Nail Rock Nail Caviar "Neptune" product review and demo

Somehow, I always manage to be that person who makes fun of fads and trends and the people who go along with them, only to end up eating my words and being late to the party. Nail beads/caviar/fish egg manis are no exception to this rule.

I shared pictures of these kits with G of Nouveau Cheap (she posted them last week), but it took me until a few nights ago to actually try the kit out. And yeah, I like it. I think it looks pretty fucking great.

The kit comes with a bottle of nail polish, a pot of micro beads, and paper instructions. The Neptune kit comes with magenta and turquoise micro beads (emphasis on micro), and a polish named Neptune Green.

Here are the beads:

Here's one coat of Neptune Green by itself:

It's a great color. More green than in the pictures though!

The instructions say to paint your nails with one coat of the color, and then apply the second coat to one nail and dip your nail into the beads (then repeat as desired with the rest of your nails).

To avoid making a huge mess, I recommend having a small tray handy to catch the beads. DON'T EVEN OPEN THEM until you have something under them. I promise you, they are tiny and they will get everywhere.

I used the metal lid from a pencil color box and dipped away!

Post-dunk, I used my nails on my other hand to brush off the beads that were stuck to my finger, and then gently patted down the ones on my nail. Plenty of balls fell off during this step, as they have a tendency to stick together. After the excess beads were gone, I patted more aggressively to really press the beads into the polish.

In case you really want a visual of this process, I made a dang video to show how it's done. Also, I saved all my ball jokes for the video.

The finished product:

There are some "bald spots" in between the balls, but I really don't think this is a problem because of the colored base.

The verdict:

I like it! I like it so much that I'm going to do a pros and cons list.

Bueno:

• great colors
• affordable sets ($6.99) as opposed to Ciate
• excellent formula on the polish
• the packaging comes with a piece of plastic you could probably use as a tray
• I actually like how it looks. A lot.

No bueno:

• if you threw away the packaging and/or don't have a tray, you might make a mess with the beads
• this is a pretty temporary look (one night at the most)
• the beads bleed if you try to add top coat! I imagine top coat might help this mani last, but it's a total bust for these kits. It just won't work. 

The staying power of these beads is debatable. I only sat around with balls on four fingers for a few minutes, and already some of them started to rub off. After about 20 minutes, I decided I didn't want to do a wear test and decided to rub off the balls. It actually took quite a bit of effort to get them all off! I think this mani would probably stay together for a party or a night out. (Idk I'm a housewife gayboy don't ask me)

Overall, this kit is a win for me.