Practice makes perfect

Since I have a full time day job I don't get as much practice as I'd like doing extensions.  I've really only done one set to date for a paying client, the rest have all been freebies.  But if I want paying clients I need to keep my skills up, which are far from perfect anyways.

Sometimes I'm left with no choice but to practice on myself.  Which is frustrating because I clearly have no problems growing and maintaining my natural nails.  This is a set of gel extensions I did back in January where I first noticed a real improvement in my skills.

One of the first things I struggled with was fitting the right tip size.  I can really notice it in the first few photos I did.  The shape of the nail bed is something I still need practice on but I've definitely improved.  The pointer finger here has a nice shape although I think it makes the nail look noticeably fake.

This set followed the shape of my natural nails quite closely as the free edge grows fairly straight out rather than curve like the shape of most nail extensions.  I also made them quite thin and used my favourite new brand of gels - Akzentz Options.  I'm also pretty lucky that my nails have a naturally high C-curve so they are a dream to apply extensions to.  Most people tend to have flatter or wider nails.

The Akzentz Options gels are a soak off gel product.  Removal is not as simple as Shellac or gel polish but they don't need to be buffed off like hard gels.  However because of this, they are more of a temporary extension.  In the area I live in it works well because most people don't want to wear extensions for a long period of time.  Like any type of extensions the better they are cared for, the longer they will last.

These are nails I wore the first week of my new job.  The job is going well so far, I'm happy with it.  In fact I went to work for a direct competitor so it's like I just changed locations only :)

Later
P