Requested Nail Tutorial: 3D Acrylic Flowers

Following the Wedding Nail Art Ideas post earlier this week, I was requested again by Enigma to do a tutorial for the 3D Acrylic Flower in these photos:

I recently got an acrylic sample kit from ebay to experiment a little with 3D flowers so now I think I have practiced enough to be able to do a tutorial.  (Having said that, I haven't had any experience with acrylic before so I can safely say I self-taught myself through YouTube tutorials).  

I will do the same flower as above but on a different background just to show you how it would look but it is always the same steps.  Of course, different petal shapes may be used to create different flowers and effects but you will see more photos of those later.  Let's see what you will need to create the flowers first and then on to the actual step-by-step tutorial.

Equipment: Acrylic Liquid Monomer, Acrylic Powder Polymer (I am using Bright White), the ones I am using are by IBD;  No.8 Acrylic Sable brush (I got mine from ebay as well); half pearls, rhinestones or steel beads as embellishments.  The photo on the top right shows the brush bristles in detail.  You will also need some tissue paper and of course the nail you're gonna be working on (in this case I am using a nail tip).

Procedure:

1. Decide on the background you want for your flower and paint the nails accordingly and allow ample drying time. In case you're wondering, I used China Glaze Sunset Sail and a bronze nail polish here.

2. Make sure you have everything ready, then, dip the brush in the liquid monomer pushing the bristles against the bottle itself to release any air bubbles. 

3. Thin the brush slightly against the bottle's rim and dip into the powder.  Make sure you don't dip it too deep or you end up with a very big ball of powder that would be difficult too manage.  On the other hand, if you only touch the surface, you won't get enough acrylic to work with.  Don't worry if you do not get it right the first time round, practice makes perfect!

4. Place the ball on the nail and allow it to self-level and lose its shine a little.  In the mean time, wipe the brush a little on a tissue paper.

5. Start forming the first petal by gently pushing down the centre of the ball so as to create an indentation and form it in the shape you want.  You have to be very quick to work here as the acrylic dries quite quickly.

6. Repeat these steps until you form the flower.

7. Finish off by applying pearls, rhinestones or steel beads to the centre of the flower to give it a more life-like appearance.

So that is basically what it involves.  I'm sorry I couldn't take a video but video quality is not that good on my cell phone camera so I took pictures of the steps to show you in detail how it should look like.  You can also prepare the flowers in advance by working on nail forms and then peeling the flower off and store it for later use.

Finally, here are two more examples of four and three petalled flowers following the procedure above: