In recent years, manicure has undergone significant changes. Techniques are being improved, new ones are appearing, and at the same time, various techniques allow to perfect the design of nails. Recently, modern fashionistas have demanded the so-called aquarium design. What is it, what are its advantages and disadvantages, what is the implementation technique and what are the best ideas, the material of this article will tell.
What it is?
Aquarium nail design is a special manicure technique that looks like a pattern sealed under glass. Indeed, the technique of its creation is to close the print with a layer of a transparent gel or acrylate. At the same time, the front surface of the nail is always perfectly smooth, which is convenient in everyday life. The drawing inside creates the effect of volume, for which the manicure got its name.
One of the features of this technique is the fact that it is carried out on artificial nails at the same time as extension. The composition uses various decorative elements, as well as a variety of paints and details of nail art. Only after the design is completed, the nail is covered with a layer of acrylic material or a transparent gel.
Not only ordinary decorative material can be used, which is usually used in work with hybrid varnishes. Aqua-design is more creative, and therefore you can even decorate nails when performing the technique with tiny feathers, colorful sand, shells, and lace. Even pieces of a regular newspaper, dried flowers, spangles, foil and even water can be used.Many women dream of a manicure with the effect of an aquarium, because it allows you to stand out from the crowd and feel special.
Advantages and disadvantages
Aquarium nail design is characterized by a lot of advantages. For example, it is variable in the choice of themes and is suitable for nails of various lengths and shapes. It can look beautiful not only on long nails, but also on short ones, and this is especially important for many housewives. Moreover, the design can be performed both on the entire area of the nail plate, and on the edge.
Other benefits of aqua design include:
- external unusualness, even a certain three-dimensionality, as well as the volume that attracts attention;
- the novelty of the idea, its freshness and the ability to perform in different manicure techniques;
- the possibility of using any theme in the design, due to which you can give the manicure seasonality, so popular this year;
- reliability of the coating and its durability, since such a manicure will adorn female hands for up to three months;
- attractive appearance over the entire period of wear, the absence of chips and cracks;
- the ability to decorate the female image, introducing a special mood into it;
- lack of need to file a growing nail and resistance to burnout during socks;
- high security design, the resistance of the decor to mechanical damage;
- practicality in everyday life, because even stucco material is sealed with a smooth surface.
In addition, the aquarium nail design is self-sufficient. As a rule, such nails are so beautiful that it is no longer necessary to decorate fingers with rings or hands with bracelets. In this case, jewelry will lose its relevance. Another advantage of aqua design is the ability to disguise it. For example, if another design is urgently needed, you can simply cover your nails with any varnish without harming the aqua design. Arriving home, the coating is removed with a regular nail polish remover without acetone.
Unfortunately, aquarium technology has its drawbacks.
- For example, often in it all nails are performed the same way, and therefore, a manicure instead of expressiveness looks colorful.
- In addition, one of the main disadvantages is the search for a professional, because the nails in the end should not be too thick.
- An important criterion is professionalism of execution, because the curved lines of the picture or the decorative “heap is small” on the nails will not look beautiful and will not be able to adequately complete the female bow.
- They do water design for a very long time, which can bore the client, because sitting about two and a half hours is difficult.
- The price of work in a nail salon for this technique is quite high. Of course, if a professional takes up the matter, she will justify herself. Otherwise, it will be money wasted.
How to make it at home?
If you want to decorate your nails yourself with an aquarium design, you will have to take care of the availability of:
- transparent modeling gel or acrylic;
- UV lamps for drying coatings;
- helium paints based on acrylic in different colors;
- necessary decorative elements;
- polisher or soft files;
- a set of thin brushes for painting;
- tweezers for convenient work with small decor.
Preparation
In order for the finished result to be not only beautiful, but also long-lasting, it is important to correctly treat every step of the technology. First you have to prepare the nails themselves. Hands should be thoroughly washed and wiped. It is important to degrease the nail plates so that the adhesion of the coating to the surface is as strong as possible. Someone is using nail polish remover at this stage, but you need to use special medications. After all, it is their formula that allows you to extend the wear of the manicure and prevent the appearance of detachments. Before degreasing the nail plates, they are given the desired shape and length. Adjustment is made at the stage of preparation for the design.
An equally important step in an aquarium manicure is the marking of an approximate pattern. This item is especially important, because it will show how beautiful the chosen design will look on the nails. In addition, fitting allows you to see the relevance of the decor for a particular style and image of a woman. At this stage, the master considers whether foil and pattern, rhinestones will be combined or whether it is better to use beads, broths, golden threads, mica or even marble chips.
If the nails need a medical manicure, you need to do it before the main technique. You can not skip this stage, because pterygium and cuticles will interfere with nail growth, and groomed nails look extremely ugly. A prerequisite will be getting rid of burrs. Before nail extensions on plastic tips or paper templates, everything should be perfect.
Basis for design
After the preliminary steps are completed, proceed to the design of the nails themselves. To do this, after grinding and degreasing them, the plates themselves are treated with special adhesive material. The master chooses a substrate that is convenient for him and the material that is best for her. This can be the upper forms, which is especially true for short and broken nails. It’s convenient to work with them: the master picks up a poly-gel, slightly distributes it inside the tips at the future base of the nail and applies it to a natural nail, firmly pressing it. If necessary, correct the form. It’s easier to work with a poly-gel, because it doesn’t flow, but it’s more difficult to cut it off if necessary.
If you work with modeling or construction gel and paper forms, the ideality of the form will largely depend on how correctly and firmly the paper templates themselves fix. You can not allow the inclination of the biting nail, and the droplet of the gel itself must be distributed correctly. All adjustments must be performed immediately after the material has solidified. Excessive bulge should not spoil the design.
We carry out the effect of the aquarium
After the base is ready, a layer of gel or acrylic is applied to the nails. In this case, the layer will be considered the base, it is important that it is thin. Transparent material evens the base, which allows the design to be even and the application accurate. After applying to the base layer, lay out the decor, repeating the pattern selected during the fitting. To perform this step accurately, a thin brush or tweezers are used in the work.
In order not to stray in the stages of nail decoration, you can pre-make a design and look at it in the process of work. This will allow you to follow the sequence selected during the fitting. You can add an abstraction to the design, optionally paint a contour using a thin brush for this. After the entire decor is laid out in the desired sequence, it will remain to be fixed with a modeling product with a transparent texture.
This stage is considered final. However, far from always the modeling material is applied in a single layer: sometimes several are required for design. This is what allows the aqua design to look voluminous, as if the decor is under glass. Each applied layer needs to be dried, the time of which will depend on the type of gel or acrylic, as well as on the type of lamp itself.
Interesting water design ideas
Depending on the experience of the master, aqua-design of nails may vary in complexity. If at home it is often ordinary pictures and abstraction, then in the cabin you can make a very realistic 3D effect. However, each design will have its own nuances, which will affect the idea itself.
Flowers
For example, one of the best topics of aquarium technology is the use of floral motifs. Indeed, nails with voluminous colors look beautiful and gentle, this design breathes feminine. However, for a more harmonious design, the length of the nails should tend to lengthen.As a basis for decor, it is better to use not pictures, but dried flowers.
They will look especially beautiful in the French technique. This design will be permeated with elegance, but for expressiveness it is better to soften accent nails with a more concise design of the coating. For the base, you should choose a plain pastel or gradient. It is impossible to distort the pattern, and therefore the size of the flowers should fit on the nails. Trimming dried flowers is undesirable - this spoils the composition.
With sparkles
Sparkling sequins are one of the best solutions for evening design. They are ideal for decorating nails of different lengths and shapes. Glitter can be mixed, use different shades, thereby creating an ombre effect with a smooth stretch. Any colors can be used, but the tones of the pastel group fit more harmoniously into the female bow. To create a picture, you can use a brush, sparkles can emphasize design elements.
They can decorate the marine theme, give elegance to lace motifs, decorate laconic smiles of a French jacket. In this case, the design with sparkles can be done not only inside, sealing on top. Sequins can also decorate a sealed design. Of course, this type of outdoor decor cannot be called practical, but glitter can create a volume contour, and this option will look completely different.
Applying foil
It looks beautifully designed under the amber French manicure. Make it using island-type manicure foil. In addition to it, manicure acrylic powder is used to decorate nails, decorating them with the surface of an extended nail with a base layer. The foil itself can be finely chopped and applied in accordance with the design to the desired places on the nail plate. After decoration, the nail is sealed with modeling material.
Fimo
Polymer clay is one of the sought-after materials used to create aqua design. More often, summer decorations are created from this material, which is partly due to multi-colored juicy shades of clay. The pattern is formed by cutting clay with a special blade. At the same time they collect it from various smallest elements. To fix this decor, it is necessary to cover the nails with the applied material, not one, but several layers of transparent gel or acrylic. Since Fimo is small, they can beat techniques such as French manicure, as well as reverse jacket.
Sequins and broths
Choosing such a decor, it is worth paying attention to its size and shape. For example, the same gold shells or starfish are easier to seal if they are flat. Broths will require several layers of modeling gel. Sequins can be combined with sparkles, a specific pattern can be laid out from them. Varieties for any composition are selected based on its subject matter. For example, for flowers it can be broths, for a picture of the beach coast - shells, for space themes you can choose options that mimic the radiance of stars.
Professional Tips
Since it takes a lot of time to create a unique design with an aquarium effect, I want to extend its durability and do it right. Before starting work, study the basic nuances that professionals in the field of nail art pay attention to.
- Do not use hand cream before work. This reduces hitch.
- It is better to degrease nails with lint-free napkins. Often it is the villi that cause detachment and cracking of the material.
- Paints with poor pigmentation look poor and inconspicuous in the design. Excessively harsh color destroys the delicacy of aqua design.
- Decor colors are best chosen in the range related to a particular clothing. So manicure will more harmoniously pour into the desired image.
- The number of rhinestones or their use should be deliberate. Often they are not needed at all in aqua design, because under the layers of gel or acrylic kamifubuki look better.
- For greater harmony of the image, you can choose a design for a specific dress or bag, decoration. So the nails with the picture will not scream about themselves.
- So that the nails do not seem short, the size of the picture should not be too voluminous. In addition, it is undesirable for all ten nails to be decorated with design over the entire area of the nail plates.
- To prolong the durability of the coating, it is important to protect your hands from interacting with aggressive chemistry and sudden temperature drops.
Performing a volumetric design, one must take into account its tenacity: everything that is glued on top of a gel or acrylic will cling to anything in one way or another. In addition, we must not forget that the additional decor will thicken the general layer of the nail along with the coatings. Often this looks ugly, and therefore, before you hang something else on a three-dimensional three-dimensional design, you should consider how appropriate it is and whether it is necessary at all.
Good examples
You can make nails in aquarium technique in different ways, while in each case you can achieve a chic result. Finally, we propose to turn to examples of photo galleries that clearly demonstrate the capabilities of an unusual technique.
- An original summer jacket made using fimo in the form of juicy fruits.
- A concise solution using a nude base can decorate any onion of a modern city dweller.
- The voluminous design with dried flowers and sparkles, made under the imitation of the negative space technique, will appeal to romantic natures.
- Beautiful and delicate design of nails using floral themes and tiny broths looks great on almond-shaped nails.
- An unusual translucent jacket with a holographic print can brighten even the most boring outfit.
- A laconic but juicy French summer solution with multi-colored sand.
- The use of small shells, sparkles and brush painting allows you to decorate nails in a marine theme, which will be useful for summer trips to the sea.
- An original and expressive manicure, executed under the classics and decorated with an accent in floral themes, will be able to adequately complete the evening outfit.
- The design with sparkles and helium painting in gentle colors will fill the female image with sophistication.
See how to make an aquarium nail design with your own hands in the next video.