Henry - Yes, you can do the acrylic powder and accelerator thing at home. I know one folk musician who's been doing his own nails that way for years. I guess it might take some practice to get it right, though...a few trial runs.

I just get the Vietnamese guys (or girls) to do it over at the local "Le Nails" for about $4 per nail, and I need 4 nails done on the left hand only. For some reason it's always Vietnamese staff in those places. I have no idea why, but they must have a lot of schools for it in Vietnam or something.

One thing is, you have to work quickly with the stuff after it hits the liquid accelerator. You've got maybe 20 seconds to spread it evenly over the nail before it starts to set up.

Oh, and you also have to clean the nails with alcohol before applying it (to remove any natural oils) and then sand them lightly with a fine grit sanding pad or sanding wheel on Dremel Moto-tool, so that the acrylic will adhere well to the nail's surface after it hardens. If this isn't done, it can tend to lift off the nails at some point.

I use a Dremel tool with a sander attachment on it about once a week to sand them back at the front as they keep growing out and getting longer. It takes too long filing them by hand.