Technicolor Trippin - Epic Nail Foil Transfer: Pipe Dream

This awesomely multicoloured foil transfer is Pipe Dream from the Epic Nail Essentials Kit I mentioned last week. Fully metallic nail foils can be a bit of a pain to transfer cleanly, so let's see how I went with it...

[Roll to nail: Epic Nail Pipe Dream]

Pipe Dream and I didn't start out on great terms, unfortunately. The rolls of transfer foil are taped shut with a transparent piece of tape marked "OPEN" with an arrow indicating the direction you should undo it from. This is pretty useful, but in this case, it was a bit of a problem as it stuck TOO strongly to the foil.

[Tape Issues]

When I pulled it off, it stuck so strongly to the top transparent layer (above the patterned transfer) that it detached it from the pattern. However, I didn't lose that much and I could still use the bits around it that remained whole. Still, something to consider!

[Foil transfer: Epic Nail Pipe Dream]

Aside from that little kink, application wasn't too difficult for this one! I definitely found it a bit more delicate than Winter Is Coming, but I'm not sure how much of that is down to the initial tape problem loosening the pattern from the transparent plastic layer!

[Foil transfer: Epic Nail Pipe Dream]

You can see a bit of patchyness where it didn't transfer properly. Some of that was due to the foil flaking off even before the transfer, and some was because of how curved some of my nails are (my index finger, in particular). Check it out though! It was so super colourful, shiny and eyecatching once applied. The patches are totally not as noticeable in real life.

[With topcoat: Epic Nail Pipe Dream]

I did attempt to test some top coats over these foils, but unfortunately, most of my topcoats are quick dry so they wrinkled the metallic foil like nobody's business. Sometimes I find it looks quite interesting though, so you could try out the crinkly look intentionally, if you like!

House Spark - Epic Nail Foil Transfer: Winter Is Coming

Here's the first of the nail foil transfers from Epic Nail that I will be reviewing! Check out the overview of the Essentials kit that we posted last week for a look at all the designs we'll be trying out. This pattern is called Winter Is Coming, hehe~

[Bling bling]

I thought it looked already looked pretty good in the bottle, but this pattern really came alive on the nail! Let's see how I went with application and such...

[Left to right: Winter Is Coming, In The Jungle, All Laced Up]

In the tube, it's a pixelated diamond pattern - I suppose it brings argyle somewhat to mind, hence the winter reference. As for the catchphrase, it's catchy, what more do you need! ;) Remember, it's easier to cut out little rectangles of foil for each nail BEFORE you start, so you're not struggling with wet tacky nails during!

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Metallic (1 coat)]

Since this was a silver transfer foil and I was going to do a full nail manicure, I used a matching silver foil polish just in case there were any missed patches during the transfer. This is Revlon Metallic, a heavy silver foil polish.

[1 coat: Revlon Metallic]

This is only one coat! Great as a base for nail art, as it applies easily and dries fairly quickly.

[Super exciting: Watching glue dry]

Here's a photo of what it looks like as the foil glue is drying. On my pinky and index, you can see fresher coats of glue where it still has a milky appearance. On my middle finger, you can see that once it dries, the glue turns clear. So be patient, and wait wait wait!

It doesn't take long, but I find that the longer you wait, the better application is, so I tend to wait at least 5 minutes or so even though the glue is clear after about 2-3 minutes. Check our foil tag to see some of our previous manicures using transfer foils!

[Foil transfer: Epic Nail Winter Is Coming]

Anyway, after the glue was suitable dry, I carefully placed a rectangle of foil over a nail, working one nail at a time. I then smoothed it out from edge to edge, scraping lightly with my nail to make sure everything was transferred. AND BOY, are the results gorgeous!

[Foil transfer: Epic Nail Winter Is Coming]

I had no problem at all getting the transfer foil over the entire nail - remember, apply your glue carefully as where there's glue, there your foil will stick! Conversely, where there isn't glue, you aren't going to get your transfer!

[Foil transfer: Epic Nail Winter Is Coming]

Super super impressed with this design. I especially love the pixellated holo. It's a bit difficult to see the diamond pattern on the nail, but in my opinion, the result is even better! More of a super sparkly futuristic snakeprint!! Totally up my alley, as far as I'm concerned....

Keep an eye out for our posts on the other 5 designs, coming up soon! And don't forget, you can use this coupon code, BLOGPLISHERIFFIC to get free shipping on all orders from Epic Nail with a product total of $30 or over, valid till the 31st of December!

Foil Fancy - EpicNail nail foil kit overview

Jme and I were recently contacted by the team over at Epic Nail (love the name!) and they generously provided us with one of their nail transfer foil kits for review! We'll be testing out these transfer foils over the next week or so, but until then, check it out!

The kit arrived in the form of a sturdy white box with EpicNail printed over the top. I love the fact that it's a flip-top magnetic closure and you can reuse it for storage!  

We also received a couple of information cards. I was very impressed by the quality and thought that went into designing these. They're very colourful and easy to read - and helpful too...

There are illustrated instructions on how to apply nail foil transfers, which are really useful for newbies! There's also instructions for applying them by dabbing (I'll have to try that!) as well as for removal.

Also, a colour chart of all the transfer foils available in their online store! A lot of these are ones I haven't seen before in other stores or on eBay so if you're on the look out for something different, you might find it here.

We requested the Essentials kit, which contains 6 different patterns (all 4cm x 100cm), a bottle of nail foil glue (about 5-8ml?) and a pack of orange sticks. I was a little concerned when I first received the parcel in the mail because I could hear things rattling around! It's a fairly big box and aside from what is in the photo, there's no other packing material. However, the only breakable item is the glue bottle and that was packed safely in bubble wrap so everything arrived safely!

These are the patterns in the Essentials kit! Based on the colour chart provided, these are (from left to right), I Heart You, Pipe Dream and Nautical. I Heart You features holographic silver hearts on a dark pink matte background, so cute! Pipe Dream is a multicoloured blend of shiny foil and Nautical has stripes of matte blue, red and white interspersed with some glossy silver.

The other three are Winter Is Coming, In The Jungle and All Laced Up. These are gorgeous! All feature holo backgrounds, with a pixelated diamond pattern on Winter Is Coming, red and black leopard print on In The Jungle and a very pretty floral lace design on All Laced Up.

There was also a generous sample provided of two nail foil patterns; I Heart You and On The Catwalk. I Heart You is part of the Essentials Kit, but On The Catwalk is different, featuring black leopard print on a silver holo background. Depending on the width and length of your nails, there's enough provided for one to two full manicures.

We'll have our reviews and manis using these transfer foils up soon, so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out the Epic Nail website or find them on Facebook to see all the different products they have available! Epic Nail also offers same day dispatch to Australia and New Zealand on all orders, and a 30 day money back guarantee on all products.

But... that's not all! Epic Nail has kindly provided a coupon code for use till the 31st of December! Just enter BLOGPLISHERIFFIC into the coupon code box prior to checkout to get free shipping on all orders with a product total of $30 or over. Yayyyyy~ =)

edit (24/11/13): We now have reviews of all six foils in the Essentials kit up! Check it out!

Speckled Egg - Emily de Molly Hole in the Sky

[Emily de Molly's Hole in the Sky]

This is Emily de Molly's Hole in the Sky. It's such a sweet, pale blue colour with an array of glitter, I do quite adore it. The base is a light blue base, that is opaque at two to three coats. The glitter consists of round, matte silver glitter of varying sizes, hex holo matte glitter, tiny blue-purple holo glitter, and blue-purple microglitter.

[Emily de Molly's Hole in the Sky]

I do love round glitter in nail polish, and the light, delicate colour overall makes this a lovely nail polish.

Red Delicious - Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter

Here we have the last of the four polishes from the Tribal colours texture polish set of minis from Born Pretty that Jme and I received for review!

[Bottle to nail: Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter (1 coat)]

This one is a gorgeous warm red jelly, made even warmer with the addition of gold flecks running through it. It seems like these gold bits are also part of the "sand" that gives this textured polish its pebbled finish.

[1 coat: Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter]

I love this shade, it's really bright and festive. Not just that, these are all only one coat! The formula is this thick-ish syrupy jelly but it applied with evenly and with great colour payoff. This one dried very quickly to a matte finish and the texture was much more even - not to say it's not textured, but that the bumps were all of a similar size.

[1 coat: Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter]

Again, I popped on some topcoat to see what would happen. It certainly brightens things up when you have gloss on, but one coat isn't enough to fully smooth it out. This colour looks gorgeous either way though!

Once again, this is set #10, which includes a mint green, soft pink, bright blue and this shade reviewed here. This set is pretty good value especially since you get to try out multiple shades. As always, you can use our  coupon code for 10% off and Born Pretty offers free shipping, yay~ =)

Blue Shores - Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter

A little while ago, Jme reviewed two polishes from the Tribal colour set of textured mini polishes that we received from Born Pretty. You can check out her posts on the minty green and soft pink shade! This week, I'll show you the remaining two shades from set #10 in this range!

[Bottle to nail: Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter (2 coats)]

This one is a gorgeous bright blue with large pieces of holographic glitter. It's a gorgeous shade and very nicely sparkly. At one coat, it can be a bit patchy as the base is a jelly, but it evens out very nicely at two coats, which are what my pictures show.

[2 coats: Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter]

It dries slightly matte, but as you can tell, there's still a bit of gloss to it. There is a sandy component to the polish that gives a textured finish, but it seems to be mostly overshadowed by the texture of the large holo glitter after drying.

[2 coats: Tribal Colours Liquid Sand Suede Glitter]

I also tried putting a layer of topcoat over the top and it looked really good that way too! One point of note is that I found that the brushes are fairly large so it may take some getting used to to apply them cleanly. Dry time is on the long-ish side - it's touch dry fairly quickly but dents and smears easily for a while after, so be careful with your nails!

I'll have the next and final polish in this set posted tomorrow, so remember to check it out! If you'd like to try some of these textured polishes yourself, don't forget that you can use our code to get a further 10% off at Born Pretty!