Sally Hansen has created a variety nail strips, similar to Minx, that allow users to easily create salon-quality nail designs at home. The appliques are made of real polish and removed with polish remover. I picked up two sets:
Each set comes with 16 nail strips, a nail file, a wooden cuticle stick, and detail instructions:
Price: $10 at Walgreens. Pretty pricey, considering how many manicures you can get with a bottle of polish. It's cheaper than a professional mani, but don't people pay for the service (shaping, cuticle care, etc) and not the polish? Most people bring their own polish, anyway. I don't think I like this price point.
Application: I had no problem applying these. They are very flexible, so they melded to the curvature of my nails very well and I had no issues with wrinkles or air bubbles. The problem I had was the fit of these. My cuticles are just not round enough for these. Cutting 10 nail strips to fit isn't my idea of fun. Plus, any hope I had of getting two manis out of one package was dashed once I realized how much adjusting I had to do.
Wear: I only wore this for two days, so I can't be the best judge of wear, but I didn't experience any chipping, tip wear, or peeling. I didn't use a top coat. I can't imagine these lasting a full 10 days with out at least some top coat, though. Maybe a week at the most.
TL;DR: Try these if you wear manis for a week+, suck at all things nail art, or need a quick mani for something special. Ignore these if you change your polish as often as I do.
Here are some pics of Frock Star, which looks practically identical to Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday:
| Frock Star, Kitty Kitty |
Each set comes with 16 nail strips, a nail file, a wooden cuticle stick, and detail instructions:
Application: I had no problem applying these. They are very flexible, so they melded to the curvature of my nails very well and I had no issues with wrinkles or air bubbles. The problem I had was the fit of these. My cuticles are just not round enough for these. Cutting 10 nail strips to fit isn't my idea of fun. Plus, any hope I had of getting two manis out of one package was dashed once I realized how much adjusting I had to do.
Wear: I only wore this for two days, so I can't be the best judge of wear, but I didn't experience any chipping, tip wear, or peeling. I didn't use a top coat. I can't imagine these lasting a full 10 days with out at least some top coat, though. Maybe a week at the most.
TL;DR: Try these if you wear manis for a week+, suck at all things nail art, or need a quick mani for something special. Ignore these if you change your polish as often as I do.
Here are some pics of Frock Star, which looks practically identical to Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday: