I’m nail polish challenged. As much as I say that I’m makeup or hairstyling challenged, I feel like I’ve made a lot of strides and can constantly improve. However, I cannot paint my nails to save my life. I can’t even paint a simple color because everything gets screwed up, so I go months without even trying. Pinterest does not help in this matter, because I see all of these amazing nails and I get frustrated just painting the base color!
Recently, I’ve been trying to paint my nails more with much, much failure. I’ve found a few colors that I love and are very springish (isn’t it funny how hot weather makes you want to paint your nails?) and want to use them, but darnit, they just look terrible. So off I went to the store again to try to find something to help, and I picked up a few things but I fell in love with these:
Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Misbehaved! They were a little awkward to apply, and I felt like I had all thumbs, but I thought they turned out well. Although, I’m really hard on my fingers (dainty, I am not!) so I painted four clear coats on the top to make sure they’ll stay at least for a few days. The end effect was pretty cool – it seemed like a quatrefoil pattern, but once they were on my nails, it looked more like snakeskin or fishnetting.
The downsides? At $10, it’s pretty pricey especially because I know that on my nails with my craziness, they will probably only look good for four or five days (even with several clear coats on the top). Also, when I added clear coat, the strips bubbled with tons of tiny bubbles. With this particular design, it actually made the background look like gold foil, which was pretty cool, but I can see that it would be frustrating with other designs and there is no way I’d skip clear coat on these babies.
Overall, I love how they turned out and how my nails actually look decent for once! And, yes, I’m wearing my promise ring instead of my engagement/wedding rings. It’s called “I’m carrying too much baby weight and most of the time have to take my rings off by the end of the day so I wear my promise ring so I don’t get dirty looks out in public for having a baby”- itis, haha. I don’t know that I’ll always use these, but if I have an event where I should have nicer nails, I’ll use them again since I’m not a fan of artificial nails. What do you think?
Update: After three or four days, one of the nails started to peel up towards the cuticle so I had to remove them. While this was probably due to my inept application, I have to say that they were really easy to get off. All I had to do was scratch up an edge and they peeled right off. Then, I just used nail polish remover to take away any residue. It may have been due to my million layers of clear coat, but I didn’t have a nightmarish experience with them like others have stated here and on my Pinterest board.
Two Blue Pillars 
My friend used these once and had trouble getting them off so I’m curious as to how yours last. Very cute!!
Oh, mine have already flaked a bit and have had to be touched up. It says to just use nail polish remover, so we shall see!
I love the nail strips! I can do an amazing base coat on my own nails, but I’m not so good at designs. I apply one clear coat per day and have never had any bubbling. It may be time for a new bottle of topcoat?
Anyway, getting them off is fun and you’ll need some time and nail polish remover. Heads up–I found it to be a little sticky/tacky until fully removed. Also, I have noticed that the funkier the design, the easier it is to hide the chips that do happen.
Thanks so much for the tips! Today is day three and they are still going strong, so I’m hoping they’ll be okay. I’ll update once I try to get these suckers off, haha.
i never bother painting my fingernails anymore. i do need to branch out with colors on my toes… i always wear red or pink because i think the other colors look awkward on my dark skin. but this is good to know if i go somewhere!