Friday, June 10, 2011

Sally Hansen Nail Strips Review!!

No, I did not get paid for this post......I didn't even get to try this product for free! Just really wanted to try it out and share it with you guys...

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips...
  I wanted to try these for a LONG time, but decided to wait until our anniversary trip so I wouldn't have to apply them and then immediately do dishes or clean the bathroom, or something equally damaging to a manicure. I literally bought this pack a month before our trip, I was so excited to finally use them!
 Looking rough and tired from our trip......but SOOOOOOOOOO excited!


Now, I am not going to give step-by-step directions for applying these, because if you try them yourself, obviously you're going to get instructions in the pack. But I will explain a little how they work, because until I used them, I had no idea what to expect.
 The pack comes with strips of different sizes. You kinda hold them up to your  nails to see which will fit the best. And it's cool if they don't fit perfectly. Pull off the backing-and apply!
 Then you kinda stretch it out over the end of your nail.
 

 File off the excess...
 Okay, here is the review. And it's a mixed one. As you can see in the above picture, this did NOT look perfect. But these three nails were the roughest looking ones once I was done. Below, they look a lot better.
 Overall, I would give this product a 7 out of 10. I think the easiest way to explain this would be to list the pros and cons:

Pros:

-Lasts!! I only applied one clear coat of nail polish over these babies right after I applied them, and even though  I was at the beach playing in the sand, they pretty much looked just as good after day 3 or 4 as they did the first day, which is a result I never have with any kind of liquid nail polish. I applied these 6 days ago, and though they don't look great, they look good enough that I'm not embarrassed to go out in public with them!
-Nice, even look. Okay, so the edges didn't look amazing...but the rest of the nail did! No streaks, no spots, no smudges. And that's a pretty big deal.
-Tons of patterns, colors, and sparkles! These strips come in an array of colors and patterns, some of which you couldn't do with regular nail polish. I don't think I could find a polish that could make my nails so gold and sparkly.
-Time. It took me about twenty minutes to do these nails, and this was even my first time. Yeah, it might be quicker to swipe on three coats of liquid polish, but the drying time would be horrendous. So overall, I think as far as time goes these puppies are pretty on point.


Cons
-Tricky edges. As you can see from the photo, I had some gathering and flaking around the edges, which did not look so great. HOWEVER...this was my FIRST time using these, and I may not have had the application process down pat. I definitely have a feeling that the more you use these, the better job you will do when it comes to applying.
-Price. Okay...$10, for basically one manicure that you have to do yourself...not horrible, but not so great. A lot of nail salons can do a manicure on your natural nails for $10, and probably the same amount of time. 


So overall...I would recommend this, but also recommend trying it a couple of times before using it for a special occasion.

xoxo,

L

3 comments:

Mila said...

I tried these out and I could not get it right! The filing bit made it look all rough and rigid. I didn't add a top coat, so thanks for that tip :)

Leah Beamon said...

Mine looked rough around some of the edges as well...that was really the only con for me. But the second hand I did looked a lot better, so I'm thinking with some practice these things look better when you apply.

Anonymous said...

I tried these for our anniversary too! I used the leopard print!! Mine looked good, but I had to re-do two of them to get it that way! I also added a top coat!!! :)