Nail Foil Tutorial and Review

 
I received two nail foil designs and a non-dry glue from KKCenterHk for review. It's the first time I do nail foil, so it is by no means perfect. Anyhow, I will take you through how I applied the foil in this post along with some handy tips for beginners.
  

You will need:
1) Nail foil transfer
My 5 year-old chose a silver little circle foil and a silver digital square foil, as it turns out, looks similar. The circle foil is more subtle than the square.
2) Nail glue
Similar to PVA, the glue turns from milky white to transparent when dry. Dried glue feels sticky on nail.
3) Cotton bud
4) Tweezer (optional)

In 2 and 3, glue is still wet on the milky nails. Glue is dried on nails that appeared clear.  

1) Cut foil into pieces big enough to cover your nail 
Prepare one piece per nail or one longer piece for two nails (if you're lazy like me). I won't recommend lazier than that as application can get messy. Size-wise, the foil piece should be ~1.5 times wider and longer than your nail size for proper coverage.

2) Apply nail glue 
Prepare nail as with a normal manicure (remove cuticle, clean nail surface etc). Apply a thin layer of glue over clean naked nails. You can apply on top of polish but I found no difference in adherence or final finish with these foils I used. 
*The key to successful foil is to let the glue dry completely before putting on foil!
It is crucial to let the glue to dry, which goes from milky to transparent. Drying will take approximately 3-5 minutes depending on humidity and individual chemistry. If you can let dry for longer, please do. 
*Bear in mind your nail is sticky with glue on, even when the glue is dried (that's why the foil can stick to nail). Avoid dust, hair, cat fur or anything that may stick, unless you want a 'textured' foil finish...
The glue I used: http://www.kkcenterhk.com/p1788/One-Day-False-Nail-Glue-With-Brush-(Will-Not-To-Hurt-Real-Nail)/product_info.html 

3) Apply foil with cotton bud
Place the foil on the midline of your sticky nail. Then use a cotton bud, gently spread the foil to the sides, one side at a time (to minimize creasing). Don't use the end of tweezer or hard edge to press foil down, which tends to create creases. Finish up by pressing the foil down at the free edge to properly wrap/seal the nail. 

4) Lift foil backing from nail starting from the free nail edge
I used a tweezer to lift the foil backing away. If the glue is properly dried, the foil will stick well to your nail and the backing will peel off perfectly, leaving a clear hole (Image 4)
* depending on the design, you can patch up imperfection by placing unused foil on pits that didn't pick up the foil (Image 4).  
* Not all polish top coat works well with nail foil (shrinking). I applied Picture Polish's Revolution as top coat on one nail as suggested by Cathy of More Nail polish and found no   difference in the finish. More trials are needed to confirm.

silver little circle: http://www.kkcenterhk.com/p10875/N.NAIL-Silver-Little-Circle-Hidden-Nail-Foil-Transfer/product_info.html

 silver digital square: http://www.kkcenterhk.com/p10926/N.NAIL-Silver-Square-Hidden-Nail-Foil-Transfer/product_info.html

I am puzzled by the ridges at the final finish but they remained even with ridge-filling basecoat, my guess is the glue was bit thick both in formula and in my application. Also, I keep staring at the creases and wonder if it is my natural nail curve or just the matter of practising. Overall, my first nail foil attempt was fun and I see a lot of potential with mix-and-matching different foil designs, e.g. for galaxy manicure. What is your experience with nail foil? Any tips for preventing creasing? xx Ann

http://www.kkcenterhk.com/index.html

KKcenterhk is running a 20% off 6-year anniversary discount during May 2013. Alternatively, you can use the coupon code nailovelogy for a 10% discount on product purchase (till 31st Jan 2014).

The products were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.