It’s not really crafty, but I had some fun with the new(ish) nail polish strips not too long ago, and I thought I’d share it here…
I chose a HIGHLY patterned style- Tattoo Much – which was probably a good thing, as it seemed to disguise mistakes better than I think a more subdued pattern would.
Tattoo Much
The steps are included in the package – basically:
- clean your nails (start with unpolished nails) and prep your nails by filing and smoothing with the enclosed tool. They also recommend pushing back your cuticles.
- open the package, select the right sizes for each of your nails for one hand
- remove the clear top plastic, remove the backing paper, remove the tab
- align the strip on the nail, and slowly and gently pull and smooth the strip down the centre of the nail
- smooth down the strip, and wrap the tip, breaking off the excess polish strip
- smooth down the edges to better adhere them with the enclosed tool
- file off the excess polish
- I then used the buffing tool to further buff the nail polish (with the hopes it would adhere well) and added two coats of clear top coat.
The claim
The proposed benefits of these strips is that you ‘don’t have to wait for your polish to dry’ – which is accurate… but applying the strips is in NO way quick and easy. It was a bit finicky to get started, and I still ended up putting on the clear coat – so still had to wait for drying time…
Another benefit is the chance to have highly decorated nails, without the time or skill to really paint. This is entirely accurate – there is no way I would spend the amount of time needed to actually draw hearts, flowers, stars, swallows, text, etc on my nails.
Tattoo Much
The result
The finished product was good – but there were a few areas where the polish chipped (or more accurately, peeled off) while trying to apply it. Most of these were on the edges, despite my attentiveness to these areas.
The polish was super shiny, which I liked, and the polish lasted for 5 days (including a LOT of hand-washing, and a few encounters with masking tape which would normally peel off regular polish). On the 5th day I could see a few of the edges starting to pull up, so I removed the polish. There isn’t any way to ‘push’ the polish back down again. Other than the pulling up – the polish was in exactly the same condition as when I applied it – there was no further chipping or peeling.
Tattoo Much
The pros
- Getting the highly decorated look is a big pro – if you like decorated nails.
- The result is super shiny, which is awesome!
- Fairly long-lasting, and the tips didn’t seem to wear down as easily as regular polish.
- I read a few comments online that packs of 16 seems wasteful – as someone with large hands, I appreciate the variety of sizes, and didn’t see this as a con at all.
- The enclosed tools are useful.
The cons
- The strips need to be used immediately or they’ll dry out before you can use them. If you’re trying to do this in little sets of time – do one hand at a time.
- Cost – For the price of one package, I could get a bottle of decent nail polish. With the package of Salon Effects, I get one application – but with a bottle of polish I get many applications. I wouldn’t bother getting the strips in a plain colour or simple pattern because if this – it just wouldn’t be cost-effective.
- Touch-ups are impossible. If I get a small chip or my tips wear off when I wear polish, it’s reasonably easy to touch the polish up – with these strips that is impossible. Another reason why a highly decorated pattern is good…
- If the shape isn’t perfect, there are gaps – this doesn’t happen with regular polish, and is kind of annoying.
Dawn's Dress Diary 