Emerald Foil by KKCenterHK By nailartcouture

 Ever since Emerald was announced Pantone Colour of 2013, I've always wanted to create an emerald nail art. I tried doing it by hand a while back, but I failed miserable. Brittany from Precious Polish actually did an amazing emerald nail art by hand. It is insanely detailed, so you should check her out.

KKCenterHK contacted me about a month ago to check out a product of theirs. They are an online shop based in Hong Kong that sell false eyelashes, nail and hair products. Since I never worked with foil before, I decided to choose their N.NAIL Green Diamond Hidden Nail Foil Transfer. They are sold for $7.69 for the foil and $12.00 for the foil and adhesive. There have 30 different foil patterns to choose from. Another favorite of mine is the Bubble Drop and Galaxy Diamond pattern.

The foil comes in a very long roll. It id 150 cm or 59" in length and 4 cm or 1.5" in width.  If you're not wasteful with the product and use just the right amount, this roll of foil can easily cover more than 50 nails. The bottle that holds the foil adhesive is about 7 ml so this could last for a while as well.

There are various ways you can apply foil transfer. First you can use a topcoat like this video and create a "flake" effect. Or you can also follow this tutorial by KK Center HK like I did and cover the full nail. Honestly, if you are new to using nail foils, this is a very finicky product. It took me about 3 to 4 tries to get the hang of the product. Here are the steps that I took to apply this product:

1. Cut up the nail foil into strips so that it is slightly wider and taller than your nail bed. 
2. Next apply a base coat and base color. I recommend using a colour closest to the nail foil if you plan on covering the whole nail.
3. Once the base coat as dried, apply a very thin layer of foil adhesive to the nail bed. Try your hardest to apply the glue into the edge of the nail. Allow the glue to dry transparent and wait 10 more seconds on top of that. 
4. Slowly, place the foil strip onto your nail bed. Smooth it out using your finger and grab a cotton swab and rub the circumference of the nail. Since the edge is the most difficult part for the foil to stick to, I also use my cuticle pusher to help me out as well.
5. Allow the foil and glue to dry completely for a good 5 to 10 minutes. If you lift the foil very slightly and notice that the foil hasn't transfer, keep the foil on for a another minute or two before repeating this step. 

All in all, I like the product but I don't absolutely love it just because it is more time-consuming than it really needs to be. I think it create a really cool effect on the nail and this is great for people who want to add a little glitz and sparkle into their nails. This product has the same lasting power than a regular polish, so it will obviously last a little longer if you don't do a lot of hard labour. Although you use foil adhesive, this product can be quickly removed with nail polish remover. 

The foil itself was a little plain for me so I decided to add some lines to give the foil some dimension. I wanted my nails to resemble an emerald jewel. I mixed a little top coat with black polish to create some soft black lines. If it was a little too dark, a used a green polish to cover the thickness of the black line so it doesn't look to hard. On the thumb, I wanted to create a "diamond-encrusted" design. I used silver polish and dot around the border of the thumb. Then I placed individual white round glitter on top of the top to give it some shine. Next, I lightly outlined the small circle to give it dimension and shadow. I think I like the look without the diamond border better.

I hope you enjoy this review. Please let me know if you used nail foil before. Thank you KKCenterHK for sending this product for me to try out!

Thank you, nailartcouture
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