My Teen Loved This Klutz Nail Painting Kit — And Admittedly, I Did Too

The designs aren’t just pretty! They also fine-tune your kid’s dexterity and fine motor skills, all while giving you quality time together.

By Liz Heinecke

Oct 13, 2019

Ages

9-15

My Teen Loved This Klutz Nail Painting Kit — And Admittedly, I Did Too

Oct 13, 2019

Let's admit it: Painting designs with nail polish can be tricky, whether you’re just getting started as a kid or you’ve been doing it for years as an adult. But recently my own 13-year-old and I had the opportunity to try the Klutz Metallic Glam Nail Studio — and we actually got decent results on the very first try!

The kit makes it easy for kids and teens to create nail art, including brightly-colored donut sprinkles and gumballs (cute, right?). It includes fun foil stickers, too, for the less artistically inclined or anyone who wants to add some bling to their polish.

When we unboxed the kit Klutz sent us, I was happy to discover that the colorful instruction book was full of great ideas and helpful tips, and came with six bottles of nail polish, a nail tool, a blending sponge, and foil stickers. Most kids love having a concrete starting point that helps them feel successful, before jumping off into creative tangents, and the step-by-step photographs and instructions make it easy to see how to assemble each design. Still, don’t forget to put down some newspaper in case of spills — and I’d recommend having a bottle of nail polish remover handy.

My daughter and I are not regular nail painters, but we had a great time setting up a makeshift mother-daughter manicure station to give nail art a try. Circling the designs we wanted to try, we paged through the instructions. A fun donut photo on one page inspired us to kick things off with the confetti sprinkle design!

My 13-year-old started by painting on a white base coat. The polish dries quickly, which is great for impatient kids and their parents. For the smoothest finish, I’d recommend adding a second coat. Once my daughter’s nails were dry, the tiny paintbrush made it fun and easy to paint colorful “sprinkles” on the base coat. Within five minutes, she had donut nails! Just take a look at them:

Next up were ombré shimmer nails, which were my personal favorite. After painting on a white base coat, my daughter painted a stripe of gold polish and a stripe of metallic fuschia on the small blending sponge included with the kit. She rolled it onto her nail, with pink closest to the base. We discovered that multiple layers give the best results, but were anxious to try the appliques, so we stuck with a single layer and moved on.

The kit includes cute flower, bird, donut, word, and lightning nail stickers, but my teen chose classic gold stars. She said it was fairly easy to peel off the backing, and the stickers stayed on her nails well. The next day, she went outside to paint her toenails metallic blue with flowers — using the polish as a base, the brush for leaves and stems, and the metal ball tool to create petals. Later the same tool came in handy for painting gumballs, which she and a friend tried out. That gumball design was her favorite!

The more challenging designs are perfect for kids and teens with a talent for art and above-average fine motor skills. All other aspiring nail artists, regardless of experience, will have a great time painting colorful nails with sprinkles, dots, and flowers.

But my favorite thing about the kit? It was a great way to spend quality time doing an art project with my teenager.

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