Foil application tutorial

Hi everyone.

Last post I told you that I had a tutorial for applying foils to your nails...well, here it is.  Whilst it's not rocket science, there are rules that you have to follow to ensure that you get perfect application.

This is 'Microdots'

The tutorial uses the foil from the previous post.

 Here are the items to use: a foil adhesive, the base coat or colour, a cotton bud, the foil and the foil top coat.

Start with measuring out the amount of foil you will need for each nail. You may also want to cut one or two extra pieces in case you make a mistake.

Apply a base (colour or coat). I chose a glitter base for this manicure. Make sure your base colour or coat has dried HARD. If it isn't, it may come away with your foil when you remove it.
After your polish is dry, apply a thin, even layer of adhesive. It will have a pearlised white appearance upon application and it will need to dry. You can use a hair dryer to dry the adhesive, but if you air dry, you're going to be waiting for about five minutes. I found this step the hardest because I kept trying to use the foil when the glue still wasn't dry!

 Apply with the shiny or design side up.  Rub the foil with a cotton bud or your finger so that foil pattern can be transferred to your nail. Remove the foil gently so as not to tear your design. If you find that some of your design did not transfer to your nail, re-apply the foil, rub and remove again.

Finally, apply the top coat. Float the polish down the nail rather than drag it - you don't want your design to smudge. There you have it!

I have yet to try the top coat on a shiny foil - that will be the test for me. I'll do that soon and of course, I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a lovely week folks ;)

xx

Foil me once, foil me twice

Hey everyone.

It's been the Queen's Jubilee weekend here in the UK and I've been pretty busy and also a bit under the weather (story of my life really).  I've now got a few manicures backed up, waiting to be posted, but rather than bombard you with them I will space them out.

A few weeks ago I tried my first ever foil manicure. It was a big fail. When I originally put it on, it had looked stunning. I then added a normal topcoat and the foil crinkled up like used Bacofoil. One of my Twitter buddies suggested that I actually use a special foil topcoat and this gave me the excuse to go to eBay and buy things!  I found Jennysellsfoils and ordered a topcoat by Kami from Jenny - the vendor. After I'd paid, I got a long automatic email back from her, giving instructions on how to use foils etc. I replied to the email thanking Jenny for her instructions and mentioned how frustrated I'd been...and she emailed me back again with even more tips. Talk about customer service! The topcoat also reached me the following day, along with a few sample foil strips, so I was pretty chuffed.

Here's the manicure:

'Tropical Sunrise' and the Kami Foil Topcoat.

 I put the foil on over a glitter base colour.

 'Tropical Sunrise'.

I do actually have a tutorial on how to use foils and I'll post it soon.

Have you used foils before? How did you find them?