Finally, after having them recommended to me by everyone in the world, I did it: I bought the Sally Hansen stick-on things (officially known as Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips).
The plan yesterday was to get an actual, for-real pedicure, but at 6PM, on the way home, I decided that I wasn’t particularly in the mood to spend forty bucks or to sit in a salon, so CVS it was. The plan was also to pick up a pretty grey polish a la Dior Gris Montaigne and Sally Hansen’s Fairy Teal (or something similar), but all the greys were purple-y and all the teals were sparkly, so I had to revise.
I ended up going with my trusty Mink Muffs on the toes…and leopard on my fingers. I totally love it, and I hear that it’ll last a week, which would be exciting (since my manicures are usually ruined within ten minutes of application, which is why I never, ever get them done in salons).
Pros/Cons:
– I absolutely love the patterns, especially the leopard and gold sparkle, but as a reader noted on Twitter, there are very few office-friendly options (the line does include a couple of pink shades and a taupe). The CVS where I picked up my box didn’t even carry anything not sparkly, spotted or lacy. For me, the wild patterns are the whole point – if I’m going to do pink nails, I’ll just polish them – but I can see that this would be frustrating for those who want to try the stickers out but aren’t into cheetah-print fingertips.
– The package comes with everything you need (including a file with three different surface textures, an orange stick with pointed and flat edges, and extra stickers for slip-ups), and the instructions are very clear. One thing: you should also have nail polish remover on hand, to remove any excess oils or what have you from your nails before getting started.
– The stickers were easy to apply, especially once I got the hang of it. The only step I had trouble with was the “filing off the excess sticker from the tips”; the side of the file that they recommended using didn’t seem to do much, so I ended up just picking off the extra bits…which probably means that the manicure won’t last as long as it could have.
– Zero drying time is a wonderful, wonderful thing for impatient klutzes like me.
Tips
– $11 seemed like a lot for a single-use package (you get 16 stickers, which is presumably 1 per nail with 6 left over), but I used 1 sticker for every two nails (just break off the sticker carefully and apply the other side to the same nail on the other hand), so I have more than enough left over for another manicure (or even two!). This only works if you have relatively short nails; the strips won’t be long enough to cover two nails otherwise…but with crazy patterns and bright colors, shorter looks better anyway.
– Press down on the sticker firmly with the orange stick or a fingertip before breaking it off along the edge of your nail – I didn’t do this on a couple of nails and ended up with little “chips” along the top edge.
– Use the orange stick to sidle the edges of the sticker up to the edges of your nail bed, so that the sticker doesn’t wrinkle up.
– Do your thumbnails last, because you’ll be using them to remove the stickers from the backing, and also because you’ll have had a chance to practice a bit with your other digits before tackling the most prominent of your nails.
