coat
• Nail Repair Products
• Lucky

A neat manicure for a woman is not a luxury, but a way to feel beautiful and confident. Regular visits to salons take time, but if you have supplies and professional tools for nail design, you can take care of them at home. The list of necessary devices will help you make the right choice..

Manicure tools

Materials for nail care can be bought at specialized points of sale or online store. Professionals do not recommend purchasing a ready-made set for manicure for beginners. The tools in it are often of poor quality, and most of the items will not come in handy when working.

Conventionally, all devices can be divided into several groups:

• Polishing. Nail shaping tools – nail files and soft buffs.
• Dressing. This group includes brushes for painting, rhinestones, stickers and other design accessories.
• Manicure. To care for the nail plate and remove the cuticle, tweezers, scissors, special scrapers and pushers (sticks to move the cuticle) are used.

Nail brushes

Any novice master will sooner or later want to diversify the varnish coating with drawings and unusual designs. For painting, special brushes are used. Tools for manicure and nail design allow you to improvise with patterns, create colorful pictures and monograms. Brushes vary in shape and material from which they are made..

To work with liquid paints, you need to buy brushes made of synthetic fibers, for thick varnish – natural.

Flat for the base

Such a brush has a wide working surface, and the tip of the villi is evenly trimmed. When designing nails, it is used for drawing flowers, painting in the Gzhel style, distributing powder or sparkles. Many masters prefer using such a brush to apply the basis for gel polish – the base coat. It lies flat and does not leak under the side rollers.

Fan

In such a brush, the villi diverge in a semicircle around the base. She is doing manicure with sparkles, abstract and landscape compositions. It is convenient to carry out an ombre design with a fan brush. Apply varnishes of several colors alternately on the base coat, then gently brush with a brush from the base to the tip of the nail.

Beveled edge

The second name of this brush is dagger-shaped. It has a flat base, but the villi are not cut evenly, but at an angle of 45 °. Dagger-like tools are universal. With their help, volumetric paintings are created with acrylic powder and subtle patterns with paints..

It is convenient to use a beveled brush when drawing the edge of a French jacket – French manicure.

Stripper brush

She is a liner, or a hair. This is a small brush with thin fibers up to 2 cm long. It will be convenient for her to draw monograms, long lines or arbitrary curls. The liner is also used to design a trendy geometric manicure and when working with floral motifs..

Dots for nail art

This tool for designing nails at the ends has iron tips in the form of balls of different diameters. It is suitable for decorating manicure with dots, drawing stamens in flowers, painting in Khokhloma technique. To prevent dots from spreading, apply paint in smooth and slow movements.

Orange sticks

Manicure devices – long wooden skewers – are pointed at one end and scapular at the other. They are made of orange wood and are used to move the cuticle during unedged manicure or to remove the gel polish manually. The sharp end of the stick cleans dirt and dust from under the nails. It’s also convenient for them to remove excess varnish from the side rollers, if you wrap a little cotton wool on the tip and dip in acetone-free liquid.

Tweezers and small scissors

Good manicure tools will last several years. For cutting nails, choose strong steel scissors with rounded blades. Use them only when working with fingers on your hands; when performing a pedicure, select forceps. For design, it is convenient to have at hand and simple small scissors. They can cut stickers or other paper accessories..

Fine tweezers with fine edges help to decorate the drawings with elegant beads, beads or stones. Everything that adheres to varnish requires precise application. Otherwise, the manicure will look sloppy.

With tweezers it is convenient to remove small debris or villi from the non-hardened coating, then you need to walk along the surface of the nail plate with a new layer of varnish.

Lint-free cotton pads and sponges

Disposable wipes are used to remove unsuitable coatings or patterns and to erase the sticky finish. Do not use cotton wool for these purposes, as its villi can ruin the design. Using lint-free wipes, it is convenient to degrease the nail surface and tools..

When creating unusual or abstract designs for nails, you can use soft sponges. With their help, splashes are created on the surface of the varnish, the effect of stone or fading, an ombre-style coating. Sponges are sold not only in manicure stores, but also in the cosmetics department.

In extreme cases, you can use a piece of kitchen sponge to wash dishes.

Cuticle forceps

Manicure accessories include nippers for working with the cuticle – the skin at the nail base. From nail clippers, they differ in the type of spring and the shape of the blades. Cuticle nippers have a smoother stroke and a more pointed cutting part.

Buffs for manicure

Files with low abrasiveness (surface roughness) are designed to polish the surface of the nail plate before applying varnish. In appearance, they resemble a simple file, but the touch is softer to the touch.

They can handle not only the nail, but also remove the top coat of varnish.

Design Accessories

The choice of materials and tools for nail design – creating drawings and jewelry – is huge. Conventionally, all these funds are divided into 2 categories:

• To create a flat manicure. This group includes foil, stickers, ribbons and other materials for nail extensions that do not rise above the main coating.
• 3D Design Tools. These are volume beads, rhinestones, broths, bound threads. They can protrude above the surface of the nail..

Stickers, tapes and foil

Most popular design accessories:

• Stickers – drawings on a strong adhesive base. They are applied to dry varnish and coated on top with a quick-drying clear coat..
• Ribbons. There are different textures (from fabric to metal) and colors (plain, with a pattern, fabric design). They also have a sticky base and are applied to a dried coating..
• Foil. This is a special amalgam-coated film. The master applies it to the painted nail and presses it slightly. The foil print is fixed on top with clear varnish..

Glitter powder

It is not necessary to have a shiny varnish in the arsenal – you can always give your nails a little brightness with a special powder. Small sparkles are available in small plastic packaging and can have different shapes: round, square, triangular, rhombus. Spangles are applied to the top layer of varnish with a brush..

To give the nails a shine can also be using special rubbing. This is a fine powder with different shades. It is applied to the painted and dried nail and rubbed with a sponge. Powder residue can be easily removed with a brush..

The most popular effects of rubbing – metallic, holography, chameleon.

Beads and rhinestones

Colored sequins and films can be used alone or mixed with other components for design. The most popular accessory for decorating nails is rhinestones. They are attached to a small drop of varnish, acrylic or embedded in a gel. Rhinestones give the design of manicure a special charm.

The beads are a little larger than the rhinestone and will significantly rise above the surface of the nail plate. Professional masters use them only for the decor of that manicure that will be worn no longer than 7 days. Beads are attached to acrylic or top coat. On sale there is also a reduced version of beads – broths. They are used in the design of “Caviar Manicure”.

Stamping

If there are no artist skills, you can always use ready-made drawings.

Stamping – a method of applying patterns on nails that does not require painting.

This is a set of tools for nail design, equipped with a seal, a stencil and a scraper. Before applying the picture, coat your nails with varnish of the desired color.

Put some paint on the stencil. Holding the scraper at an angle of 45 °, remove excess varnish. Press the seal firmly against the ink stencil, roll it a little back and forth and on the sides. Draw a stamp on the nails, pressing it to the desired area. Remove residual varnish from the skin with a lint-free cloth.

Base and top coat

To keep the gel polish well, a base coat is used. This is the first transparent layer that aligns the nail plate, hides minor imperfections and fastens the varnish to the surface..

The base coat is best applied with a flat brush and dried in an LED lamp for about a minute.

The top transparent coating is called top. Its purpose is to consolidate the entire manicure and protect the varnish from external damage. Top can be matte (creates a coating without gloss), with a sticky layer (it must be removed with a lint-free cloth) and without stickiness. It is recommended to apply the finish coating after creating the design. It is advisable to purchase the top and base of one company.

Nail Repair Products

With frequent use of gel polish, the nails may peel off, become brittle and dull. The following tools will help to fix the problem:

• Keratin masks. They contain liquid keratin, healing oils and vitamins. The basis should be applied to clean nails and left for 5-7 minutes. Rub the remains of the mask with light movements.
• Firming Varnishes. They contain calcium, wheat proteins and other beneficial substances. Varnish is applied once every 2-3 days on clean nails. Treatment course – 10-15 days.
• Restorative oils. They additionally contain vitamins and minerals. Such tools not only strengthen the nail plate, but also make the cuticle softer and supple. Oil should be rubbed into the surface of the nail every day. Treatment course – 7-14 days.

Lucky

The choice of colors of gel polishes for manicure is huge, as are the manufacturers of these coatings. Experts recommend giving preference to proven brands. Such varnishes hold stable from 10 to 20 days, have a dense texture and evenly lay on nails.

To create a design and a usual coating in the arsenal, it is important to have such color combinations:

• Basic. Pale pink, opaque white, red and black varnishes are classic. These colors are used more often than others when creating different designs. When buying, pay attention to the weekly varnish CND VINYLUX No. 105, 181,111 and 108.
• Nude shades. Pastel color coatings are ideal for women who do not like bright colors or have short fingers. Such varnishes visually lengthen nails. Pay attention to CND Vinylux, color 195 Naked Naivete, Mavala – Mini Color Rose Shell 9091162.
• Metallic colors. Gold, purple, blue or silver polish can be combined with any other shade. They emphasize the beauty of the hands even without additional accessories. Buy these products as a set: CND Creative Play No. 448 Urge To Splurge, Sand Planet Nails (155).
• Glitters. Glitter varnish is the most unpretentious. It will not show the errors of the novice master or the roughness of the nail plate. For decor, try these products: CND Vinylux Emerald Lights # 234 varnishes, Brigitte Bottier, Silver Collection # 452
• Bright neon. Varnishes that glow in the dark are the new hit of the season. They are suitable for lovers of nightclubs or private parties. Experience the CND Yellow Tin Paint – TD TD05021 and Bluesky Shellac Neon 24 (Neon Blue).