Back to School with Designer Piggies Waterslide Decals

Continuing on with my nail art themed weekend, this morning's post is brought to you by Designer Piggies and my joy at school having finally started again! I don't have kids, but I DO work retail, and my product specialty is office supplies. So the last month, and doubly so the last two weeks, have been hell on me! So to celebrate the kiddos going back to school- and my job returning to normal!- on Tuesday, I did this mani. Sorry it took so long to post, but I had issues with editing- as you'll see :)

I did not think to take photos before I started testing. Sorry. But this is the full sheet of Designer Piggies waterslide decals. There were 6 full coverage composition book decals, 6 full coverage pencil decals, two full cover notebook paper with an A+ decals, and 14 French tip colored pencil/crayon decals. For a grand total of 28 designs! Almost three full manicures!

This is why editing took so long. This is the most flattering picture I was able to take. I have some more detailed ones to show you, but the mani was a bit of a fail on my part. As I'm sure you're aware by now, nail art is a whole new concept to me, and I'm pretty horrible at it. Hence, my new fascination with decals! But this was my first attempt at full coverage decals, and they were a bit tricksy. 

I began with two coats of a plain white creme (which is necessary, because the decals were sheer. My first attempt was over bare nails with a red accent- no can do!), then topped the white with some Out the Door to dry it. I trimmed the decals very carefully, then dipped in water for 10ish seconds, and applied to the nail. I had some trouble getting the decals to stick to the nail. Cynthia says these are not supposed to go onto wet polish, but it just kind sat there when I tried to apply it to dry polish. So I added a regular clear coat (not quick dry) and let it dry for a minute or so until it was just tacky, then smoothed the decal onto that. As you can see from the photo, I put the pencil on crooked, and tore the composition book :( Everything else went on great. After the Piggies were all smoothed out and pretty-like, I sealed them with another coat of Out the Door. 

Note: Make sure you trim the decals well. I didn't trim this one closely enough, and you can see the black background line that I missed. 

As you can see by how far down my thumb the French tip came- these designs are perfectly suitable for longer nails! I had to trim down the full nail designs to make them fit- in retrospect I should have saved the trimmed off parts and kept them for later use as French tips! 

The bottom line on these is this: Don't blame the Piggies for my user error. They are a bit daunting for someone with little or no experience, but they did apply smoothly and evenly, and were absolutely adorable- I got TONS of compliments on these at work! I'll definitely be back for more- I'll use my leftover Back to School decals to practice with, and then come back and show you how much better I've gotten with them :)

If you have experience with waterslide decals, or nail art in general, I'm sure these would be a breeze. And even if you don't- they're quite affordable enough to learn with! If you are still unsure: Cynthia has created a tutorial video on how to apply Designer Piggies decals. 

Designer Piggies are available for sale through Etsy, Facebook and the Designer Piggies blog. A full set, which includes 14 full coverage and 14 tips, only run's $5- about $1.67 per manicure. Less if you use them as accent nails! There are also mini sets, featuring only the 14 full cover decals, for $3, and a customizable option for $15! There are tons of cute geometric, everyday designs, like argyle and houndstooth, plus seasonal designs, such as these Back to School ones and a candy corn design Halloween set! 

Support your indies, ladies!

                                                                            Cheers, 

-Liz-

*This product was provided to me for an honest review.