Monday, 28 September 2015

Crystal bling nails with the Crystal Katana

Sparkly sparkly blang blang on ma chainnnn! Check out these epic blinged af nails done up with an awesome new to me tool - the Crystal Katana! It's basically a rhinestone picker-upper thing-a-ma-jig except that it actually works. Thank god for tools that are utile! I've got an extended video tutorial below that shows you exactly how it works, and how it compares to (and dominates) a couple other 'rhinestone picker' tools out there. Check it out after the jump!

USE MY EXCLUSIVE CODE SIMPLY10 for 10% off your own Crystal Katana!

 
VIDEO TUTORIAL RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW !


9MIN VIDEO TUTORIAL WITH VOICEOVER:
(see also 15sec versions on Instagram)

Products used:
  • Crystal Katana crystal picker tool and Swarovski crystals from Crystal Ninja --- use my code SIMPLY10 for 10% off your order and get a free Katana tool case!
  • Nail vinyls from Twinkled T --- use my code SIMPLY for 10% off!
  • Color Club 'Miss Bliss' (pink holo polish)
  • Cult Nails 'Nevermore' (black creme, discontinued)
  • Revlon 'Clear' polish
  • UNT Peel-off base coat

How freakin' effective is the Crystal Katana, right?! Never using that stupid white wax pencil (and obviously never my fingers, lol) ever again!

The Crystal Katana is a dual-purpose crystal-placement tool made of wood. One end has tip of the tool is made of wax, which allows you to pick up crystals easily, and only release them when they've touched something sticky on the other end (i.e., nail glue, or top coat). The wax tip does wear down over time, but it lasts approximately 100,000 crystal placements! In other words, I've only used up 0.039% of my Crystal Katana wax tip lifespan. If you are a crystallizer freak by chance and your wax tip is used up, you can also buy replacement tips!

The other end of the Crystal Katana has a metal tip for securing the crystals into place once you've adhered them to the nail (or whatever you're bedazzling). In the video you see that I also use it to move my crystals around before the top coat dries if I didn't quite put them in the right place on the first go.

I used clear polish or top coat to adhere the flat back Swarovski crystals on my nails over top of the nail polish, but for most normal people who would prefer to have their mani stay on for a while, you're probably better off using nail glue to stick the crystal on. You could use either a regular nail glue like this nail glue by Kiss, or the glue that comes in nail repair kits, such as Orly's nail repair kit. To take them off, you'd have to dissolve it in acetone.

Crystallized with the Crystal Katana --- use my code SIMPLY10 for 10% off!


Crystallized with the Crystal Katana --- use my code SIMPLY10 for 10% off!

Crystallized with the Crystal Katana --- use my code SIMPLY10 for 10% off!


Crystallized with the Crystal Katana --- use my code SIMPLY10 for 10% off!





Crystallized with the Crystal Katana --- use my code SIMPLY10 for 10% off!

Even though I don't do crystal placements often, I realize many (especially some nail salons) do. This tool would especially be helpful for even tinier crystal placements (you'd be able to actually see what you are doing and where the stones are being placed, which is always nice, right?). The crystals I used were the smallest I had, but I think a mani using super tiny crystals would look EPIC and it would be that much more efficient to do using the Katana.

Find your Crystal Katana aka your rhinestoner-placer-saviour-from-heaven-tool from the Crystal Ninja website! Don't forget you can use my exclusive code SIMPLY10 for 10% off your Katana order and get a free tool case too! (Discount does not apply to Swarovski crystals)

The Crystal Ninja shop ships daily, and internationally! Check out some of their cool crystallized projects like cell phone cases and other electronics while you're there!

*This project was sponsored by Crystal Ninja. All opinions, design, and video commentary are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

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