Fashion & Style

Guide to the trendiest and most common types of artificial nails, including acrylic, gel, porcelain and silk or fiber wraps.

Whether you are dressing up for prom, a wedding or other special occasion or simply wanting beautifully sculptured nails, there are several options for making your hands look like a million dollars. Artificial nails have been a popular trend since the early 1990’s and are continuously increasing in popularity. As a result, the industry has been busy developing new methods and types of artificial nails that look like real, natural beautiful nails. Today, options included acrylic nails, gel nails, porcelain nails and silk or fiber wraps. Depending on how much you want to spend and how much maintenance you want to keep, you can choose from the various options available at your local salon.

Acrylic nails are most popular choice and are also the most durable. First the original nail is filed down and artificial tips are glued onto the original nail. Next, an acrylic coating, created by combining a liquid monomer with a powdered polymer, is spread over the base of the nail and over the artificial tip. The dried coat looks like a hard plastic shell. Once the mixture hardens, the nails are filed to smoothness and are then sculpted and polished. Because the tip is first applied and then covered with a thick coat of acrylic, the nails are much thicker in appearance than natural nails but are also much stronger, and the likelihood of breaking a nail is not as great. One distinct characteristic about acrylic nails is their odor, which is quite strong.

Porcelain nails are similar to acrylic nails but are formed from glass-like material. Because of the finer material, they are more fragile than acrylics. They are slightly more expensive and less popular than acrylic nails because of the fine material from which they are formed.

Another popular type of nails is the gel system. Gel nails have a very natural look but are not as sturdy as acrylic nails. Gel nails are formed by the application and hardening of layers of resin. When creating gel nails, the aesthetician will either apply artificial tips or simply use thin layers of foil or other thin fabric as a base to place the gel coating over. The resin hardens when exposed to light. Unlike acrylics, gels come in colors and therefore polishing is not necessary. Another distinct difference is the lack of odor. Unlike acrylic, gel is odorless. Gel nails are desirable because of their natural look, but because the system is very expensive, many salons do not offer this product type. Additionally, because it costs so much to obtain the system, the price for this type of artificial nail is more expensive than acrylic.

Many women prefer a more natural look and feel to their nails and choose to simply enhance their “real” nails with wraps. Reinforcing the strength of natural nails with wraps is a fairly inexpensive way to obtain long, beautiful nails. The two most popular types of wraps are made of either silk or fiberglass. They are both very good, sturdy materials. The most noticeable difference is the texture. Silk fabric is much smoother than fiberglass. However, after the applications of sealant and nail polish, the difference is hardly noticeable.

Sculptured nails are so trendy it almost seems like a requirement for women to have beautiful, long nails. The good news is that because of their popularity and the variety of choices available, there is a style and affordable price for everyone.

Written by Valorie Garza – 2002 Pagewise