Shadowing Practice: A Beginner's Guide to All the Different Nail Tip Styles - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Did anybody else not really realize how many options we have for tips?
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So I'm going to kind of break it down for you today.
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So let's start with our originals.
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These were our starting point.
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So a quarter well is going to be kind of a smaller space that you're going to glue that nail onto.
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They've got a little bit of a curve to them.
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You can shorten them up.
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You can use them at whatever length you need to.
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We have this style in the clear tips as well as the natural color tips.
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So if you really want more of, again, a natural look, go with that natural.
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Okay.
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We also have a no well tip.
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Now, why would we want a tip that has no well versus a quarter well?
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We also have a full cover tip.
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What's the difference between that?
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When you're working with enhancements, if you're working with an acrylic overlay, you're working with a hard gel overlay,
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you want to have the minimal amount of tip glued onto the nail because the more glue you have,
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the less acrylic or hard gel you have.
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So you want to build your structure, you want to build your adhesion with that product, the acrylic or the hard gel.
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You don't want to build your adhesion with the glue, okay?
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So the less contact area you have with the glue, the more you have with the product, the harder and the stronger the nail is going to be.
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With the no -well tips, those are actually very easy because you can adhere them wherever you want.
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There isn't that specific contact area.
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So if you want to glue that just right at the edge, right at their free edge, you can do that.
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If you want to push it a little farther back, if you feel like you need to do that to get it perfectly on there, you can do that.
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So it's great because you have that choice, you have that option, whereas the quarter well, you have that little ridge that stop area that you want to catch
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that natural nail in so you kind of have
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kind of an area
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that you have to adhere it to whereas with the no well tips you can adjust
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and you can adhere that wherever you need to whatever is going to fit best
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so there's not really that limitation of having that specific well
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so the no well tips come in our stiletto shape and we also have them in the XL square.
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They're going to be that really nice straight side wall, more of kind of that pipe look, so that really tight C curve.
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So again, our no weld tips come in the XL, that extra long, and also the stiletto shape.
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Now here comes the big category, and this is actually a very popular category of tip these days, is our full cover tips.
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So the full cover, these are going to be a little bit more for the style of press -on nails
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or if you're going to be using fiber gel to adhere them
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because these are actually going to fit on that whole nail okay
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so you're going to put those on you're going to adhere
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them from cuticle all the way out they don't have
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that specific contact area so again you can adhere them wherever you need
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if you've got a little shorter nail you can adhere
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that to a shorter nail or a longer nail just however you need to work with that.
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Our full cover tips come in that almond shape that I just showed you.
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We also have a coffin shape and then we also have that in our stiletto.
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So again it gives you options for nice shaping
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that you're not going to have to worry about filing that nail into shape.
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You're not going to have to worry about starting with a square tip and trying to customize that shape.
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These tips all have that proper shaping, that proper c -curve and structure to give you that good solid enhancement.
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Then we've come out with some more full cover tips.
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Okay let's start with our full cover extra long square.
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Now these actually are very similar to our no well tips in shape.
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Okay but these are again a full cover.
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Now these actually come pre -etched which means that we've already gone through and removed that shiny surface in the well area.
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So these you can use kind of again as those press -ons but
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if you're adhering any of these full cover nails with a
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gel mainly our fiber gel you want to make sure
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that you're removing the shine from that back
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so these again are pre -etched
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so technically you might not have to remove the shine
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but i still would recommend removing
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that shine with your e -file just to make sure
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that you've got a really good etch
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but this kind of gives you a general idea of the area
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that needs to be etched to remove
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that shine okay now going back to our other full covers these do not have
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that well pre -etched so these you would definitely want to make sure
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that you go through with your electric file and remove that shine and then we also have toe tips Okay,
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so again, these are the full covers.
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Now these are fantastic for maybe clients that maybe have a broken toenail, maybe just need maybe a corner of their toenail broke off.
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These are awesome for doing those repairs on toenails, making toenails look a little bit more perfect, a little bit more even.
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Same thing with these as well.
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They do have that pre -etched back surface, but I would still go through and remove that shine a little bit more with the e -file.
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The nice thing about these, because toes are so tiny, it's hard to kind of hold on to them and maybe secure a tip.
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They've got this tiny little tab here that makes it nice
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and easy for you to hold and you can secure that down to the nail.
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Once that nail or once that tip is on there, you can either file that off, clip it off, or just twist it off like I did right there.
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And then you can go through and just clean it up with your file.
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These are our full cover nude pink and nude beige.
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So these are pre -colored so that you don't have to do any gel polish.
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You don't have to do any color on top.
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You can just adhere them and they are ready to go.
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So again we've got the nude and the pink.
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Again pre -etched on that back side.
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So again when you're adhering these all you would need to do is apply them.
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You can top coat them if you need to.
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You can put another gel polish over them but
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because they already have that color to them you don't need an extra gel polish layer.
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Okay, now the nice thing, and I know this is going to be a question for a lot of you out there, is that if I adhere these with the fiber gel,
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because they have that color to them, is it going to cure all the way through?
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And yes, we have tested these.
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We do see that they cure all the way through.
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If you look at them, you can actually still see through them slightly.
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They're not 100 % opaque, so you can put them on with a fiber gel and they will cure all the way through.
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So hopefully some of this information I've given you is going to help to kind of clarify what tip to use, when to use it, what to use it, how to use it.
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So I hope these tips helped you guys with your tip applications.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “A Beginner's Guide to All the Different Nail Tip Styles”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tip, nail, gel, cover, adhere. This video has 96 sentences and 1333 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:02. The speaker talks fast, about 189 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| nail noun | /neɪl/ | The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human). |
| adhere verb | /ædˈhɪə/ | To stick fast or cleave, as a glutinous substance does; to become joined or united. |
| etch verb | /ɛt͡ʃ/ | To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also… |
| glue noun | /ɡlu/ | A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance. |
| shine verb | /ʃaɪn/ | To emit or reflect light so as to glow. |
| toenail noun | /ˈtəʊˌneɪl/ | The thin, horny, transparent plate covering the upper surface of the end of a toe. |
| fiber noun | /ˈfaɪ.bɚ/ | A single elongated piece of a given material, roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibers to form thread. |
| acrylic adjective | /əˈkɹɪl.ɪk/ | Derived from acrylic acid or acrylonitrile. |
| stiletto noun | /stɪˈlɛtoʊ/ | A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing. |
| nude adjective | /n(j)uːd/ | Of a color (such as beige or tan) that evokes bare flesh. |
| curve noun | /kɚv/ | A bend, such as in a road. |
| wherever | /(h)wɛɹˈɛvɚ/ | Regardless of the place in, at or to which. |
| polish verb | /ˈpɑ.lɪʃ/ | To shine; to make a surface very smooth or shiny by rubbing, cleaning, or grinding. |
| cure verb | /kjɔː/ | To restore to health. |
| adhesion noun | /ˌædˈhiː.ʒən/ | The ability of a substance to stick to an unlike substance. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| break off verb | To remove a piece from a whole by breaking or snapping. |
| come out with verb | To say (something) unexpectedly. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| go through with verb | To carry out (something planned or promised); to proceed with or continue with. |
| see through verb | To perceive visually through something transparent. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | we've come · we've already gone · have tested |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | I'm going to kind · is going to be · is going to fit |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | need to do · have to adhere · need to whatever |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | you're working · you're adhering · you're removing |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shine /ʃaɪn/, polish /ˈpɑ.lɪʃ/, adhesion /ˌædˈhiː.ʒən/, shorten /ˈʃɔɹtn̩/, limitation /lɪmɪˈteɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: limitation /lɪmɪˈteɪʃən/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like nail, adhere, etch.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.