Acrylic overlay nail tips are an alternative to wearing full cover artificial nails, and when applied properly can last a lot longer. They can be painted white as a French manicure, kept natural to match your nails, or you can have them any colour you want.

They are slightly more time consuming to apply and they can be a little bit fiddly, but they are well worth the extra time spent.

Step 1: clean and buff your natural nails with the rough part of the buffer, you need to remove the shine as they need a matte surface to stick to.

Step 2: Apply a small amount of nail glue to the tip of your natural nail, position the tip on the edge of your nail and apply it, press down and hold for a few seconds.

Step 3:Apply acrylic bonding gel to the natural nail, dip your nail brush into the liquid acrylic and press against the dish it is in to remove any excess, sweep it across the powder until it has as much powder as possible.

Apply this ball of liquid and powder to the nail.

Step 4: Push the ball back with the brush to fill the cuticle area, bring it to the sides and spread it forward to cover the nail and the tip.

Step 5: The mixture will dry quickly, but when you think it as dried, gently tap your nails, if you hear a clicking sound, then it is dry.

Step 6: Depending on how practised you are, you may need to gently file or buff the excess gel down, do this carefully.

Step 7: File the tips to the required length and buff. If you are using nail polish, apply a base coat to prevent staining, add polish and a top coat for protection and shine.