For the past couple of years I have been getting my nails done (gel or acrylic) on and off and despite the fact I would love to have them done all the time, I can simply not afford it. So when looking for a cheaper alternative I came across this on eBay, which is a sort of 'do it yourself' kit and decided to give it a whirl!



~~What is it?~~
This is a Nailene Acrylic Sculpture kit, which is a way to do your own acrylic nails at home. It comes complete with all the basics you need and with these type of kits there is no need for an Acrylic lamp or any extras so the only cost will be the kit itself.



~~Price and Availability~~
I personally purchased mine for £9.95 of eBay, which I was very happy with as my acrylic nails normally cost me £25 a set and with 40 tips in this set I thought I should at least be able to use this kit 2-3 types providing the sizes were correct.

I purchased mine off of eBay and haven't really seen this kit instore anywhere. I know there are other online retailers that sell it, also Amazon, but far as the likes of Boots and Superdrug I have not seen this kit being sold. They do however, have similar items which cost a little more around £15, though not having used them I cannot comment on them.



~~What's in the kit?~~
The kit is extremely simple and comes with just a few items to make the kit as easy to use as possible. It comes with 40 nail tips (20 white for the french manicure look and 20 natural -a clearish white colour- for the more natural look), a small pot of Nailene Acrylic Powder, a small bottle of Nailene Acrylic Liquid, a brush, a nail file/ buffer, nail glue and instructions.



~~The brush~~
I thought I would just quickly talk about the quality of the brush. It is in an almost fixed, curved position, yet still has some flexibility and the bristles are quite soft. On the first couple of uses I was very happy with the brush as it was really great for making the acrylic even and applying to the nail, though I found the more I used it (despite cleaning it) the worse it became. The bristles became really coarse and stuck out in all directions and also became loose, sometimes leaving the bristles in the acrylic. So although it is good for the first couple of uses when you are starting out, once you have got the hang of it I would recommend purchasing a better quality one.



~~The nailene acrylic liquid~~
The Nailene Acrylic Liquid really smells very strong of chemicals and it something that is probably not too good to inhale. It is probably best to use in a well ventilated room (but not too cold otherwise it will affect the nails.) It is not the worst smell, but is quite overpowering and it is not something I particularly likes and smells very similar to that of a nail bar!




~~Using the kit~~
Using the kit was much simpler than I would have thought it to be, that's not to say I didn't encounter a few problems on my very first use, but other than that I found it fairly straightforward to use. To use you simply need to match the tips to the size of your nails and then attach them with the glue. This was quite simple to do, though I did find that the glue took a while to dry, so I did have to hold the nail in place for a period of time before I could release the pressure. I didn't really find this the issue, but it was the trimming of the nails to the length I wanted them to be. As I don't own a proper acrylic nail cutter, I was using a mixture of my own nail clippers and scissors and I sometimes found that these weren't strong enough to cut through the nail and made it very rough on the edge, or began to lift the nail tip in the corners through putting so much pressure on them trying to cut them. This was on my first use and I have not bought some of the acrylic nail clippers (around £2 on eBay) and I now find this part so much easier and it is definitely worth picking some of these up!

The next part was to buff my nail so that the acrylic would take better and there wasn't a clear slop/ step between the nail tip and my natural nail. This was very simply to do and I just took the nail buffer over my nails and it only took a minute or so. I don't really like the feeling of this and it does feel like you are damaging your nail (which you probably are!) though as you only have to do it for a short while I didn't really mind.

Then was to actually apply the acrylic, which you do so by dipping the brush into a small amount of the acrylic liquid, then into the acrylic powder until it forms a small ball and then spread over nail. On my first go on my thumb I found this very hard! The problem was that I wasn't doing it fast enough so the acrylic was drying before I had a chance to get on my nail. I found that I have to use a considerable more amount of the liquid than I would have thought and waited til the powder turned a glossy sort of gel texture before begin to apply. Once I had figured out how to do this, I then found it so much easier as the acrylic seemed to glide on my nail and almost seemed to spread out of its own accord, yet the brush was still needed to make this look even. It says on the instructions that you can do each nail twice with the acrylic if you wish and can also buff after. I personally would not recommend buffing after as I found that this lifted up some of the acrylic and made it look very uneven, instead I would try and concentrate on applying the acrylic quite thinly and evenly as that way you will not have to worry about buffing afterwards. You can then paint on a clear top coat or a colour of your choice.



~~Results~~
I was really pleasantly surprised with the results, admittedly the first go did not look quite as good as when you go to the salon, yet at the same time they did look need and tidy and I was very pleased. I found that the more practice I got, the better the finished results become and I can now use this kit with ease.

The nails themselves looked very shiny and healthy, I chose the French manicure tips and decided to finish with a top coat. The acrylic is clear so this means it does not have the same effect as a pink and white french manicure, but I actually preferred the look that this set achieved. I must say, that my thumb on my first go was a little untidy as I was only just learning and it did seem to be quite thick and lumpy on appearance and the clear gel had also discoloured a little to become yellow. I think this was because in-between applying the two layers of the acrylic I have been doing other things, so had trapped dirt/ dust in-between the two layers, hence the discolouration. I also found that I have some of the acrylic around the edge of my thumb, but I was actually surprised at how easy I could pick this off, or if it was a little more stubborn I applied some nail polish remover over the top.

I could file the shape of the nails to any shape I wanted, so my nails were completely my own, which is what I really liked about this kit as often in salons they file them to how they think you would want them and they are never completely the way you would have chosen.

I found that the acrylics looked good for around 2 weeks and after this time they began to look a little tired and worn out, though at this point I decided to paint over the nails with a block colour and with this on, it just looked like I had colour acrylics and found that I could get away with them for another week or so!



~~Removing the nails/ Did it damage my nails?~~
Removing the nails was fairly simple if you leave them to soak in nail polish remover. I found that they became a slightly sticky and flexible texture, where you could kind of roll the acrylic of the nail. It took around 20 minutes to remove all the nails, so wasn't too time consuming, though you do need to leave them in the nail polish remove for about half that time so you do need some patience at that stage.

I would be lying if I said this kit didn't damage my nails as after the use they did look considerably rougher and seemed more brittle (though were still quite strong!), that said this seems to happen whenever I have my nails done, whether it be gel or acrylic, so I was almost expecting this to happen and to me it was quite indifferent.



~~Pros~~
-Once you have some practice, it is easy to use
-Looks almost as good as salon
-Lasts a long time on nails
-Cheap
-Saves a lot of money
-Can do your own nails in the comfort of your own home at a time that suits you
-Get at least 2-3 sets from one kit



~~Cons~~
-Can be a little tricky on the first use
-The nailene acrylic liquid stinks!
-Nail glue isn't that strong
-Can be hard to trim nail tips



~~Overall~~
Overall, I was really happy with this kit. I found that there were plenty enough nail tip size options to suit me and found that I managed to get 3 sets of acrylics out of this, which would have saved me around £65 at £25 a set! It was a little tricky on the first use, but when I gained more practice I can see that it is pretty straightforward and is something I can use with ease. I really like the results and like the fact that they last around the same time as salon ones would! Yes, they do damage my nails, but I do think this is only to be expected with all types of acrylic or gels we are putting on my nails. This is definitely something that I will be repurchasing and those who are looking to save some money I would suggest trying out one of these kits!