Review: Glam Manicare Express 3 in 1 Nail Art Pen

Okay, I'm going to be honest with you guys. This post was originally meant to be a nail art tutorial using the Glam Manicare Express 3 in 1 Nail Art Pen.

BUT. I underestimated how difficult it was to use. I like to think that I'm pretty good at prettying up my digits, but this nail art pen was in a league of its own!

So instead of a tutorial, I'm going to share my experiences of using it. Think of this post as a first impressions / review post; I did give a few designs a go and I think they look "passable" but it was fun to give it a try! Read on to find out what I thought of this product...

What I will say is, clear top coat is magic and fixes everything!

First Impressions & Review: Glam Manicare Express 3 in 1 Nail Art Pen in "Sunset Orange"

Left: the products I used in this post (when it was still intended to be a tutorial...)
Right: What comes in the Glam Manicare kit (3 in 1 nail art pen, 300 jewels, 10 nail stencils and one cuticle stick)

First up, I painted my nails with two coats of white nail polish to give the bright orange polish something to contrast against.

I wanted to try out those stencils first, so I waited for my white polish to dry.

These are the stencils that come with the kit. I wonder which ones I used... #captainobvious
I'm not a huge fan of the designs included to be honest.

BUT, even after letting my white polish dry, after applying the stencil to my nail and painting over it with the orange polish, once I gently pulled off the stencil, it pulled my white polish off along with it :S I had to use my Essence White Tip Painter to fill in the gaps, hence why it looks lumpy in the pictures below. Not won over by these stencils at all.

I decided to pretty it up with one of the jewels, so I applied a dot of polish using the nail pen and stuck one on. Better, but not fantastic. And I don't think they'll last that long...

I tried another stencil and that one was even worse... I had much better luck with the nail art pen and even though I don't have the steadiest hand in the world, the nails I drew on seemed to end up okay. What I have learned from this post is that clear top coat seems to fix polish mistakes and smooth out the polish really well! Below are the before-and-after shots of each nail art design I tried without and then with top coat. 

Final Designs - Before and After Top Coat

Sorry about my cuticles,  cold winter wind has been wrecking havoc on my hands!

The final result is passable, but I won't be giving anyone a close look at my nails any time soon! If I was to use this product again, I'd definitely just stick to using the nail art pen and maybe the jewels, but those stencils? A big miss for me!

Have you ever used a nail art pen before? Or even this particular kit? If you have, I'd love to hear your experiences, so let me know in the comments below.

*Disclaimer: This product was given to me by an affiliated company, but it was a gift and I was in no way obligated to write a blog post about it. I just felt like it :) All opinions are honest and my own.