I love pedicures! My toenails are polished 24-7, 364 (or 365) days a year. I love all kinds of crazy colors; actually, the brighter and crazier, the better. Ironically, my fingernails are typically bare. Remember, I work with my hands and I am touching faces all day. I am also constantly washing my hands. Honestly, nail polish just doesn’t last for more than a day before my nails look terrible. Besides dancing without shoes, my other pet peeve is chipped nails.
So it was with much reluctance that I tried the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. I let my daughter pick out the color—and she picks the snake skin. Really?! But I am conducting an experiment, so why not?
Getting them on was a little tricky. Especially on her because her fingers were quite a bit smaller than the strips, but after a couple tries, I figured it out. Basically, I just followed the instructions. Side note to Sally Hansen: It would be great if there were some that were sized just for kids. Because there’s no drying time, these are perfect for fidgety fashion divas. And tips for parents: If you are applying on a child, you may want to buy two of the same color so you can use the smaller sizes.
Next I applied them on myself. No problem, I thought. I had the system figured out—yes, I used my daughter as a guinea pig—and then I got to my right hand. This proved a little challenging, but not too much more so than polishing my right hand. The upside to the strips is that once you get them on you’re done, versus applying two coats of polish—plus, I always do a topcoat. Add drying time, and the polish strips suddenly become very appealing.
I wanted to see if they really did last 10 days. I happened to be working 8 out of those 10 days. Three of the days models showed up with crazy nail colors (both finger and toe) which I had to remove and redo with neutral shades. I had to use four nail polish remover pads to get the nearly impenetrable polish off, got remover all over my hands, and my nails STILL look good. The only reason I removed the nail polish strips was my nails had grown out and there was a gap at the cuticles. Here’s the after:
My conclusion: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips really do what they say and I would use them again. I got a lot of compliments on the snakeskin, but I’d like to try a solid color next time.
