Nail Tips, Wraps, and Enhancements
This domain covers the add-ons that extend or reinforce the natural nail: plastic tips, fabric wraps, and the maintenance cycle that keeps them serviceable. Exam items focus on fit, blending, and why an enhancement lifts.
Nail tips
Tips come in numbered sizes, usually ten per box. Choose the tip that fits sidewall to sidewall with no pressure - a tip that pinches or gaps will lift. The well sits over the free edge; the contact area is glued to the plate. Hold at a 45-degree angle, press, and hold until set. Blend the seam with a medium-grit file until it disappears, then refine with fine grit so no ridge catches light. Never apply a tip over a cracked or separated free edge without repairing it first.
Wraps
Fabric wraps - silk, linen, fiberglass, or paper - are applied with a resin adhesive. Silk gives the smoothest, most natural look; fiberglass is the strongest of the fabrics. Cut the wrap slightly smaller than the nail, apply resin, lay the fabric, saturate it, and press out bubbles. After curing, buff smooth and seal with resin or a top coat. Wraps are thin and light but less durable than acrylic or gel and need more frequent maintenance. Removal is by acetone soak, never by prying.
Repairs and fills
A crack is repaired with a fabric patch or a small acrylic bead across the stress zone, then blended. Fills are scheduled every two to three weeks: file down the lifted edge, remove lifted product, re-prep the plate, and rebuild the stress zone.
Worked example
A client's tip keeps popping off at the corner. The cause is usually fit or prep, not glue quality: the tip was a size too small, so the technician pressed it on, leaving a gap at the sidewall where moisture entered. Correct fix - reshape the free edge, use the next size up and file the sidewalls to fit.
Traps
- Forcing a wrong-size tip instead of adjusting it.
- Leaving a visible blend seam that becomes a lifting point.
- Applying resin too thickly, trapping bubbles.
- Skipping the two-week fill, which lets moisture migrate under the product.