Some products were sent for my review. All opinions are my own.
If you’ve been around for a while you know I love a good sugar-spin nail art. Using this technique is fun, rewarding and relaxing….And, a major pain in the ass. I spend hours waiting for the polish to thicken, getting the consistency right, pulling it across perfectly, cleaning up around the cuticles and then waiting for the entire thing to dry. It’s a process but one that I love (for whatever reason).
Lately, I’ve seen “spider gel” on Instagram and a lot of people taking on the art of the sugar-spin. Spider gel is supposed to make sugar-spin hassle-free by taking out the guesswork of it all. I can just dunk a toothpick in the bottle, pull the polish over my nails and voila. A home-made sugar-spun manicure in half the time. Now everyone can have that cool abstract design!
I was thrilled to try the spider gel, from Born Pretty Store, because maybe it would make my favorite technique easier. No. Spider gel sucks and here’s why.
Here are the pros first. The product is easy to handle. It picks up and moves easily. It’s a good consistency for sugar-spin which means there is no wait time to start.
Here’s why I hate (edit: strongly dislike) it. First, it’s hard to get a nice thick line. While it is easy to handle and maneuver I don’t like the stringy nature of the product. Yes, I prefer thick lines but these ensure there is an even amount of polish from one end of the nail to the other. I struggled with this and it was very frustrating.
Second, it’s sticky and a little messier. It smears easily, gets everywhere and stains! It is also very difficult to clean.
Third, it never dries! I don’t wear topcoat over sugar-spin designs because a) it destroys the design and b) I like the 3D effect. I got quite a bit of the gel on the outside of the container and legitimately (I do not exaggerate) the next day it was still sticky. What?
Thinking about it a bit more…is spider gel actually gel? Am I not having good luck with it because I treated it like regular nail polish? Let me know if you’ve tried it and your thoughts in the comments!
Scroll down to see my design and a YouTube tutorial on how I make sugar-spins!
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Born Pretty Store Spider Gel in UR-08 ($2.99 here)
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
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