Frequently asked questions
What is in these acrylic kits?
Mia Secret supplies 12 of the 17 listings and Young Nails five. The Mia Secret kits pair a clear with one or more cover shades, and in some cases a white, in 1 oz or 2 oz builds: Kit 1 is White, Cover Baby Pink, Cover Beige, and Clear; Kit 2 is Clear and Pink; Kit 3 adds Cover White Peony; Kit 4 uses Cover Nude with an optional Frosted Star; and Kit 5 is the Kit 1 powders plus a nail liquid monomer. Fourteen of the 17 are out of stock at the time of writing.
Can I work from a powder kit alone?
Only the kit that includes the monomer. Powder on its own cannot make a nail: the full list is a clear or cover for structure, a white if French is on the menu, EMA liquid monomer, a dehydrator and a primer, an acrylic brush, forms or tips, a dappen dish, and files. Most kits here cover the powders only, so read the listing title before ordering and add the liquid and prep separately if they are not in the box.
How do I learn the liquid-to-powder ratio?
By keeping both halves constant, which is exactly what a kit gives a new tech. A bead that runs off the brush is wet and will shrink, cloud, and lift; a bead that drags and leaves brush marks is dry and will be brittle and full of air; the one to place holds a dome while still moving under the brush. Wipe the brush against the side of the dish rather than stirring, and expect the timing to change with room temperature, since a warm station sets a bead sooner.
What should be bought after the first kit?
A second cover shade, almost always. A salon with one cover serves half its clients well and the rest approximately, and adding one warmer or deeper cover fixes more bookings than any bright powder. After that, buy a larger size of whichever powder empties fastest, usually the clear, and only then colour powders for clients who want the shade built into the enhancement rather than painted on top.
What is on this page
17 acrylic kits at wholesale for a station that is being set up rather than restocked, with 14 of them out of stock as this page was written, which is worth checking before planning an order. Mia Secret supplies 12 of the listings and Young Nails five. The Mia Secret kits pair a clear with one or more cover shades in 1 oz or 2 oz, and one of them includes the liquid monomer, which is the only kit here that can place a bead without anything else being bought.
The kits and what they hold
| Kit | Powders | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Mia Secret Kit 1 | White, Cover Baby Pink, Cover Beige, Clear | 1 oz and 2 oz builds |
| Mia Secret Kit 2 | Clear and Pink | 1 oz and 2 oz builds |
| Mia Secret Kit 3 | Clear, Cover Baby Pink, Cover White Peony | 1 oz and 2 oz builds |
| Mia Secret Kit 4 | Clear, Cover Baby Pink, Cover Nude, with or without Frosted Star | 1 oz and 2 oz builds |
| Mia Secret Kit 5 | The Kit 1 powders plus a nail liquid monomer | 1 oz |
| Young Nails sets | Clear and cover powders from the core range | Listed per set |
What an acrylic station actually needs
Powder is only one part of the system, and a kit that contains powder alone cannot make a nail. The full list is short but non-negotiable: a clear or cover powder for structure, a white for French work, EMA liquid monomer, a dehydrator and a primer, an acrylic brush, forms or tips, a dappen dish, and files. Most of the kits here cover the first two items; only the one with the monomer covers the third. Reading the listing title before ordering is what prevents a first appointment with powder and no liquid.
Choosing the first kit
- Start with clear plus one cover. Structure and a natural-look bed cover most of what a new tech will be asked for.
- Add a white only if French is on the menu. It is the powder that sits unused in a salon that does not offer it.
- Take the kit with the monomer if there is no liquid on the station yet.
- Match the cover to the client book. A pale cover flatters a pale hand and goes grey on a deeper skin tone.
- Buy 1 oz to learn on. The 2 oz build is for a shade that has proven itself.
- Check stock before planning. Most of this page is currently out of stock, so build the order around what is available.
Learning the ratio
The single skill that separates a good acrylic set from a bad one is the liquid-to-powder ratio, and a kit is the right way to learn it because both halves stay constant. A bead that runs off the brush is wet and will shrink, cloud, and lift. A bead that drags and leaves brush marks is dry and will be brittle and full of air. The bead to place is the one that holds a dome while it still moves under the brush. Wipe the brush against the side of the dish rather than stirring, which whips air into the liquid, and expect the timing to change with the room temperature: a warm station sets a bead before it can be placed.
Prep decides the set
- Push back and clear the plate, then buff the shine off edge to edge including the sidewalls.
- Dust, then dehydrate. In that order, because buffing releases the oil the dehydrator removes.
- Prime the plate only, never the skin, and only where the client needs it.
- Handle the finger by the sidewalls once the plate is prepped.
- Keep product off the cuticle line. Most lifting a beginner sees starts there rather than in the powder.
What a kit is buying
Selection rather than a discount. At ND these kits are priced at or close to what the same jars cost individually, and where a listing genuinely works out lower it says so. What the kit provides is a working combination: a clear that builds, a cover that suits most hands, and in one case the liquid that makes them usable, without a new tech having to choose from a wall of twenty shades before she knows which ones she needs.
Growing past the first kit
The next purchase is almost always a second cover shade rather than a colour. A salon with one cover serves half its clients well and the rest approximately, and adding one warmer or deeper cover fixes more bookings than any bright powder will. After that comes a larger size of whichever powder is emptying fastest, usually the clear, and only then colour powders for clients who want the shade built into the enhancement.
Storing powder and liquid
Keep jars sealed between beads rather than between clients, upright, away from the acetone shelf and out of direct sun, and never return powder that has been in a dappen dish. Keep monomer capped, store it in a cool cupboard rather than on the table, empty the dappen dish at the end of the day, and work at a station with airflow or extraction, because monomer vapour is the reason an acrylic table needs ventilation that a polish table does not.
Sizes, and when a bigger jar is a mistake
Most of these kits are listed in a 1 oz and a 2 oz build, and the temptation for a new station is to buy the larger one because it looks like better value. It usually is not. Powder keeps well while it is sealed and dry, but a jar that is opened at the table every day for two years is not the product it was on day one, and a new tech often changes her cover shade within the first few months as she works out what suits her clients. The 1 oz is the size to learn on. Once a shade has proven itself over a couple of months, the 2 oz build is the sensible reorder.
Practising before the first client
A kit is also a training purchase, and the cheapest hours a new tech will ever spend are on practice tips rather than on a paying hand. Working ten tips with the same powder and liquid until the bead behaves the same way every time teaches more than a week of watching videos, because the variable being learned is the ratio and nothing else. Keep the practice tips: lined up in order they show progress, and they double as the swatch sticks a salon needs for its display later.
Wholesale pricing at ND Nails Supply
Every kit on this page ships at wholesale pricing for everyone, with no business license, no minimum order, and no membership fee. Free shipping on orders $100+, and in-stock kits ordered before 2pm PT on weekdays leave the same day.