I was very curious to try the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips when they first came out. No dry time, lasts up to 10 days and cheaper than a shellac manicure?! Sounds too good to be true! Because let’s face it…when I paint my nails at home, it looks like a toddler painted them and I get more paint on the surrounding skin versus my actual nail. Ugh…
Luckily, I got to try these for cheap (and I’m glad I did!) In fact, CVS is still running a promotion where if you spend $10 on Sally Hansen products, you will get $5 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB). So, I bought one of these kits for $9.99 (the register will round a purchase like this up to $10) and it will trigger the $5 ECB to print out for use on your next purchase. So you can basically get it half price right now! BUT…being a crazy couponer, I didn’t stop there. I also had a $3 off printable coupon to use at that time so I got the kit for a whopping $2. Now that’s a good deal!
There were several prints/patterns to choose from, but all of them seemed pretty 90’s flashback crazy…almost too crazy for some work offices. They also had various French manicure options, but I knew I would have a hard time getting it to line up nicely and look halfway legitimate so I opted to go with a semi-classic red designed option… (sorry for the dark photos!)
The kit comes with 16 nail polish strips, a cuticle stick, mini file and buffer.
I was glad there were so many different nail polish strips…because in case you haven’t seen my thumbs in person, I have what I call “stubby thumbs.” They basically look like toes…short and stubby to the extreme. I thank my Dad for passing that down to me… So anyways, I was astonished to find that there was a strip that fit my thumbs. The big fatty strip fit…sideways. (Hey, whatever it takes!)
So they say to start with clean nails. I cleaned them with nail polish remover to get the excess oil out and pushed the cuticles back with the stick.
Then you just peel the polish strip and detach the tab and apply it to the nail. Stretch to cover and then apply pressure with the flat part of the cuticle stick.
After that, you use the buffer and file your nail and the excess nail strip will start to come off.
Continue with the rest of your nails and ta da! You’re done! (This actually took me about 20 minutes…)
It is a really shiny finish and the strips I chose have a very intricate, pretty design.
The box says that the strips last up to 10 days. They ended up lasting for 5 days before the strips were chipping so much that I decided to remove the rest of it. So in that respect, it did last longer than a regular manicure would (at least for me…I am really rough on my nails when I clean, wash dishes, etc.) They say you can remove it with nail polish remover, but it was really difficult to do and left a red stain/residue on my fingers even after scrubbing with soap and water. Instead, I opted to peel away the strips (which I’m sure isn’t good for your nails), but it went fast and didn’t really leave any marks. So in a way, it was better than removing a shellac manicure, which takes an insane amount of soaking in chemicals and leaves marks on my nails!
So the bottom line? I’d pass on this product–especially when it’s $10. If I could get it again for $2 and if they had more classic/subtle designs, I would probably try it once more now that I’ve got the hang of applying it. But otherwise, I’d rather buy an entire bottle of nail polish and get a bunch of manicures (although not salon quality) out of it versus this one-time application. Or better yet- just splurge on a professional mani, which is ALWAYS wonderful and much nicer than doing it myself! :-)
Linking up with:
Molly from Still Being [Molly] and Carly from Lipgloss and Crayons for YOLO Monday
Weekend File and Life on Leroy for Life Lately
My Greatest Hits
Sami’s Shenanigans
I have a set of these I’ve been dying to try, but haven’t wanted to because I’m waiting for my nails to go from dry-brittle-chipping wintery things to the long pretty things I get during the summer. Sounds easy, but good to know about the staining and not-so-easy removal… though my strips are white so they prob won’t stain too bad (I hope). Also good to know they don’t last as long as they say they will (I’m also pretty rough on my nails).
Oh yeah you should be fine with white…that sounds pretty! I didn’t see white at my CVS. I do think they last longer than a regular mani (not by much for me, but at least a day or two longer!)
I love Sally Hansen Salon effects, but the color I used this weekend wasn’t right. Love getting them on clearance at Walgreens. Blog Hopping from YOLOMonday.
Yeah it’s a bummer when the color isn’t what you expect. Thanks so much for reading!
I tried these once, and I couldn’t get them to stay on my nail…plus figuring out how to file it off was a pain! I know have had success though :)
I recently tried the nail strips as well – loved the design, and they weren’t too hard to apply, but in 20 minutes I could have done a regular manni and getting the polish off was such a nightmare, as you said. I ended up soaking my fingers and even still some remained.
Yes! That’s probably the part I dislike the most is the removal…no fun!