ZAP! Liquid Latex Nail Art Skin Protector Review!

Hello lovely readers!

You may remember I did a post a while back on Masking Fluid & how it can be used for easy clean up when doing messy nail art? The idea is that you apply masking fluid to the skin around the nail, wait to dry, do your nail art, then simply peel off! Taking with it any messy splodges leaving you with a nice clean mani.

Another means of doing this & the more popularly known & used is liquid latex. I recently acquired a bottle of ZAP! Nail Art Skin Protector (RRP £6) from Rainbow Connection to see how it differed from the masking fluid. ZAP! is a liquid latex available in light blue, clear or pink shades & comes in a nifty polish bottle with brush applicator making application much easier.

I of course needed a gradient to test this baby out on so I used ZAP! whilst doing my Louboutin inspired gradient nails from my previous post.

Once I'd applied my base coat/colour, I then applied the ZAP! liquid latex, on to the skin area around the nail, making sure I went right up to the edge of the cuticle. The brush makes this task very straightforward & its a good idea to apply it quite thickly & about 1-2cm in width as this will make the peeling off part much easier!

Next leave the liquid latex to dry completely. The masking fluid tends to dry clear but as this latex is coloured it obviously won't do that! But it's not too difficult to tell when its dry & ready for you to continue. The ZAP! took around 5-10 minutes to dry completely.

Then go ahead & do your nail art, be it marbling, stamping or in my case...gradienting! Is that even a word?? Oh well. So I sponged away, not worrying about keeping it neat as I had my protective mask on the skin. Apologies for forgetting to snap a pic of nails just after doing the gradient...!*slaps forehead* What an eejit...

When your finished with your nail art, grab a pair of tweezers & begin gently lifting the latex from the skin, being careful not to grab any of your actual skin! If applied thickly enough you should be able to lift the whole layer of latex in one go which I was happy to find the ZAP! did do on most of my fingers with only one or two requiring two goes. FYI...SO SATISFYING...remember peeling glue from your hands after art class in primary school? This takes me back to those good old days :)

Once peeled away, you may be left with a little bit of latex right by the nail & also a little bit of polish, but this can be easily cleaned up with a a brush & acetone which I always finish with anyway. And hey presto, gradient nails done without the crazy mess!

Compared to the masking fluid, ZAP has done good! I'll definitely continue to use liquid latex for this method, however also take into note that those with a latex allergy will of course not suit this! You can find it easily from various online retailers such as Rainbow Connection & it comes in small bottles which is good if you are wanting to just try out. However once this runs out I'll be re-stocking from Ebay as recommended by the lovely Sammy at The Nailasaurus as its a tad cheaper plus you get more! *thumbs up* 

Thanks for reading dolls, till next time!

Lotsa love to ya!