Sally Hansen “Salon Effects” – Real Nail Polish Strips

I have wanted to try this product for a long time. I just couldn’t quite fork over the $10 for one set of nail appliqués. So for Christmas, my husband filled my stocking with lots of girly goodies including a set of the “Wild Child” polish strips by Sally Hansen. He made a wise choice, as zebra is my favorite animal print. I waited a few weeks before using these because I broke a few nails. I am a little OCD when it comes to my nails being even and wearing nail lacquer.

I finally used my zebra nail stickers! The box says that these should last up to ten days. Not so with this application. Mine lasted five days. The corners didn’t adhere very well to my nails. I did some dishes and laundry and the stickers just cracked at the tips and came off. I wasn’t all too impressed.

I thought maybe if I put a topcoat on after application that the strips might last longer. So I went out and bought another set of strips in “Laced Up.” I prepped and primed my nails, applied the polish strips, and finished with a topcoat. The second set of strips lasted five days. Again.

As cute and fun as these strips are, I wouldn’t buy these again. They might be convenient if you are going on a vacation and you don’t want to worry about your nails. Truth be told, I would rather paint my nails while on vacation. The application process for the nail strips is easy but tedious. Given that, save the $10 and put it towards getting a real salon manicure.

***Beauty Favorite***

China Glaze “Strong Adhesion Base Coat” and “Fast Forward Top Coat”

Where to buy: Sally Beauty Supply

How much: $5.99 each

A quality topcoat and base coat can be hard to find. In the past, my go to brand for these has been OPI. I’ve since become a “beauty club member” at Sally’s and I got this set from China Glaze for $10.

These work great. The base coat dries very quickly. The topcoat doesn’t cause the actual nail color to streak underneath. I found that some topcoats will pick up the color underneath and stain the brush. I haven’t had that problem with this product.

The only drawback about this set is that the topcoat smells a little bit like spray paint. If you can stand that, I think you'll like this set. It's totally worth it!