Acrylic Nail Extensions For Short Nails [10 Easy Steps] (2024)

Nail biters rejoice –here at Naio Nails, we’ve got the lowdown on how to sculpt beautiful acrylic nails on short bitten nails. No more hiding your hands; we’re going to show you how to fix short bitten nails and turn them into a work of art.

Thought you were stuck with short natural nails? Think again. Read on for our tips for the best nail extensions for short nails and watch our easy tutorial video to see exactly how we do it here at Naio Nails.

1. Push Your Cuticles Back

First thing’s first, the best nail extensions for short nails begin with the prep. In order to reveal as much of your nail as possible and create more surface area for your acrylics, start by carefully pushing your cuticles back. Removing all this dead skin from your nail plate ensures that nothing will interfere with the adhesion of the acrylic so this is a very important step.

2. Buff the Shine Away

Next, use a sanding block or a 240 grit file to gently remove the shine from your nail, before using a nail file to lightly file down the side walls and free edge to ensure your nail is completely abrased and is a neat shape.

3. Wipe Away Dust

Now it’s time to remove any of that pesky dust, give them a wipe down with acetone or our gel residue wipe-off solution to ensure they’re clean and ready to hold your acrylic.

4. Dehydrate & Prime Your Nails

Next, prep your nails by applying our nail dehydrator and wait for this to evaporate. Once you’ve done this, apply two coats of our acid-free primer to help avoid your acrylics from lifting, if you really struggle with lifting give the acid primer a go.

5. Apply a Sculpting Form

Once you’ve prepped your nails, apply a nail sculpting form. When it comes to how to use nail forms on short nails, you need to ensure it’s lined up carefully against the top of your nails, so as not to cover the hyponychium (the exposed skin just under the top edge of your fingernail). If you find the skin of your fingers gets in the way of closing your nail sculpting form to the size you want, you can very carefully snip the sides to ensure it sits closely corner-to-corner on your nails.

6. Apply the Acrylic

Now you’re properly prepped, you’re ready to start applying your acrylic nails. Starting with a medium-sized bead, blend out your chosen colour onto your nails using an acrylic brush, starting from half-way up your natural nail. Pat and press it down along your sculpting form until it is shaped to your desired length.

Taking another medium-sized bead, apply this close the cuticle of your nails and blend it out carefully over the length of each nail, thinning it out the closer you get to the tip. Don’t forget to clean your brush in between each bead, dab it in your liquid and wipe on some kitchen roll, this will ensure your acrylic applies evenly without sticking to and ruining your brush.

Top Tip: when it comes to acrylic on short bitten nails, we recommend using our max-adhesion liquid in order to ensure it remains as secure as possible on the smaller surface area of your nails.

7. Use a Pinching Tool

To give our nails a C-curve and ensure a nice slim shape, we like to use a pinching tool on each nail, clamping it to the widest part of your nail when the acrylic is almost set. Pinching also gives your nail some extra strength so it’s well worth this extra step.

8. File & Buff

Now, you’re ready to file and buff down your acrylics! To start this process, begin by first removing your sculpting form. Next, take your chosen file (the grit of the file you use depends on how much bulk is on the nail, 80 is rough and 180 is about normal) and straighten up your side walls and free edge before running over the top to de-bulk and smooth, don’t forget around your cuticle area! Once you’ve finished filing, use a white sanding block to fully smooth your nails out before dusting them down.

9. Clean with Pure Acetone

To clear your nails of any residue or dust from filing, wipe them down once more using acetone, which will refine and smooth your nail surfaces even more.

10. Paint & Perfect

And voila, you’re done! Your former short and bitten nails should now be transformed into strong and sturdy acrylics, ready for applying nail polish colours to or getting creative with nail art designs.

Now you know how to apply acrylic nails on short bitten nails, you can make struggling with miniature manicures a thing of the past! Simply repeat these easy steps and you can fix short bitten nails and enjoy long and beautiful acrylics every time.

You can also check out our video tutorial on how to apply acrylic to short bitten nails using this method:

Don’t forget to show us how your acrylic nail extensions look by tagging us with #naionails on social media!

Explore the full acrylics range at Naio Nails today.

Shop Now