Wednesday, February 19, 2014

My love/hate relationship with Nail Foils



     Good morning my fellow lacquer friends. Happy Hump Day! Today's blog post is about my recent experience with nail foils. Oh, how I looked at picture after picture of manicures done with them, Longing to have them on my fingertips. Finally, after a few months, I bit the bullet and purchased a set of them from Dollar Nail Art. My order arrived and I was all excited about them. And then they sat there daunting me, teasing me, daring me to use them. You know the term "you are your own worst critic"? Well, I am my own biggest naysayer and trying something new, especially when I share my attempts with the world scares me a little. It's something that I'm working on so I watched a YouTube video for some tips and jumped right in. I always feel more prepared and indestructible after watching a few videos on how to do something. Anyone else ever feel that way?

    So after learning that patience is a virtue once again I finally got my first foil applied successfully. It's not perfect but I loved it!

Nail-Foils-Lustrous-Lacquer
    
     At first, I was only going to do an accent nail for my manicure but how could I resist a full manicure of this gorgeousness! So with limited time before work I set out to do just that. The end result is a little bit shady as there is a slight learning curve to nail foils but I was determined!

Nail-Foils-Lustrous-Lacquer

     So this is where the love/hate relationship comes in. I love how this looks. ( Have I said that enough in this post?) But I had a few bald spots on my nails that I couldn't fix. Plus you cant top coat them. When I  tried to top coat them they got ruined. The foil almost crumpled up on my nails. Here's the kicker. Once you have your foils applied don't move, don't apply lotion, stick your hands in your pockets, wash your hands, or just generally touch anything. If you do this is what you'll end up with.

    
     Nail foils are extremely fragile and delicate. This was just 2 hrs into my shift at work. I felt so embarrassed to have my nails looking like this. I put gloves on just to hide them and that removed them even faster. By the end of my 8 hr shift, there was nothing left of the foils at all.

     If anyone has any tips about how to make these last longer I'm all ears. Part of me wonders if a non quick drying top coat would work better but I haven't had time to test this theory yet. I hate to think that I have all these foils that I cant really use. I'd love to hear your thoughts on nail foils or any tips you'd like to share. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing! Also dont forget to check out my 3K giveaway.


*UPDATE*

     A few months ago I found a top coat that actually works with nail foils. You can find my post and review here

11 comments:

  1. You are absolutely right about the quick-dry topcoats. What I actually recommend is spreading a top coat on water and dipping the nail, giving it a thin top coat, then applying a top coat over that after it dries. It makes it more of a process, but in the end you get the best result :)

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    1. I might hae to try that. Im not sure I will attempt another full manicure with foils since they are so much work. I do want to use them as accent nails though and anything the help make them last is worth a shot.

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  2. Well, it does look fantastic right out of the gate, but sheesh! I have zero tolerance for really high maintenance products and two hours or that much extra work is really unacceptable to me, lol.

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    1. I was so dissapointed in how these held up. I am determined to find a way to make them last even if I only use them as an accent nail from now on.

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  3. It looks so amazing once you do it but yeah I heard and seen that it doesn't last though. I actually have some nail foils but have yet to use them, lol.

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    1. If I can find a way to make them last longer I would say they are completely worth the effort it takes to apply them. But I cant say that 30 minutes of application time is worth a few hours of wear.

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  4. I never apply foils on unpainted nails. That way even if foil starts to chip or peel I have some undies to cover my nails. It doesn't increase the wear of foil though. I have also noticed that not all foils crumple under top coat, but I couldn't find out which ones would get ruined and which ones wouldn't without testing them.

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    1. Thats a good tip! I should try undies next time. I also think I might try out the different top coats that I have to see if any of them work. I seen to have picked up quite a few of them over the last 2 years through promotions, or gifts from friends. I am determined to find a way to wear these successfully.

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  5. It's so pretty. I've seen Robin Moses use top coat over foils. I can see that it would take the right one to work well. I'm going to order some foils from ebay soon. I'm crossing my fingers (but only if I find a good top coat, Ha!)

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  6. I actually found a top coat that works with foils. It's called raindrop clear by Sprout. I picked up a bottle through amazon.

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  7. I actually found a top coat that works with foils. It's called raindrop clear by Sprout. I picked up a bottle through amazon.

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