I love nail polish strips that Sally Hansen and
other brands are coming out with. Though I think they are a little pricey, they
are easy to use and last for a decent amount of time and give you instant nail
art without all the cleanup or the pain in trying to replicate the designs on
your non dominant hand. I am notorious for changing my polish a few times a
week, so I am a little wary about spending $8-$9 for something that I will want
to change fairly quickly…so I tend to use them on special occasions or if I can find them on clearance.
Recently I've seen allot of “At home Salon quality Gel Nail
strips” being sold, and I was waaaay skeptical of these. I’m pretty much
skeptical of anything that says it will give “Salon quality” anything… It is
really hard to replicate the quality of some salon or higher end nail products
especially with drugstore brands. So
checking out the Sally Hanson set up, and being as cheap as I am, spending
$29.99 on the starter kit, or $14.99 for just
the strips, without actually knowing how they would turn out was something I
was on the fence about. So 2 weeks ago when I was shopping at a discount
department store I happen to come across a bin of the Gel Strips for $2.99 I
was SUPER excited! There was only one design to choose from but this was a
steal and a great way to try these babies out! I was pretty stoked.( Not to
mention that I got two ORLY polishes for $6 as well!! It was a good nail haul
day!!!)
Okay, so I have the strips and was surprised that the Gel
top coat was included in the box along with two nail wipes that are used to
cleanse the nail before you apply the strip and after the Top coat is hardened
under the light to remove the tacky residue that is left behind. So you get all
the tools you need in this one little package! Now, I already own an IBD two
hand UV lamp that I used for doing Gel nails (which is a completely different
application than Gel polish, and I hate, but will rant about those
later) so I didn't need the mini lamp.
I applied the nail strips as directed on the instructions ,
it was a fairly quick and easy process. Now on to the Gel Top Coat, which I
knew would define whether or not these strips would compare to “real” Gel
polish or Shellac. It applied just like polish and dried within 30 seconds
under the lamp, just like it should… but…. That shine wasn't there; okay it had
a little shine but not that BLING shine you get from Gel polish. I did all ten
nails, and found that they weren't as hard as I would have liked, and in fact
were a bit flexible. So I put on another coat of the gel polish and cured them
for 1 minute opposed to the 30 seconds that the directions recommend. This
seemed to harden them up allot more, but I still didnt get that shine I love!
I was pretty proud of myself with how long I kept these on,
I really wanted to give this an accurate review of how they lasted for me, and
I will tell you that though I wasn't impressed with the shine, I was super
impressed with how well they stayed on even with the damage I put on them! I
worked in the Garden, I moved furniture, I did some cleaning that had my hands
in water and cleaner for a long time and even painted my dining room with these
bad boys and I didn't even have one chip, crack or ding after being so brutal
to my nails! Removal was pretty painless as well. I figured they would be as
difficult (or worse) as Gel polish to get off, but I’ll tell you, they may have been a
little easier to remove and I’ll even admit that there was less damage than
what I have experienced with Gel removal. All I did was soak a cotton pad with
Acetone, wrapped my nails in the pad for about five minutes and then gently
scraped them off with an orange wood stick.
Overall, I’m sorry I waited so long to try these, and will
buy them again. They were fun to use, very durable and I think worth the money.
These will probably take the place of
the polish strips I buy because for just a few dollars more I can get allot
more wear out of them!
Viva La Bangin’ nails!
D.
