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Injection-moulded ABS plastic tips, pre-shaped and pre-decorated. Attached by either:

• Adhesive tabs — double-sided sticky pads. Gentle, removable, last one to seven days, poor water resistance.
• Nail Glue — cyanoacrylate. Strong, lasts one to two weeks, requires acetone or oil to remove.

That choice is the whole trade-off between longevity and gentleness.

Every other enhancement chemically alters or mechanically abrades the nail plate. Acrylic Nails and Gel Polish require buffing to create adhesion and filing or long acetone soaks to remove. Press-ons need neither: light buffing at most, and a plastic tip that lifts off.

All the damage in this category comes from removal. Prying, pulling or picking a glued press-on takes layers of nail plate with it, and repeated it produces the thin, peeling nails people assume the product caused.

Applying:

1. Push back the cuticles, wipe the nail with alcohol or polish remover to remove oil.
2. Size every nail before gluing — a tip too wide catches on everything and lifts.
3. Glue on the nail and the tip, pressed at a slight angle from the cuticle down to avoid air bubbles.
4. Hold for 30 seconds per nail. Air under a press-on is where lifting and moisture start.

Removing:

1. Soak in warm soapy water with a little oil for 10–15 minutes, or in acetone if glued firmly.
2. Work a wooden stick gently under the edge as the bond softens.
3. If it resists, soak longer. Never force it.
4. Oil the nails and cuticles afterwards.

• Cyanoacrylate allergy — a delayed hypersensitivity that builds with exposure and presents as itching, swelling and nail lifting. It is the same sensitiser as Eyelash Adhesive.
• Trapped moisture. A lifted press-on holding water against the nail is where pseudomonas — the green stain — and fungal infection start. A press-on that has lifted comes off; it does not get glued back down over the moisture.

Cosmetic in the US — FDA primary category (10) manicuring preparations. Colour additives on decorated tips must be approved for the intended use, and certified colours must come from FDA-certified batches. There is no premarket approval.

The adhesive is the regulated substance of interest, and it is covered at Nail Glue. In the EU, permitted colorants come from the Annex IV closed positive list of 153 entries.

Glitter and embellishments should be cosmetic-grade; craft glitter is cut plastic with edges.

The tips last indefinitely — they are inert plastic — and good-quality sets are reusable many times if removed carefully and the old glue is soaked off the underside.

The adhesive is the limiting factor. Cyanoacrylate degrades once opened: six to twelve months, thickening and eventually setting solid in the tube. Adhesive tabs dry out and lose tack after a year or so.

Do not share press-ons between people without disinfecting them, and never reuse a set worn during a nail infection.

• Nails — the shelf this sits on, and the rest of it.
• Cosmetics — what the label is legally allowed to say, and the full catalogue.
• The rest of Extensions — Acrylic Nails · Nail Wraps · Nail Glue · Nail Primer.
• Regulatory statements here follow the FDA and EU sources listed on Cosmetics, read 16 August 2026.