Thursday, July 24, 2014

Nail Polish Will Never Be the Same: Hot Designs 2-in-1 Nail Art Pens {Review & Giveaway}

Hot Designs logo
When it comes to all things girly, my daughters' likes and dislikes cover the full spectrum... and seem to vary day by day.

Whereas one day Big Sister E only wants to play with trucks and can't be forced into a dress, the following morning she'll come downstairs in a complete fairy princess outfit and act as if nothing has changed. Ah, to be a kid again!

However, one aspect of girldom that she and Little Sister B have always been completely enamored with is fingernail polish. They've spent years noticing as soon as my toenails or fingernails changed color and would brush their fingers over the paint with their eyes wide as they patiently waited for their turn with the polish.

But... let's face it. In their minds, their completed fingernails were going to look something like this.

nail art
Sources: owl, diagonal, flower, leopard

Um, right. I once managed somewhat-decent polka dots using a toothpick, but even those ended up being a bit misshapen and splotchy.

So, other than bringing my girls into the salon with me to get manicures and pedicures from professionals, it seemed that we were destined to have plain, one-color painted nails forever on.

And then we were introduced to Hot Designs and everything we knew about nail polish was changed.

nail pens

Innovative and colorful 2-in-1 pens, Hot Designs have two colors of polish in each one. However, as well as unscrewing the top to find a traditional nail polish brush, users can also pop off the top to discover a fine-tipped pen that is perfect for designs, drawing, detailing and more.

I may be behind the times in that I had never tried any sort of nail pen before, but the fact that Hot Designs includes both the brush and the pen tip struck me as completely genius. No more plain nails when these would make it so easy to add on lines, dots, letters, shapes and much more — the sky's the limit!

Hot Designs are available in two sets, Basic Beauty (Midnight Black/Royal Blue, Kelly Green/Red Flame, Hot Pink/Star White) and Glitz & Glam (Sparkling Silver/Paradise Pink, Purple Pizzazz/Lemon Yellow, Crushed Berry/Hot Orange), and, when the latter arrived, it was definitely time to turn up the skill on our manis and pedis.

Hot Designs Nail Art Pens

These really couldn't be much easier!

Right out of the package it was simple to understand the concept of twisting off the cap for the brush versus popping off the cap for the pen tip...

Hot Designs review

...and then it was time to start painting!

Along with some helpful instructions for how to best use these pens, Hot Designs includes two cleaning pins in the event that the metal tip of the pen gets clogged as well as a whole slew of fun design ideas.

nail art designs

While my girls did have to control their impatience while they waited for one color to dry before another could be applied, the entire process of using Hot Designs has been extremely easy and a lot of fun!

nail art

Whether following one of the provided designs or making up our own (although I'm clearly far from being a professional), I don't know how we'll ever go back to "plain" nails again!

fingernail art

Summer means colorful mani-pedis and Hot Designs Nail Art Pens are an extremely fun and affordable (approximately $15) way to turn traditional nail polish into creative, artistic fun! Or, if painting your nails isn't your thing, these pens could easily get double usage for any number of DIY crafts!

Find out more about Hot Designs by visiting their website and be sure to check them out on Facebook where you'll find even more great nail inspiration and a variety of how-to videos.

But there's more! Right now Hot Designs is giving fans the chance to win the ultimate beach package including a $250 Target gift card in their #WinHotLooks Contest!

WinHotLooks contest

Simply head over to GetHotLooks.com/contest by August 15th and submit a selfie of your summer style using the hashtag #WinHotLooks — you can enter once each day! Be sure to tag @GetHotLooks on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, or @Get_Hot_Looks on Instagram and you'll be entered to win the awesome summer beach bundle grand prize as well as Hot Designs that are being given away daily.

Are you ready to show off your own hot looks? Thanks to the generosity of Hot Designs, one person will be prepared to do just that, because...

One lucky person will win their choice of Basic Beauty or Glitz & Glam Nail Art Pens from Hot Designs!



A big thank you to Hot Designs for providing Nail Art Pens for me to review as well as for one lucky giveaway winner. The opinions shared are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.