REVIEW: RIO ULTIMATE NAIL ART PROFESSIONAL NAIL ARTIST COLLECTION AND RIO PROFESSIONAL NAIL ART PENS

Congratulations - you made it through that enormous amount of photos! If you're serious about your nail art then look no further than Rio Beauty for every single nail art need imaginable. This is the brand that knows their stuff when it comes to adorning your talons.

I'm a nail nibbler *hangs head in shame* but I absolutely love looking at nail art and cooing over perfect designs by brilliant bloggers (cough Islay - I'm looking at you!). I just never had the motivation to grow my own nails until these amazing kits came into my life. Now I'm putting every inch of will power I possess into not biting my nails - purely because of wanting/needing to use these kits. Feel free to Tweet me some abuse and/or motivation about growing my nails if you want to - I need all the support I can get. I have used these on my stubs though - for review purposes (OK, that's a lie - I just couldn't resist having a play about) - and they really are awesome. The Rio Ultimate Nail Art Professional Nail Artist Collection* (RRP £29.99 - hello bargain) contains, quite literally, every single thing you need to take your nails from plain to pretty amazing. 

A selection of nail tools and dotters, in various sizes, should start anyone off nicely. They're very easy to use and clean after use. After that comes the stripping tapes (very easy once you get the hang of them), stamps (not so easy - I need more practice on a willing victim) and foils (complete with adhesive in the pack) to really make your designs special. Then there's glitter - lots of glitter - in teeny little pots that, if you're a little clumsy like me, can go all over the place. Still, it's glitter and that makes me incredibly happy. There are four pots of little 'effects' too - one for caviar-esque nails, silver stars, green flakes and iridescent white dots. This kit also contains a black nail art pen (see further down this post for more on the nail art pens). And after all that? Well, this kit just keeps on giving. There are sponges which I want to use to create gorgeous ombre designs when my nails are longer and the cutest little fruit shaped jewels with a multitude of coloured rhinestones to dress up even the plainest of colours. Rio also generously include four nail polishes in silver, green, red and white as well as a top-and-base coat. There's a DVD included in the pack to guide you through the basic techniques and then through to salon inspired deisgns such as marbling. Ahhh - there so much to play with in this collection. And last but not least? A finger rest, for when you need to rest your work of art to let it dry.  I could go on and on about this collection - it's superb and can't be faulted, in my opinion. It's salon and celebrity worthy manicures all in the comfort of your own home. The price of this is so affordable too it's almost too good to be true. 

Onto the Rio Professional Nail Art Nail Designs Pens* (RRP £24.99 for the set) and the content and quality continues. In this set there's 8 different colours, 6 plain and 2 metallic, that come with cute silver rhinstones, a paint brush, gold leaf adornment and a DVD. My favourite colour by far is the metallic pinky-plum colour which is so pretty and girly without being too over the top. It'll definitely be my go-to colour for designs this autumn when my nails have grown. The DVD is, again, about salon techniques, but completely different to the one in the Ultimate Collection so it really is worth watching both to get most information as possible.  I found these Rio pens so easy to work with - which is a God send for a complete novice like me. They have two applicators - a nib and a brush. The nib stands upright which means no mess and no leaking whilst the brush is dipped into the polish. 

Both applicators are really fine and don't allow too much product to flood out onto the nail which is something I was concerned about - although I did find that whatever base colour you're using has to be 100% dry (nope - you can't get away with tacky) otherwise the nib/brush damages the colour underneath and doesn't sit as neatly. It leads to be a bit of a waiting game which, to be honest, I'm naff at because of my 'want everything now' personality, but muster the patience from somewhere - especially if you want your nails to look great - because it really is worth it for the end result. Would I recommend these kits? YES. A big, resounding fat YES is needed here. They're amazing value for their price, contain absolutely everything to get your nail art ambitions off the ground and are a lot of fun. I can't wait to show you my nail art designs when I'm finally happy with the length I've grown them to.
Rio Ultimate Nail Art Professional Nail Artist Collection (RRP £29.99) and Rio Professional Nail Art Nail Design Pens (RRP £24.99) are available online from the Rio Nails website. Rio Nail Art products can also be purchased from Argos stores across the UK. You can follow Rio Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for news, tutorials, inspiration, updates, competitions and much more. Rio Beauty also do a selection of other products including skin care and body care as well as tanning and teeth whitening. You can find the other products available on the Rio Beauty website. DISCLAIMER: The product(s) reviewed in the post were sent to me by the brand for review purposes. All opinions expressed about the product are my own. I will never dishonestly review a product as I believe dishonest reviews lead to a lack of trust from my readership. The links on this post will not earn me any commission if you click on them.