Acrylic Nail Shapes and Styles

Have you ever thought about the perfect shape for your nails? What suits someone else might not work for you at all. Use this guide to find out about the different types of acrylic nail shapes and styles and what will work best for you.

We’ll take a close look at each of the diverse types of nail shapes available to you below:

Almond Nails

The almond shape is very feminine and delicate, and considered to be the classical nail shape. It can help to make the fingers appear much longer and finer, and in turn less chubby. However, they don’t let the nails extend and grow, so if you want them to be any longer they won’t be suited to you. The almond has a soft tip with filed sides, but is quite easily broken. If they become damaged then they will have to be filed down to remove the problem, and so some of the length will be lost.

Stiletto/Mountain Peak

Very popular at the moment, especially amongst celebs and Hollywood stars, stiletto (or mountain peak) nails are long and pointed at the tip. You can either buy them as acrylic stilettos or file them into the shape you want. You can get stiletto nails by filing away and tapering at the sides to create a point at the tip. Unfortunately the shape is usually weak as the area of the nail that gives the strength, the sides, is tapered away until they are practically gone. This means that they typically don’t last very long.

Square

The square is the perfect and ideal shape for the classic French manicure. Best suited to a larger nail bed as they often make the smaller beds appear stumpy and wide. Also, they don’t work well with smaller nails and would look best on medium to longer. Drawing attention to longer nails is something that the square shape is often used to do, as the shorter they are the more dull they appear.

Creating the square is done by letting the nail grow out long and straight and filing the tip across at right angles.

Rounded

Rounded is an all round great shape that is perfect for anyone who prefers shorter nails. It breaks rarely and can be fixed quite easily too. A very simple and easy to maintain shape. As with the square, you grow out the nails straight at the sides and then file the tip into a rounded shape. Very similar to the square in its process, and because of this it allows you to alter the shape from a complete square all the way through to rounded, and stop anywhere between that you think looks best.

Squarely Rounded

The same process as the square nails but you round the corners. Works well on longer nails and doesn’t have the tendency to catch on things like the totally square shape. A much gentler looking shape than the square too. Definitely to be favoured if going for a more feminine look.

Oval

Oval nails are a combination or mix of a few of the shapes – almond, square and rounded. This means that they work well on different types of nail, both medium and long, and also creates a more feminine look. To get an oval shape, file the tip into the shape you want (probably oval) and then file away parts of the sides. This can also weaken the nails a little. But if your nails are broad or wide then the oval is a perfect fit as it can help to make them appear more delicate, and so the weakening shouldn’t matter too much.