Essence Effect Nails: 3D Nail Art

Whoooop it's Friday bidddddies! And that means it's nail day! It's also the start of a long weekend, which is exactly what I need right now. Did you know that it's also Labor Day weekend here in Canada? Except here it's "Labour" Day weekend. To me it actually seems more labor intensive to add a "u"... not at all in accordance with the holiday's spirit. But I digress!

Nails!

Have you ever been into a bead store and been like..... "Damn I'd really love to have these beads all over my fingernails." Well you are a) eccentric and b) in luck! They make stuff like this now!

The Shoppers Drug Mart near my apartment sells a random assortment of essence products, which are all really cheap. Because they're so inexpensive, they make for fantastic impulse buys. I can try out products without having to invest a lot of money. If the products suck (like the French tips sticker set I mentioned in this blog), then I'm only out a couple bucks. Fortunately, in this particular case, the product I bought impulsively ended up being a deece purch! Hoozah.

Effect Nails are a new line of 3D nail art products from essence. They each come in a tiny little .29 oz pot and range in texture from pearls to flakes to glitter. I picked up a colorful pearls Effect Nails that is apparently called "Candy Buffet" - though that name is nowhere on the package itself. #NiceMarketing.

These things are really easy to use, but a little bit messy. The pearls are really bouncy and roll around a lot. The instructions for these Effect Nails advise you to pour some of the pearls into the lid of the pot, and then roll your fingernail into them. However, the lip on the lid makes it pretty impossible to fit your whole fingernail into it to get even coverage, so I had to pour a small amount of the pearls onto a flat surface instead (a notepad). This is when they start rolling everywhere. #CurseYouPhysics

Application really is as simple as rolling your nail into the tiny pearls till your nail is completely coated in them. First, paint your nails 2 coats of polish. I was using a pearly Rimmel polish called Crushed Pearl. It's a beautiful formula - smooth and silky - but it's a bit sheer.  After you paint your nails, roll them into the pearls while the polish is still wet. This is what will make the pearls stick to your nails. I was suspicious about how well they'd actually stick... but they surprised me!

"Seal" the pearls onto your nails with a nice thick coat of top coat. Try not to drag too much while you're applying your top coat or you will drag some of the pearls along with it.

It's kind of hard for the camera to focus on the pearls very well since they reflect so much light, but I think you get the general idea.

These are actually staying on my nails pretty darn well. Occasionally one of them falls off, but they're so tiny that the ones that do fall off don't seem to make that big of a difference to the overall look.

Overall I'm pretty stoked on these things! I'll be going back to Shoppers Drug Mart to try to pick up some of the other Effect Nails soon!

What do you think of this 3D nail art look?

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{Linking up with the Nail Files}