'Trend' Thrift: Caviar Nails

I'm always on the hunt for the next nail trend, and went through a huge nail art phase last year where I couldn't stop adding patterns, designs and various embellishments to my fingertips! Lately, I have been sticking to good old colour blocking nail-wise (mainly due to a lack of time) with my favourite colours du jour, but the other day I spotted these in Primark and couldn't resist! I've heard a lot about nail caviar already as I'm sure you have, and I'm pretty sure it was beauty brand Ciaté that introduced it to the manicure world. It always seemed quite costly (Ciaté's caviar nail varnish and sets are retailing at between £14-£18 on ASOS currently), and I know other brands have interpreted it but it was still similarly priced all the same. That was until I stumbled across a bargain version in good old Primark - with a £2.50 price tag! There was no excuse not to give it a go with that price sticker on it, and I ended up buying two sets as I couldn't decide on one! There was one more colour that I didn't buy which was a silver polish with pink and silver metallic beads, but I ended up with a pearlised white varnish with white beads, and a hot pink varnish with turquoise, pink and various multi-coloured beads! 

They come fully equipped with varnish, beads, funnel and plastic tray in order to get the look, and the idea is to choose which nail(s) you would like your caviar on and paint them with a couple of coats, but before the second one is dry pour the beads on when hovering over the tray so they simply stick to the wet polish. This is kind of messy so I'd advise doing it on a flat surface! I kind of felt like a kid in a primary school art lesson, but it's quite fun! You then simply put the funnel back in the bead pot, and pour your excess beads back in so you don't waste any.

The nail varnish itself won't be winning any awards any time soon, but it could've been worse. It was quite gloopy and I often find it's hard to make metallics look attractive anyway, so that didn't help! It also took way too long to dry in my opinion - give me Barry M anyday! Of course you can match the beads with whatever colours you would like, and I was thinking a nice on-trend pastel pink (or any pastel) would look really good with these pearly beads. It came out better than I thought it would to be honest, but having had them on for a short while, they're falling off when I do anything remotely vigorous which isn't great, but it was expected! 1; because it's Primark, and 2; I'm atrocious at keeping even the hardest-wearing nail polish chip-free! I'd recommend Primark's efforts to anyone wanting to give the trend a go, but if you're really into it and want a lasting look then I'd say fork out the £14 and get Ciaté's version for the quality!

What do you think of nail caviar? Have you tried it out for yourself before?

xo.