TUTORIAL
Embed NFC tags in your nails
stop tapping, as it will spread a little more afterwards.
As the acrylic sets, it becomes more and more matte
looking. When it looks matte, tap the acrylic with one
of your other nails. You will hear a clear tap if it’s set,
but a dull one if it’s still setting. With the gel, you will
need to cure it for the time it states on your brand,
which is usually between 30 and 60 seconds.APPLY THE TAG
Now, apply the data tag (that’s what I’m using, a
MIFARE Ultralight NTAG213) or LED, and smooth it
down. Rub over it with the back of your nail, making
sure all edges are stuck down and that there are no
air bubbles under it. Take your time over this.
Now repeat the acrylic layer step. You need to
make sure all of the tag is covered, and that it is asmooth arch shape across the nail. Don’t worry if you
now have an out of focus-looking tag inside there,
you can make it clear as glass by putting a top layer
on later. This layer should be thicker than the last one.FINISHING OFF
Finally, once you’ve smoothed out any bumps, apply
a thin layer of clear nail varnish if you want to see the
circuit inside. If not, decorate with nail varnish or
glue-on gems. For the lights, it’s important to leave a
small gap in any varnish just around where the light
itself is.Above
Left – liquid and
powder. Right – gel
Below
Use your nail, or the
other end of your
brush, to smooth the
tag down, to avoid
putting oils from your
fingers on it
Below
Check for any flaws
before varnishingThe liquid is ethyl methacrylate (EMA) and some
inhibitors. The building blocks of a plastic polymer
are monomers, which is the EMA. The inhibitors stop
them from joining together in the bottle. The powder
is a polymer with initiators in. The catalyst in the liquid
triggers the initiator in the powder to combine with
a monomer, which combines with another monomer,
and so on until they form long chains of polymers,
trapping the tiny polymer beads from the powder,
creating a strong plastic structure.
In the UV gel, the monomers are in the gel, and
the initiators are also in the gel, but they are inactive.
When UV light hits them, the photoinitiators set off
the chain reaction to make the monomers join into
polymer chains. Note there are no polymer beads
in this type, which makes it more flexible.HOW DOES ACRYLIC SET?
The first acrylic
nails came out of
the polymers for
dentures – OPI, who
make fancy nail
varnish, used to be
a dental supplies
company.QUICK TIP