I bought a box of the Sally Hansen Real Nail Polish Strips in Teal With It a few weeks back, thinking it would be good for a trip I was going on. This brand is mostly known for its funky patterns, which do look awesome. Usually, they retail at about ten bucks each. I got mine, a solid color, on sale for about two fifty.
The box comes with a leaflet of instructions, a nail file, a cuticle stick, and two packets of eight nail polish strips each. My nails are tiny, so I was able to make eight strips cover all my nails - thus stretching the purchase to two manicures.
On the first try, I must have done something wrong, because the polish was peeling by the end of the day. Also, these aren't like stickers that you can just slap on and go - it actually took about the same amount of time as a regular mani, but without the downtime where I get to browse the Internet or a magazine as the layers dry.
I was pretty dismayed after that - peeling 16 hours later =/= 10-day wear. Maybe it happened because I didn't rub down the edges of the nail with the stick well enough? But that was tricky, because if I rubbed too hard, the strip ripped.
So, I tried again. This time, I brought out an additional tool: scissors. Each of the strips is a different size (I think they're pairs if you take all 16 strips together), but I found that I could get closer matches to my nail shape with some trimming.
I also dispensed with the instruction to file away the tips with the included file - choosing to use a finger to stretch it over the edge instead.
On the second try, they seemed to stick better. I got about a week of wear even though the very edges still wanted to curl up a bit. And about five people commented on them.
I'm undecided on these. I had better luck the second time, and I might try a fancy pattern if I could get it on sale, but I wasn't overly impressed.
Also - if you have any sort of ridges or a part of your nail that's peeled - the strips will conform to the bumpiness.
Have you tried them? What do you think?
