Review of caviar beads

Today I have done a caviar manicure for the very first time! I'm pretty late to the caviar party, but is this trend completely over? Cause I have really fallen for it!

I got caviar beads from Born Pretty to test and review. I got a wheel of beads in 12 different colors.

Well, I got a wheel and 12 colors of beads, but the beads arrived in 12 seperate plastic bags and I had to put them in the wheel myself. Initially I didn't think much of it, until I was trying to put them in the wheel. The beads were stuck to the bags from static electricity and it was really difficult to get them out! Some bags were fine and others I contemplated throwing half of the beads out.

Storing the beads in a wheel like this is not ideal. They are so tiny that the slightest movement made them jump into the edge of the wheel and they got stuck there. When you then turn the lid to open some of the beads in the edge fall out and you have tiny beads all over the place. 

I also had problems with the beads jumping to other compartments of the wheel, which makes it difficult if not impossible to have a solid color caviar manicure without other color beads popping up here and there :-/ So in conclusion, I would suggest storing them in something else!

For this manicure I applied two coats of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls on all nails except my ring finger, where I applied two coats of OPI - Pink Flamenco. When I had just applied the second coat I sprinkled the beads over the wet polish. I held my finger over a cup to collect the excess beads. I gently pushed the beads on to the nail with my finger, and also picked up a few beads with my finger and pushed them into bald spots on the nail.

 

Then I painted half moons at the base of each nail with OPI - Solitaire. I did one nail at the time and applied the beads into the wet polish. I did finish the accent nail with a top coat, but after taking the pictures, and I'm glad I took the pictures first, because it really ruined the look a little. Also, the color bled off the beads, so be careful when applying top coat! I also found that the color of the beads stained my fingers a little.

Even though the top coat took away from the caviar effect, it really did make it last longer. I only added top coat to the accent nail and within a hour of finishing the mani all the beads on the other nails had fallen off! I do not think the accent nail would have lasted very long without top coat, but I will defenitely do this again so I will try then without top coat and let you know :)

Removal? Under my accecnt nail I applied a coat of Elmer's school glue, and when I was ready to remove the manicure, I simply peeled it off with an orange stick. So incredibly easy! It's my first time using glue as a peel off base coat, but believe me, I will use it everytime I wear glitter from now on!

Despite all my issues with the wheel and discoloring from the beads, I really do love this and like I said, I will defenitely be doing it again! There are not ehough beeds in the for a full single color manicure, but you can do a multi colored manicure (rainbow anyone?!) or simple accent nails. You can also find larger containers of caviar manicure beads from Born Pretty, so go have a look and see if you find something you like! :)

Remember if you shop at Born Pretty, to use my code and get 10% off your order! Born Pretty also has free international shipping, great prices and a huge selection of nail art supplies!

**Products in this post were provided for my honest review, all opinions are my own**