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.

Retroactive loving

I absolutely did not intend for this to turn out like some 70s flashback gone wrong. I mean, how badly can some polka-dots get, right? I guess it is really the "rays" of exploding colours that pushed it to the edge, so close to That 70s Show and whatever people were and still are smoking.

That was a really weird tangent and I hope I'd never have to go down that path again. So back on track, I actually really like this. Somehow, simultaneously, I am reminded of some cute yet high-classed stationery involving circus clowns and also those white sweaters with tiny, colourful pom poms. Or I could just be losing my mind?

The base is OPI Alpine Snow Matte. It has been featured in my blog before if you click here. I am a big fan of stark white nail polish (especially the matte ones) since I love how I can fool people into thinking that I've whitened my nails with liquid paper because that is just how awesome I am. Although I am not quite sure how the two would correlate.

I don't know why I had decided to do these rays of colour explosion but it does look great from afar.

I also like the randomness of the patterns and the underlying order within both hands. Spot the similarities, go on, I dare you.

Lace therapy

This isn't my first time working with lace for nail arts but this is probably my most successful attempt thus far (on my own hands). I've only decided to give it another ago after a friend suggested that this is something worth trying. I am so lazy that I need to have people to tell me what I could be doing.

So here you have my fancy, laced up nails in all of its glory.
For base, I used OPI Mermaid's Tears since it is such a nice, cool colour. Absolutely perfect to relieve today's stickily humid weather. I've managed to get my hands on a small UV light nail dryer with a tiny built in fan. It is pretty cute and it does indeed speed up the nail polish drying process. Or maybe I'm just imagining it. Regardless, here it is, hard at work.
Tip #1: always trim the pieces to size first! It was a nightmare trying to cut off the excess on my nails.

Tip #2: only apply topcoat after everything has dried completely. I'd recommend whacking on the topcoat at least an hour after laying down the lace.
I was really tempted to cut up my black lace top for the "lace over bare nails" look. Maybe you should give it a try instead?

I throw cats at your children

My close friends always joke (well more like theorise) that I will grow up to be one of those crazy cat ladies who chuck cats at anyone who passes their house, especially their children. But of course we ALL know it is not true since I love those cute little fluffy felines way too much to part with them. Halloween is just 2 days away so I think I am allowed to squeeze in at least one kitty power nail art, right?

I've used OPI Glow Ink the Dark (the purple-blue coloured bottle in the photo) on my thumb and ring finger. Like the name implies, it is meant to glow in the dark once you "charge" it with light. However, the glow is so faint and short, I couldn't even get a photo of it, even after shining the iPhone torch at it for a whole minute. But yet, I still purchased it along with the Halloween nail art set that it had came in. Brilliant marketing.

I'm a cheater, but a smART one (oh I am so punny). The white cats are done using 'smART nails' stencil stickers. Completely idiot proof: just stick down when the base polish has dried, brush across the stencil with your chosen nail polish colour, then peel off after a minute. They come in a pack of 10 (exactly for a complete mani) but I found that each one is actually reusable. So you can get at least 2 manis out of it!

Enjoy Halloween! Don't look at any black cats in the eye. Although I'm not sure if they'll fly at you and peck you eyes out like what magpies do.

Jack ol' pumpkin

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought that I should might as well get into the spirit too with some nail art since I've missed out on last year's festivity.

So I'm kicking off the holiday cheer (alright, I know, it's not a proper holiday) with our good old friend, the jack-o-lantern. I honestly cannot resist making him look all cartoony and adorable. I just want to eat him! I like pumpkins, okay?

I used China Glaze's Sun Worshipper for the base colour of the pumpkins because I absolutely love the bright neon orange (definitely not because it is the only large bottle of orange nail polish that I've got).
Attack of the wrinkly fingers! I hate flash. But it just brings out the brightness of the neon so well. It honestly would not have the same effect in daylight.

What I did was just outlined the shape of the 3/4 pumpkin, added in the stem and the vine leaf, then drew in Jack-O's face with triangle for eyes and a weird saw-toothed smile that is very charming for a pumpkin.

Nooooo, anything but the pumpkins! What Meemee would say if she could talk. Surprisingly, I think my right hand actually turned out a lot better than my left hand. I guess today was my left hand's good day. I very rarely have them. If you are ambidextrous and not clumsily right-handed like I am, then you have no reason not to give these cute little jack-o-lanterns a try this Halloween.

I sound like a commercial.