Monday, November 21, 2011

Sally Hansen salon effects review: 340 girl flower

I bought this box of Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Girl Flower (# 340) almost a year ago from Priceline for some ridiculously overcharged pricing. I've only gotten around to trying them because in my mind, I thought they'd be like any other nail stickers that I've tried previously (click here for Blinx) so there was no real temptation. Out of boredom (fine, I admit, I had ran out of nail art ideas), I gave these a go since I bought another box stashed away some where.

These "real nail polish strips" claim:
☺ No DPB, toluene, or formaldehyde
☺ Lasts up to 10 days
☺ No dry time
☺ Peel & apply
☺ Remove with polish remover
☺ Fits all nails (16 nail polish strips with cuticle stick, mini file & buffer)

Application:

This was easy enough. I did exactly as the instructed by the little pamphlet. Prepped my nails, trimmed the sticker to size, peeled off a layer from the top and a layer from the bottom to reveal the actual strip sticker, then just placed it on my nail. There was no stretching, blow-drying, or any other crazy nonsense involved. Then I just simply folded the excess over then filed the off using the file provided in a downward direction perpendicular to my nail.

Here's the result:

I love how the sticker just moulds itself to my nail without any wrinkles or manual adjustments. Being paranoid, I ran a light brush of top coat along the tips to prevent them from peeling but later I realised that these babies would never peel because they're essentially just nail polish with a layer of adhesive underneath.

The stupid thing I find is that there are 16 strips in one pack. Noone has 16 fingers! However, because I had cut my nails quite short, I've managed to use only 5 strips to complete the whole 2 hands. Amazing, or what? This means I can get another 2 go's out of this! Probably won't happen for another year, though.

Wear:

I've been rocking these flowers for exactly a week and there has been barely any signs of chipping and tip wear. I was almost kind of sad to remove them because they looked so pristine and the colours exactly like when I first applied them.

If you don't believe me, check them out for yourself:
Removal:

As instructed, I removed these exactly like how I remove nail polish. The only annoying thing is that even though the colours have been wiped off, a layer of stickiness still remained. This required me to swipe and wipe frantically with more remover to get them off.

Conclusion:

♥ Easy application (almost fool-proof). If it wasn't for the trimming, I think I'd be able to do this in my sleep.
♥ Almost no sign of wear after a week, and I take hot showers everyday. I'm pretty confident that these stickers will last for a month with no problem.
♥ Amazing designs that a normal person like myself can't or don't have the patience to do.
♥ No drying time!

Χ Quite expensive for only 1 manicure (around $12, if I remember correctly). The cost of a bottle of nail polish. However, if you have small-ish nails like I do, I think you can at least squeeze out 2 manicures.
Χ Yucky, sticky residue during removal. Takes a while to scrub off.

Verdict:

I would definitely repurchase since I've managed to complete both hands with just 5 strips. The sticky residue is something that can easily be overlooked since I go through more pain removing nail polish with large glitter particles. I would recommend this because otherwise I wouldn't be doing a review.

So "Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips", a mouthful, but check them out if you haven't already.

2 comments:

Sam said...

I was actually wondering if it would be worth it to get these. I'll stock up for crazy weeks when I don't have time to paint. Thanks!

Unknown said...

I liked them...until I tried incoco nail appliques. Incoco is actual polish, goes on in minutes, and comes off just like polish. LOVE.