Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been into cute nail art. I would spend hours on my nails and give my best attempt at painting designs using thin brushes or tools. I’m a huge fan of at-home manicures and trying to do things myself if possible. Recently, I made a discovery that has really amped up my at-home manicure game: acrylic paint pens!
Acrylic Paint Pens for Nails
A few weeks ago I was wondering how I can easily recreate trendy Pinterest nails at home, and then I came across the concept of using paint pens. I found out that it is possible to use acrylic paint pens (typically used for rock painting or drawings on paper) on your nails. I purchased a 15-pack of Artistro acrylic paint pens with an extra-fine tip on Amazon for under $20, and it has truly been a game changer!
Artistro acrylic paint pens seem to be most popular for use on rocks, but it does specify in the description that they can be used on nails. I have used them numerous times now since purchasing, and they’ve been great! The pack I chose includes a great variety of both pastel and bright colors, plus black and white. I find that the paint pens are very pigmented and dry much faster than regular nail lacquer.
The key to successfully creating nail art using the paint pens is to ensure that your base polish color, if you used one, is 100% dry. If you paint two coats of nail polish on your nails and don’t let it fully dry, the paint pens will not apply smoothly and will smudge the lacquer off.
I’ve been able to doodle little flowers, clouds, polka dots and more on my nails within seconds/minutes. I lock in my nail art with a clear top coat, and I absolutely love the results! The pens are fun to play around with, and I am considering purchasing the fine and/or medium tip pens as well to do larger designs.
I have a few videos on my social media showing how I use these acrylic paint pens to create fun, trendy nails at home. Follow my Instagram and TikTok for more nail videos! I will also link my YouTube video below showing my step-by-step process of how I paint my nails at home using the paint pens.
Of course the hardest part with any manicure on yourself is having to use your non-dominant hand to paint as well. I’d recommend drawing on a piece of paper some designs with your dominant and non-dominant hand to practice. Whether I’m using the paint pens or traditional nail art tools, replicating the nail art using my non-dominant hand is challenging, but with practice, I’m seeing improvements. Starting with more simplified designs such as clouds and flowers has made it easier for me to paint cute designs on both hands.
On the official website or Amazon page for Artistro, you can purchase individual packs of paint pens or bundles that include different tip sizes. I find the extra fine tip to be easy to work with, but I do think it can be too small for some designs I want to do. The fine or medium tip pens would be better to create larger polka dots, thicker lines, larger flower petals etc…
If you’re looking for nail inspo, I have a post on spring nail art ideas for 2022 that you can check out here!
Comment below if you would give paint pens a try for nail art, or if you have and what you think of this!
