ELEGANT TOUCH CANDY DIP REVIEW AND TUTORIAL

Sometimes working as a freelance beauty, fashion and everything else writer, you will find that clients sometimes disappear and your work is never published. During my work for online magazine Femside, I recieved some goodies from the lovely people from Elegant Touch to create some tutorials and reviews. The last one for the delicious Candy Dip never made it online, and I felt it wasn't fair to such a wonderful brand, so I have decided to publish it here on my own blog to give them the recogntion they deserve.

Indulge A Sweet Tooth With Elegant Touch Candy Dip

Every girl loves a bit of glitter, whether they will admit it or not – it brings a little bit of sparkle to our everyday lives. But, rather than dress head-to-toe in glitter and risk looking like a disco ball, us girls often like to add just a touch of the shiny stuff to our nails. But it is time we admitted it, glitter nail polish is an absolute nightmare...

Glitter nail polish is notoriously annoying to apply – if you want a decent coverage, instead of a few flecks of glitter on each nail, you need to apply coat after coat of the stuff, which takes forever to dry. So any little knock and the whole effect is ruined and you have to start all over again – for someone as clumsy as me, this is an almost certainly.

Then, when it comes to taking the polish off, you are in for a big job – you will find the glitter bonded to your nails stronger than Kanye West is bonded to his feelings of self-importance (sorry Kanye). You have to spend a frustratingly long amount of time soaking your nails in polish remover to rid yourself of the glitter, only to find bits stuck all over your hands for the following week. There must be an easier way.

Elegant Touch steps in to save the day once again. They have already solved the problem of getting a speedy manicure with their Express Collection and the problem of finding a long-lasting, super funky false nail with their House of Holland Collection; now they give us girls fuss free glitter nails that are easy to apply and easy to remove, with their new Candy Dip range, costing £4.49 each and available exclusively at Superdrug and on the Elegant Touch website.

With a range of four super sweet colours – Bubblegum, Peppermint, Lemon Sherbet and Blueberry Crumble – there is something to satisfy every sweet tooth. In your super cute box, shaped like a retro sweet shop, you get 18 double-side nail stickers, three pots of different glitters and an instruction booklet with idiot-proof step-by-step instructions.

So Let's Go To The Candy Shop

1. Elegant Touch professional Nail File – other nail files will work, I just prefer the professional range from Elegant Touch as they are of really good quality, multi-functional and they last forever.
2. Elegant Touch Professional Nail Buffer.
3. Elegant Touch Professional Cuticle Pusher and Nail Cleaner.
4. Cotton wool pads.
5. Elegant Touch Get 'Em Off False Nail and Nail Polish Remover.
6. Your choice of Candy Dip, I have chosen the purple loveliness of Blueberry Crumble.
7. A pair of clean, nail varnish-free hands that have been soaked in warm soapy water for five minutes to soften the cuticles.

You need a good canvas before you create your glittery masterpiece; you wouldn't paint the Mona Lisa on a grubby old napkin would you? So make sure your nails are well prepared before you get Candy Dipping, so you have the best possible nail surface so the sparkle lasts as long as possible.

1. Push back your softened cuticles into the nail bed with your Cuticle Pusher.
2. Use your nail buffer to smooth out any ridges and imperfections on the nail surface.
3. File the tips of your nails to a smooth neat finish.
4. Clean each nail with an acetone-based nail polish remover to ensure that the nails are free of moisture and natural oils.

You now have the perfect canvas for applying a sweet treat to your nails, whilst ensuring that they will stay healthy both during and after your glitter manicure. So, now it's time to get to the sticky part...

1. Chose the correct size sticky tab for your nail, it should fit as snugly as possible to ensure that you get full glitter coverage on your nail. Choose the end of the tab which best fits your cuticle, the straight or curved side.
2. Apply the sticky tab to the nail starting at the cuticle and smooth flat and even over the nail.
3. File off the excess sticky tab to give a perfect fit to your natural nail and peel off the protective film.
4. Get out your glitters and place on a flat protected surface (you don't want to have to vacuum up glitter for 10 minutes afterwards like I had to) and dip the entire nail into the pot of glitter; shake off any excess.

1. Repeat for all nails with whichever glitter you choose.
2. For longer lasting results, seal the glitter with a top coat – the topcoat is not included in the kit, but you can pick up a really good one for a few pounds. The top coat will prevent the glitter from shedding, so no random spots of glitter on your face, which is always a good thing.

All that is left to do now is show them off at every available opportunity – wave them round in bright sunlight to dazzle everyone in the surrounding area; they made me smile every time they caught the light, especially after being disappointed with glitter nail varnishes in the past.

So, How Was The Candy Shop?

I have to admit that I was rather sceptical at first when I got the bits and bobs out the cute box, I thought it would be a right nightmare to do and that there would be glitter everywhere except the nail. I couldn't have been more wrong. The moment you pop your nail with the sticky tab on into the glitter, it sticks fast and with a full and saturated coverage that is better than any glitter polish I have tried in the past. And the shine and shimmer is just dazzling – they really do sparkle and it only took me 10 minutes to do all my nails and get a really dramatic manicure.

Another of my concerns was that the stickers would fall off at the mere mention of water, but this too need not have been a worry. I wore my candy dip for three days and they lasted through many showers and multiple hand washes – the application of a top coat certainly helped in that respect.

When it did come to removing the sticky tabs, it could not have been easier – all you need to do is gently lift the wrap from the side of the nail and slowly peel off side to side, it takes seconds. If there is any sticky residue, it will come off easily with a little nail polish remover. There will be no damage to the nails after removal, they will be just as healthy as when you applied.

I do wish that there were more sticky tabs in the kit and there is only really enough for one full set of nails, but you can use the glitter in your other nail art projects, as it sticks rather well to nail polish, it will just take longer to remove. But, despite wishing there were more stickers, I would definitely recommend Candy Dip; I had great fun doing it and I loved the effect I created. For my next Elegant Touch Candy Dip, I am going to try an ombre glitter effect, so stay tuned for that one.

If you are a fan of Candy Dip, you will probably also like nail wraps – little stickers you pop onto your nails for an instant manicure. Elegant Touch have a great selection of nail wraps and here are some of the ones I have my eye on...the Acid Graffiti wraps are my absolute favourtie. 

 Elegant Touch Nail Wraps: 1) Leopard Aqua; 2) Acid Graffiti; 3) Dotty Hot Pink; 4) Deckchair Brights.

Also, hang onto your hats ladies as the seriously awesome new House of Holland collection is set to drop soon, my nails are tingling in anticipation.

Don't forget to check out my other Elegant Touch reviews and tutorials for their Express Collection and their House of Holland Line.