Manic.Monday: Its a wrap!

Nail art has become more and more popular and I find it so inspirational to see how creative some are with their designs. Unfortunately I'm not very good at it myself and my creativity goes as far as maybe applying a cute sticker and to keep the magpie in me happy, I might add a couple of gemstones. Luckily there are lots of ready made nail art in all kinds of intricate designs, styles, colors and prices ranges available in the form of nail wraps, which is what I'll be looking at today. There are different types of nail wraps and they come in different materials like fabrics or paper and the techniques needed to apply them also differ depending on the material, with some being a bit more hard work than others e.g. some need a hair dryer, or UV lamp but having put in the effort, most nail wraps last for about two weeks so it could definitely be worth it.

The nail wrap in today's post is Avon's Nail Art (£8) in Bedazzled which is a paper wrap with glue on one side that you just stick and press on to the nails, sounds easy enough! Unfortunately I haven't been able to add a link to the product since Avon has done its usual thing of updating the webpage faster than you can say Bedazz... and if a product isn't in a current campaign, you just won't find it online either - it's the thing I dislike the very most about Avon, but that is a rant for another day...

It's easy to see why I The Magpie was drawn to Bedazzled - it's such a pretty design with actual little stones in white, pink, blue and purple on a glossy black background with thin silver stripes. Nail wraps usually come in a variety of different sizes to fit all shapes of nails, and I would highly recommend that you size them up and decide which ones to use for which finger before you start working away. You also need to prepare the nails making sure that they are dry and clean with no nail polish on them before you apply the wraps. Some brands also instruct you to buff the nail, so that the wrap attaches better however personally I don't do this since I'm cautious of anything that might damage or ridge the nails unnecessarily.

When you're prepped the nails, you can apply the sticker, finishing one finger at a time. You'll probably find that you need to cut off some of the wrap for it to fit to the nail - at least length wise. Place the wrap as close to the cuticles as you can without overlapping them and then firmly press down the wrap to fit the shape of your nail. It's also at this point that you might choose use a hair dryer to heat up the wrap slightly to make it more pliable and easier to shape to the nail, however these Avon wraps are already very easy to work with that I don't think it's needed, and in case the wrap doesn't sit as you would want on the nail, you can easily peel it back up without ruining either the nail or the wrap and then just place it back down again.

The easiest way to get the right size is to use a nail clipper to adjust. To make sure I get as close a fit as possible I turn my finger around so I can see exactly where the tip of the nail ends, and that's where I cut off the excess and smooth out the wrap across the nail. I know that this isn't exactly what you're instructed to do - instead you're supposed to leave a little bit of excess, so that when you've applied the nail and made sure that it's sitting on nicely and evenly, you fold the excess over the tip of the wrap you take an emery board and file of any bits of the nail wrap that is sticking out. That way the wrap should sit very snuggly on the nail, however I really dislike filing my nails and the few times I have tried doing this with an emery board I always end up taking of a little of the nail too, which is not ideal. Since I'm being such a rebel by not following the instructions properly, instead I apply a very thin coat of clear topcoat at the very tip of the nail to seal the edge in properly.

I would say that all in all it takes about 45 mins to do both hands, if you apply the wraps to each nail  - so if this is what you have in mind, you definitely need to set some time aside since it's not something you do quickly. The effect is definitely striking and if you've taken your time to apply the nail wraps properly, they should last about 10 days. Although I love the extravagant look, it's not practical for me since the wraps are sensitive to daily wear and tear and every time you have your hands in water, apply body lotions, skin creams or oils and even tap away at a keyboard, the edges of the the wraps will come off little by little and I find that I have to smooth them back down onto the nail several times a day. Personally I've never managed to get the wraps to last for more than 5-6 days before I'm so annoyed with them that I have to take them off but when it's time to remove the wraps, it's the easiest thing in the world and you just peel them off with minimum effort.

Considering the time it takes to do a full manicure using nail wraps versus the impracticality of them, I will stick to only using them as an accent nails in the future, but I do love the elaborate designs that you can get, and I'm definitely going to invest in a few more. If you're tempted by this beautiful bejewelled look you can get these wraps on eBay at a very reasonable price, and with that - today's post is a wrap!