Perfectly Polished Tips 246 - Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips

Last week I used Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail strips for the first time. The package comes with 16 strips in various sizes, a nail file, and an orange wood stick. They claim that the stickers can last up to 10 days. There are a ton of neat patterns, colors, and designs. It's an easy way for someone not so great at nail art (aka Me) to get decorated tips.

I googled some tutorials and watched a bunch of youtube videos. Application looked easy enough. You start out with clean, dry nails. They recommend swiping your nails with polish remover before beginning. The sticker is double ended to accommodate different cuticle shapes, I didn't really find this to be helpful. I have small and narrow nail beds. Once you stick on the strip you use the orange wood stick to seal the edges, then you file off the excess from the tip. I had a very hard time making the cuticle area look nice, it probably equated to my manicure clean up. I guess it didn't bother me that much though. The strips were all smooth and looked as if I had used nail polish.

These only lasted about three days before they began to chip and lift. Most of the time I follow the nails are not tools rule and I think I was overly cautious because I didn't want to ruin my nails. Three days is also typically what I get out of a regular manicure. I don't think I would use these often or even pay full price for them. You can only get one manicure out of a box, unless you have small nails and clip the stickers in half. Even then there is a warning on the box that unused stickers should be discarded. It appears that they dry out very quickly. Maybe putting them in a ziploc immediately would help? I didn't want to take any chances though.

I used a hot pink color called Crybaby.

Neons make my camera freak out, it was a bit more pink IRL and not as washed out. These photos are immediately after I had applied the strips. You can see it's a bit rough around the edges.

You can find Sally Hansen nail strips pretty much everywhere these days. I think they are about $8-9 at drugstores but they can be found for less at Fivebelow and Big Lots.