Caviar Bead Nails

While searching for good deals at my local TJMaxx, I discovered a bunch of Ciate caviar manicure kits for $10. I figured I would get one to try out since I don't have any caviar beads in my nail art collection, so I got the cotton candy set. The set comes with a base polish, a container of caviar beads, a plastic tray, and a small black funnel. The instructions specify to apply the beads to the provided base polish, but I wanted a different look, so I opted to try using a different polish. Here are the supplies I used for this manicure:

Base coat: Orly Bonder
Polish: Ruffian Nail Lacquer - Rosary
Supplies: Caviar Beads from Ciate Cotton Candy Set
Top coat: Seche Vite

I started out by removing my previous nail polish and getting my nails filed/cleaned up. Then, I applied a coat of Orly Bonder.

Next, I applied a single thin coat of Ruffian Nail Lacquer in Rosary (which I got as a Birchbox sample in July). It only took a single coat to be opaque and was very easy to apply without looking streaky, which many metallic polishes seem to have issues with.

I chose to do caviar beads only on my thumb and ring finger as accent nails. Instead of following the instructions enclosed with the kit, which says to use a second coat of their provided base polish, I applied a coat of Seche Vite top coat and then followed the instructions from there. I poured a good helping of beads directly onto my nail over the provided plastic tray.

Then, I pressed the beads down with my finger to set them into the polish, brushing away the extras. They looked pretty nice directly after application. I also applied a coat of Seche Vite to the rest of my nails.

Then, I undertook the task of putting the extra beads back into the bottle.

These things bounce everywhere! I would recommend guiding them from the tray to the funnel with your finger rather than pouring directly to minimize mess. I think I will be stepping on tiny beads for awhile.

After this ordeal, I followed the instructions and allowed everything to dry for at least 30 minutes, occupying myself by playing games on my phone. Before bed and even directly after waking up, they still looked pretty nice and seemed to be stuck. However, as I got ready this morning, I was shedding beads left and right. They just kept popping off, particularly around the edges. Here is what they looked like around noon:

Next time I try these out, I will use the base coat that came with the kit, though it doesn't seem to be special in any way. Also, I can try sealing the edges in with top coat once the caviar beads set and the polish dries. I hope I can get it to work better, since the beads looked so nice right after application! Overall, they seem to be a little bit more trouble than they are worth.


UPDATE:

I decided to get rid of the caviar beads and salvage the rest of the mani with some stamping using a Konad kit and Pueen stamping plates:

I picked a nice flower design and used NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in Black Lace Cream to stamp. Much better!