Water Decals: How to apply, NOTD

Getting to the nail art studio to get the nails done is not always possible, and designing them at home is even more difficult. The market these days are filled with numerous options that help to solve this problem. There exist a huge variety of nail art kits, nail stickers, and water decals. Today I’ll be giving a short tutorial about how water decals are applied and would also state some of the advantages and disadvantages of using water decals.

Earlier, these kind of designs were only available on the special nail art sites which were not very easy to find in India, but these days water decals are easily available on Amazon at a very affordable price. I myself got my design from Amazon.

Things required for applying water decal:

1. Any base color of your choice: Here I selected a pretty pastel blue Nykaa’s range of polishes (shade No. 99).

2. Water Decal stickers: These are available in various design options, some for full nails while some others in the form of little designs.

3. A bowl filled with water: It is not necessary to use water at room temperature, but warm water is preferred.

4. Tweezers and Scissors: To cut the desired design and to pick up the decal.

5. Nail Filer: To file the extra length of the design.

Some other things like nail polish remover or a cue tip might also be required in order to clean off the extra sections of decal near the cuticles of the nails.

How to Apply Water Decals:

Start by painting your nails with the desired base color. If you have a full decal design, then this step could be skipped, but as I was planning to apply decals to only 2 of my fingers, I applied a blue base color. I also personally like to apply polish beneath my decal design (it sometimes does help!).

Step 1: Before start using the water decal, remove the plastic film from the design.

Step 2: Cut the design as per desired.

Step 3: Grab the little piece of design with the help of tweezers and immerse it in water for about 15 seconds.

Step 4: The design comes off from the main sheet once removed from water.

Step 5: Pick the design and apply it on to the desired position on to the nails. The decal takes about 10-15 seconds to completely dry, so you will have sufficient time to place the design in the right position.

Step 6: Once completely pasted, cut off the excess from above the nails using a nail filer. The excess from the cuticle section can be removed using a brush or cue tip dipped in nail polish remover.

Finally, seal everything using a top coat. Once completed, the nails would look something like this.

Like all the other products, water decals too have some pros and Cons.

Pros: 

• They are easy to use, can be used by anyone.
• These are super affordable, a sheet of full water decal has the starting price range of INR 99.
• Available in numerous color and design options.
• Gives a good manicure in less than 10 minutes.
• These can stay on the nails for good 7 days.

Cons: 

• Full water decals are not a good option for long nails. I don’t have super long nails, still, the design on my ring finger does not fit my nail. (A light blue section can be seen in the pictures too.).
• cleaning the cuticles can sometimes become a task. (I initially tried cutting and cleaning the extra design from the cuticle but it made the design stretch).

Yes, there are a couple of cons of using these water decals, but the pros are way more than the cons, and personally, I loved the way these look on my nails. I can’t wait to order and try many of these.

Have you tried water decals? How was your experience?