Rio Lace Nail Foils

About two weeks ago (too long ago – this is my number one frustration about working in a bar/restaurant: no nail polish allowed, argh!) I was sent a Rio Lace Nail Foils kit to review. I have long admired the standard Nail Foils Kit from Rio, but always dismissed it as something that would be too fiddly for me. How wrong I was! I was excited by this opportunity as you all know I am a dedicated fan of my Rio Nail Art Pens and I also use the Rio Nail Studio for painting my nails every time!

This will be the first of (hopefully) many reviews on my blog for my Christmas Gift Guide 2012, which I will be running from now until Christmas!

What you receive in the kit:

A black case to keep the contents together.
6 lace nail foil reels in colours black, red, baby pink, silver, white and gold, all of the same pattern, all printed on a clear background.
A red nail polish.
A 2-in-1 varnish which doubles as a base for the foils and a topcoat.
A bottle of adhesive for the foils.
An application stick.
An instruction booklet.

Left to right: Pink Lace, Black Lace, Silver Lace, White Lace and Gold Lace over the red nail polish supplied in the kit.

Left to right: White Lace over Barry M Retro Electric Dreams, Silver Lace over Barry M Black, Pink Lace over Boots 17 Wave, Gold Lace over Barry M Vivid Purple.

Left to right: Red Lace over Barry M Matt White, Black Lace over GOSH Spot On! Pink.

Gold Lace and Silver Lace over Nails Inc Victoria.

How to apply the foils:

Paint your nails in a colour/colours of your choice, or with the 2-in-1 varnish, and leave to dry for at least 30 mins. You should only use the foils over a polish, rather than on a bare nail, as the adhesive won’t stick to a bare nail.
Cut the foil of your choice to fit your nails with about 5mm to spare on each edge of the nail (this allows for easier removal when the time comes!).
Apply a coat of the adhesive, as evenly as possible. Try not to make it too thick. It is easier for you to work one hand at a time. Leave this to dry for 8 minutes. If you apply the foils too soon or too long after applying the adhesive the design won’t transfer. The adhesive should turn clear within this time. The adhesive should be tacky, but try not to touch it as it reduces its effectiveness.
After 8 minutes, gently place the cut piece of foil over the centre of your nail, ensuring you have placed the foil in such a way that it will cover the nail. The underside of the foil (the matte underside of the curve) is the side which should be in contact with the surface of the nail.
Using the pink hoof of the application stick, gently smooth the foil onto the nail from the centre outwards, trying to minimise folds in the foil and air bubbles as these will prevent the transfer of the design.
Repeat for each nail. I found it easiest to do one hand at a time; this way you can apply the foils quickly to each nail before the adhesive dries and isn’t so fiddly that you get in a mess with all your nails being tacky.
When you take the foil off, I find the best way to maximise transfer effectiveness is to literally rip off the foil as quickly as possible, like removing wax strips. On the occasions that I peeled it off, some, if not all of the design, was left on the foil, not on my nail.
Finish with one or two coats of the 2-in-1 varnish.

I found the process surprisingly quick and easy, and a lot better than any nail art I could do freehand, unless I spent hours on it!

Problem solving:

I did find that I would often rip off the foil to find bits of the design missing, presumably because I had less adhesive in that area or because I’d left the adhesive too long, but this is easily fixed. First try reapplying the foil and smoothing it down a bit more firmly, and if this doesn’t work, apply the 2-in-1 varnish and wait for it to dry (again for at least 30 mins), and repeat the process in the area where your design is missing. This is usually easy to line up as it’s the bit that’s left on the foil you used!

I also found that sometimes my nails would feel a little bumpy or sticky, but again this is easily fixed; simply apply a layer of a slightly thick topcoat (e.g. Rimmel Pro SuperWear).

If you are finding a certain nail polish doesn’t seem to agree with the adhesive, try applying the 2-in-1 varnish over the polish before applying the foils, as this seems to work well with the adhesive.

Overall:

I love this product, despite the few issues I have come across as listed above, the application gets easier with practise and once you have worked out what works best for you you don’t make the same mistakes. As I explained, all the little pitfalls are easily fixed so I wouldn’t consider them to be major problems with the product.

The people I showed the lace design to all said they looked amazing! This to me would be the perfect Christmas gift for any nail art beginner (or indeed intermediate, maybe even pro… I would consider myself somewhere between beginner and intermediate but I really enjoyed the effect of these!), I really love how everything you need is in one place and you don’t have to collate all the necessary pieces from eBay or a nail art wholesaler. I would truthfully (you know me, it wouldn’t be in my best interests to lie to you!) consider this as a Christmas gift for a girlfriend or relative, I have a young cousin who is getting into nail polish (yay!) who I might very well end up buying this for! Equally I am very tempted to buy the standard or holographic foil kit for myself, they look incredible.

The Rio Lace Nail Foils Nail Art Kit can be bought from the Rio Beauty Store for £29.99, and is also available at Argos and Amazon. I think it sounds pricey initially but if you break it down, if you were to only include the price of the foil reels, 2-in-1 varnish, red polish and adhesive, the cost averages at £3.33 per piece in the set, not including the case and the application stick, which really isn’t that pricey. And for me it’s always nice to have a put-together kit rather than a little medley of pieces with no particular instruction or order.

What do you think? Is this going on your Christmas or can’t you wait til then?! Have you used any Rio pieces before, and if so, what did you think of them?

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for review purposes. However all opinions expressed are my own and are not in any way affected as a result of being sent this product by the brand.