Friday, March 02, 2012

Review: Salon Effects

I'm sure most of you have heard about Sally Hansen's Salon Effects nail polish strips. They sound amazing, right? Intricate nail patterns, limited drying time, no worrying about getting it on your skin. Tons of pluses. And so, going into wearing them for the first time, I was pretty excited. I heard they lasted a lot longer than regular nail polish too.
However, I do not recommend you try this product if you aren't willing to take the time to put them on and take them off pretty quickly. Putting them on takes longer than two coats and a clear coat of regular nail polish, although it's not really hard to do. They come in different sizes (like acrylic nails) and you pick the best fit, peel it from its backing, pull and tug it (GENTLY) until it sits right on your nail and then pinch off the excess. It's simple enough but it's very easy to tear the strips so you have to take your time with every nail. After you're done putting them on, it's very misleading because they seem dry, but they aren't bonded to your nail yet so just like with regular polish, you have to be very cautious of what you do, otherwise it will get pulled off.
That brings me to my biggest critique of these. They do not last!!! Mine chipped about five hours I put them on and continued to get worse daily with normal wear and tear and not self-mutilating them. After about five days, I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get them off. Unlike with regular polish, you can't do small touch-ups so once they get messed up, they get messed up forever. And taking them off?! Regular nail polish will not do the trick. You need some high quality, chemical-packed polish remover to get those bad boys off. I mean, it would work with regular polish but I'm guessing it would take AT LEAST an hour, if not more. I ended up picking them off piece by piece. A fitting end for the disaster they were, though.
In the photo, there are the initial nail strips and box (I loved the fact they were called Laced Up) and then the bottom photo is what they looked like after five days. Saaad.

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