Nail Tips, Tip Cutters and Nail Glue for Extensions

Nail tips are the fastest way to add length: a tip gives you the shape, and the gel or polygel over it gives you the strength. This page holds the tips, the tools that cut them to length and the adhesive that fixes them, so the whole fitting step is in one place.

Choosing a tip

Clear tips are the all-rounder: a transparent base for gel, acrylic or nail art, 500 to a box. The pre-shaped soft gel tips come in the two shapes clients ask for most - medium almond and medium coffin, 550 pieces each - and cut fitting time because the shape is already there. The 600-piece short French tip box comes in 12 numbered sizes in an organised storage case, which suits a busy desk.

For a blended look at the cuticle, the traceless false nail tips are matte, ultra-thin and non-cutting, 100 to a pack, in medium coffin and long almond. Pedicure clients have their own: toe tips, 550 pieces, shaped for toenails.

Cutting, fixing and holding

A tip is cut to length before it is shaped. The tip cutter, the three-style tip cutter set (A to C) and the triple tip cutter trim artificial tips cleanly without splitting them. Nail glue fixes the tip to the natural nail, and the nail fixing clips hold dual forms and moulds steady while polygel cures. For gel-based fixing, the multifunctional adhesive gel is in Nail Essentials.

A fit that lasts

Most lifted tips are a prep problem, not a tip problem. Push back the cuticle, remove shine from the nail plate, dehydrate and prime before the tip goes on; the prep system has every step. Then match the tip to the nail: the tip should span from sidewall to sidewall without squeezing the skin. If a nail falls between two sizes, take the larger and file the sides to fit: a tip that is too small leaves the sidewalls bare, and that is where it lifts. The difference between tips and building on a form is covered in soft gel tips vs sculpted nail extensions, and the full product list for a set is in what nail artists use for nail extensions.

Want everything in one box? The nail extension kits bundle tips, glue and a cutter with the gels to finish the set.