These are Sally Hansen Salon Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in "Speed Dating."  These first two pictures were taken the morning after I applied them.

 The hearts have a cool gradient effect with red and orange.  It's subtle, but nice.  I was pleased with my fit and application.  I've picked up a few tricks having done these several times now!  :)

 This is the first time I have not used any top coat during the process of wearing these stickers.  Here, above and below, are the gratuitous pictures taken this morning, on the beginning of day seven!  I did buff them quickly with the Revlon Crazy Shine buffer, just to perk them up.

I have some tip wear, yes, some out-growth, yes, but they are still looking gosh darn good, I'd say!  While I have so many fantastical polishes I'm eager to wear, I will confess that it's been sweet not changing my polish at all this week.  What a nice break!  I plan on wearing these strips in the beginning of March when I take a week long trip to visit my grandparents.  Then I won't have to worry about packing polish and that sort of thing.  :)

» Read More...

 I *just* took pictures of these a few minutes ago.  They've been on since either Wednesday or Thursday night (I can't even remember!).

 They are the Sally Hansen Salon Effects appliques in "Hard Wired," from the Halloween collection.

 These lovely macro pictures really show my ridges!!  They don't look nearly so ridge-y in real life.

Aside from a few small nicks and some fairly minor tip wear, I'd say they are doing ah-may-zing for being on day 5 or 6 or whatever.  I've learned - the hard way - not to put base under them.  Granted, with the last set I used Gelous underneath and that was just a horrible decision all around.  Gelous never did well for me as a base!  In any case, the silver spiderwebs started chipping badly within a day or two.  :(  I've also learned that a couple of my fingers give me trouble with a perfect fit.  For those, all I have to do is carefully trim the stickers just a bit and that does the trick really well.

» Read More...

 It's time for more awesome Halloween nail appliques!

 These are the limited edition "Spun For You" design by Sally Hansen.

 I have to say that I'm mostly proud of my application this time around.  I got the placement much better than what I had done with the little ghosts.

 I did mess up a couple of nails, though, and have to start over using a new sticker.  Thank goodness for the extra ones!

 Also, this time around, I decided to experiment by using my beloved Palladio Fuse base coat underneath them, and then I top coated them right away with Cult Nails Wicked Fast.  Normally I don't use a base and I top coat them after about four or five days of wear.

In some ways, the base helps right away when you're applying but it also makes it a bit tricky because you have less wiggle room to mess up and start over!  The base is sticky, so you have to be sure you're placing it right before you make a move.

» Read More...

 Wednesday I put on the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail appliques in Ghoulie Girl.  These pictures are from that day.

 For some crazy reason I always apply and place the stickers much more precisely and evenly on my right hand (not shown)!  Totally bizarre since I am right handed.

 They remind me of Pac-Man ghosts, kind of.

 They are super cute and fun!  I'm really enjoying wearing them.  I do have a few little dings and chips by now, but nothing especially heinous.

I have to say I am itching for a change!  I don't know why because normally I love having these on and wearing them for as long as I possibly can.  I'm going to try and keep them on until the end of tomorrow, at least.  :)

» Read More...

This is a one picture post! I snapped this one quickly with my phone last Wednesday.

These are the Sephora Nail Art Patches in A03 Rrrrrrr. They are basically the same as the Sally Hansen ones, in terms of application and wear. I love the new patterns, too!

I have been wearing these for the past week on my vacation. This picture was taken right after I applied them. They suffered great abuse from sand, sun, salt water, and chlorine, but honestly looked pretty darn good even after a week!

» Read More...

Dear readers, are you wondering why I haven't posted very much over the past four days? If you guessed Sally Hansen appliques (sorry, I cannot for the life of me get the proper accent mark to show over that "e!"), then you are spot on!

This is the "Cut It Out" design. I put them on Thursday night. I took these pictures on Saturday morning, but truthfully, they look nearly exactly the same right now.

This is only my second time wearing these, but I got such good wear out of them the last time around (five days), I figured I'd give it a go again. And the allure of not having to wait for polish to dry, late last Thursday night, was too great to resist!

I have the urge to color these designs in with Sharpie markers.

» Read More...

I recently bought several styles of the new (to the U.S.) Essence Studio Nails Nail Fashion Stickers. I'm pretty much a sucker (and a psycho) for anything Essence. I tried them out this past weekend but did not have luck in the end. Here is a quick picture I took.

Whatever is wrong, you might be wondering!? They look so cute! And nicely applied! Yes, it's true. They are super cute and the application is excellent. The PROBLEM is that the largest sticker isn't nearly wide enough for my thumb nails! I did not take a picture of this (but should have, for laughs).

I tried to think of a way to shift it or cut pieces off of other stickers and make it work somehow, but eventually came to the realization that it just wasn't going to work for me. The kind ladies on MUA suggested that I could use them still and just paint my thumb nails black. That's a great idea, actually! I may end up doing that if I decide to keep the other packs I bought. It kind of defeats the purpose of not having to paint your nails and wait for them to dry and all that stuff, though. :(

If you have wee little nails, or just don't have big man hands like I do, these could work for you. I've also gathered that they do not stay on very long - so it would probably be a one shot day long kind of deal. Still fun and cute and cheap.

» Read More...

Here's my follow up on the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips. I made it five days! And, if my right hand had not been more jacked up (it was), then I would have kept going.

You can see that they still look really good! I was surprised and pleased. I have a guilty confession, too. It was kind of nice not painting my nails for five days. ;)

But then I bought some more polish and the itch came back.

» Read More...

Hello, friends and fans! I hope you are all having a lovely Saturday so far. I am very happy to have a day off and plan to make the most of it.

As much as I want to keep trying out my new TiNS polishes (and trust me, I do), I got tempted into trying the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects appliques. Also, I had a break last night, so the uber nubs are back and rockin'.

I've been reading good reviews on these appliques, so I figured, why not? Also, it would be kind of cool to have a little break from my normal routine of changing polish about every other day.

This one is called Blue Ice. I also picked up the one with black and white flower designs. They applied very easily, in spite of my tendency toward perfectionism. I did spend probably a good 40 minutes all together prepping and placing them. I know - I'm sure this could be done WAY quicker!

I cannot lie - I absolutely love the no dry time part. So freaking cool! I couldn't find a really good fitting sticker for my ring fingers, much to my dismay, but I don't think most people are likely to notice. There's just a bit of nail showing on the far sides. Some of the stickers I picked were in fact too large, but that is easily remedied by carefully running the cuticle stick along the sides several times until it just cuts off the excess.

So, I'm really hard on my hands and nails at work. Lots of washing and sanitizing, as well as other nail brutalities. I'm very curious to see how long these last! I've already decided that if I can get a good five days, that that is awesome in my book. Ten - I don't even see how that could be possible. We will see! Stay tuned!

» Read More...