Did any of my fellow 90’s babies have a “BeDazzler” in their house growing up?! For god knows what reason, the original “Bedazzler” popped into my head the other day, pictured below:

I remember my mom and I used to Bedazzle alllllll our jean products together; everything from jackets to super trendy and super WIDE-leg flare jeans. We even Bedazzled one of my dad’s denim jackets… and he actually wore it!!! (That’s what you get when you grow up in a household of four girls!)

This led me to research the Bedazzler, which are apparently now IMPOSSIBLE to find online!! So sad. In my search I came across the new way to bedazzle: Hotfix.

The basic concept of Hotfix:

The Hotfix applicator tool uses heat to bond individual pre-glued rhinestones and gems on to the desired fabric surface. The Hotfix applicator only takes about 2 minutes to heat up. The wax pencil and tweezers can be used to place the rhinestones. You then firmly adhere the gems by covering the top of rhinestones with the ‘hot tips’ for around 15 seconds each. Specific sized hot tips tools are used for specific sized gems.

I decided to try it out on an old sweatshirt, the hotfix kit I ordered on Amazon which includes a basic starter pack is linked here.

My Take on Hotfix:

• Overall it was VERY easy to use, although a little time consuming as each gem does indeed need to be held in place for 15 seconds, so I don’t recommend using the individual applicator for large projects.
• The most difficult part was sorting out which sized gems are to be used with which applicator tip, as the gems were not labeled… Once I went through and sorted this out it was pretty straight forward!
• I found the wax pencil to be extremely helpful in placing the jewels, much easier than the tweezers.
• You definitely need the cleaner brush to wipe off the hot fix applicator every once in while as the gems do get stuck to the tool.
• This kit was a great STARTER pack, but if you plan on doing anything more than what I did, I suggest a kit with larger and/or more gems 😉

I am definitely going to do more Hotfix projects, thinking I might do a pair of sneakers, a custom denim jacket or a mask next! ~I’m here for all the 90’s vibez!~

Till next time fellow tropics! 💎