Gelish Review | Gelish Foil Nail Art Kit

So, I spent the better part of October relentlessly hounding every Sally's Beauty within a 15 mile radius of my home, calling and asking when they were going to get the new Gelish Nail Art Kits in. It wasn't until October 31st that I went into a Sally's, asked if they had any of the kits... AND THEY DID!!
I've been particularly interested in the Foil Nail Art Kit, as foil nail art was something I've never tried but had always been curious about. I bought the kit without knowing anything about it, other than that it existed, so I eagerly opened up the kit the second I got in the car to see what was inside.
This seems silly in retrospect, but I had no idea the kit would include polish! The kit comes with:

• 1 Gelish Black Shadow mini polish
• 1 Gelish Black Cherry Berry mini polish
• 10 different foil sheets
• 1 wooden cuticle pusher stick
• A How-To booklet

I was excited about the Black Cherry Berry (yay! new colors!) but, being completely new to foil nail art, I looked at the foil sheets and thought, "Hmm, that doesn't seem like much..." We'll revisit that thought later. ;)
After ogling my new polish I wanted to look through the booklet and see how difficult the process would be. (If you're curious, the QR code leads here: thefoilnailartkit.gelishminis.com) The answer: not difficult at all! It's a 6-step process (well, 3, really) that I'll walk through with you. My fiancée volunteered to be the guinea pig on this little experiment. :)

2 coats of The Dark Side
First up, apply 2 coats of your base coat. The directions use the included Black Shadow, but we went with The Dark Side (which, by the way, is WAY more gorgeous than I've ever given it credit for! It's a lovely blue/green/purple/teal.) The instructions then say to let the polish sit on your nails for a full minute after curing the second coat to "let the tacky layer thicken". Truthfully, I had no idea the tacky layer thickened...

Foil scrubbed into the tacky layer with my nail
Next, apply the foil silver side down (colored side up) to the tacky polish layer and press into the polish. I did the initial press and lifted the foil to find only a couple teensy pieces of foil had transferred onto the nail. I pressed the foil back down and began to scrub across it with my thumb nail to REEEALLY transfer the foil into the nail and was happy with the result. I was also suprised by how little foil actually transfers off the foil sheets, so my previous concern about the size and quantity of the foil sheets is moot.

Only a tiny corner of the foil sheet transferred to the nail
Next up, their instructions say to apply a thin coat of Black Cherry Berry over the foil, but I went with another thin coat of The Dark Side. That extra coat of polish really gives the foil a nice, finished look. Before putting the extra coat of polish on it just kinda looked like I'd tried to peel a sticker of my nail and some of the glue and backing was left behind.

A thin coat of The Dark Side completely changes the look of the foil
You finish off with TIO and Cleanse, as usual, and here is our final look:
All in all it was really fun, quick, and easy! It's definitely a simple way to add a little extra pizzaz to your nails. This seems like a really good kit for someone who is just starting their Gelish collection, something you could get in addition to the Basics kit and a couple of colors. I'll be curious to see what kinds of nail art I can do with the foil. :)

Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments (and, since this is my first review, let me know if I missed any important points/concerns!).

Read More

Gelish Nail Art Kits

Last night it finally happened.

I've been calling all the Sallys in the area for the past 2 weeks asking them if they have any of the new Gelish Nail Art Kits, and in all instances I got, "Not yet". Last night we wandered into a Sallys and asked them if they had any of the kits... lo' and behold! They had all three!! I picked up the foil kit and plan on putting up a review next week (although it'll probably be on a swatch wheel. I'm doing Adventure Time nails tonight and I wanna keep them on for a while ;)

I also just googled the nail art kits and finally found a description on the NailIt site! It must be new, cuz I've been searching for info on these kits! They have a French Manicure, Glitter, and Foil kit, and all kits come with 2 mini polishes as well as the supplies you'll need to create the nail art. I'm really excited about the foil nail art kit and am crossing my fingers that Sally's will have some kind of awesome Black Friday deal so I can get the glitter kit as well!

I also picked up some more acrylic paints. After my previous foray into using acrylic paints for nail art I gave up, but I decided to purchase a better brand and give it another go. I'll be writing up the results on that as well. ;)

Update 11/8/13: The Gelish Foil Nail Art Kit Review is up!

Read More

Gelish Fall & Winter 2013 Collections

OMG. So I guess workplaypolish.com was at Cosmoprof North America and she shared some GREAT info about upcoming Gelish lines. Check it out here! Just to summarize what Gelish is coming out with…

• Fall 2013: Under Her Spell - I've already heard about this one, and I feel solidly meh about it. It looks too much like a House of Gelish/Shadows rehash for me. The only one that piqued my interest is the mauvey purple.


• Fall/Winter 2013: You Can Make A Difference and Winter Reds - Okay, I get releasing another breast cancer awareness line, because screw cancer. But the Winter Reds? Wasn't that last year? And in looking at the pic on the blog… uh, aren't those colors always available as part of the standard Gelish line-up? I own Rose Garden… Maybe the formulas are different? Solid disappoint.


• Winter 2013: The Snow Escape - Oh NOW I'm excited!!
  
  
  From workplaypolish.com
  I instantly fell in love with the glitter polish on the far left and the teal/blue polish on the far right. I've been WAITING for Gelish to release a blue/green changey polish!!
  
  
  
• New Ongoing Collection: Gelish Trends - OH GAWD WHY ARE THERE NO PICS!?!? I'm SO SO excited about this!! I'm HOPING we get a sand/sugar topcoat. WANT. I'm so excited by the prospect of new, on-trend, fancy polishes and effects. Ugh, I wish there was more info on WHEN this line will start.

My overall take away about what's coming up in the world of Gelish?

Read More