REVIEW: Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips

Happy Manicure Monday!  

I decided to give Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips  a second review. 

To read my initial review, click HERE. 

* Prep

 I took extra care this time around to prep properly and thoroughly. I removed my polish, making extra sure to remove every speck from my nails. I applied cuticle oil and pushed all my cuticles back. I made sure all the oil was removed and then I buffed with the included nail file. And used the remover one more time. Whew!

 * Application

Pretty simple. Remove backing and clear protective top layer and stick them on. However.... my nail beds are small, so this part was a pain and not so simple because I had to trim every strip. Only one strip actually separated (like ripped apart) but the gap is very small and not noticeable.The package has 16 strips that are quite long. I had the idea to get twice the strips by cutting them all in half because they are plenty big enough to cut and still have some left over. So, a process that should have been quick and easy, became a bit frustrating and time consuming. Filing them down seemed easier this time than the last time. I suppose because I knew what to expect. Although somewhat tricky to align, once I stuck them down, those little strips stuck pretty well. Some wrinkles formed but most of them I could smooth out.

  * Finished Product

I applied a top coat, even though the directions didn't say; they just felt so vulnerable, I had to top coat. The leopard print graphics are clear and better looking quality than the floral design I tried previously. The background is a glitter gold with orange-ish dots outlined in brown. The whole design is glittery. The edges showed wear on the first day but they didn't chip until day four, which really surprised me. I was expecting to chip sooner (I really think without a top coat, they would have definitely chipped, possibly the day of).

* Overall

I like them for a fun pattern occasionally. I got many compliments. If your nail beds are not as small as mine, then I'm sure you wouldn't have as much trouble. These strips could be a more budget-friendly option for a special event or a vacation instead of going by the salon. There are several designs available. I saw a French tip set out now that I would like to try, so I will at least buy one more box eventually. 

I do prefer to paint myself, though. I think I'll stick with that.

I added a gold accent nail on day 5 (no chips on this hand yet).

Have you tried these nail polish strips before?

Matron of Honor!

My best friend got married and I forgot to upload my nails!  

NOTE: I did NOT do these myself. 

Her bachelorette thing was all the ladies in the bridal party and in the family went a salon together the day before the wedding and get all painted and pedicured. Honestly, it was hard for me to pay someone else to do this when I can do this myself, especially for the prices they charge. She even picked out my polish color for me. It was a very vibrant blue that I would probably have never picked out for myself (I know, she's the bride). 

I've only been to a nail salon four times ever in my whole life (not even for my own wedding!) so it was definitely out of my comfort zone.

The nails are acrylics, just painted plain boring blue (she didn't want designs). 

My big toes are silver glitter base with a blue-accented leopard print. 

Rachel's Toes

I painted this for my friend Rachel. She wanted something colorful.
The first design is a rainbow leopard print on a pearly white base. 

Ke$ha

I was given concert tickets for my birthday back in June. 

The concert was this past Saturday night.

Can you guess who it was?

KE$HA!! 

Here is the design I painted for the concert:

 The thumb and ring finger are a bright glittery purple with Ke$ha's signature dollar sign in gold glitter. The remaining fingers are a shimmery yellowy gold stamped with Konad leopard print. A corner of each gold nail is a purple triangle set off by a thick, glittery, gold line.

If you haven't heard of Ke$ha, you  probably are old
...or you've been living under a rock for the past three years.   

 Ke$ha first mainstream exposure was as the female vocal part in Flo Rida's single Right Round in early 2009. Her first single Tik Tok was released in later that year and took the music scene by storm topping the charts in 11 countries. Her first album, Animal, was released in January 2010 and her second album, Cannibal, was released in November 2010. Her tour kicked off in Portland, Oregon on February 15 of this year and is scheduled to end on September 20 in Phoenix, Arizona, hitting Australia and Europe as well. And Ke$ha loves glitter. 

And wears blue lipstick.

 Anyways, back to the concert.

Ke$ha puts on quite a show! ...After you sit through her TWO opening acts. 

The first act was a little scrawny guy (didn't catch his name) that rapped for 45 minutes. He was boring but his music was good, at least. The second act was called LMFAO. It was two guys who danced and rapped. They were more entertaining than the first act, especially when they tossed an inflatable ZEBRA around into the crowd. Yeah, I said zebra. At regular concerts you smack around a beach ball; at a Ke$ha concert you throw around a zebra! LMFAO played for almost an hour and a half. They just kept going..and going..and going..and you get the idea. (Side note: after the concert where I had no clue who these dudes were,  I found out that they were apparently pretty popular because everybody was like "you saw LMFAO!?!?" and totally knew who they were already haha) They played almost as much as Ke$ha!! I was tired of hearing them and eventually just sat down on the floor and waited. I was SO happy when they were finally finished!

 

When Ke$ha finally hit the stage, she opened with Sleazy, the tour's namesake, followed by Blow and Take it Off. She gave us a short preview of her new song Dirty Picture, then played BlahBlahBlah, Party at a Rich Dude's House, Backstabber, Cannibal, and The Harold Song. Ke$ha showed a more serious side as she revealed her favorite song she's written is Animal and even got a little choked up after singing it. Then she played Dinosaur. Ke$ha pulled a guy from the audience, saran wrapped him to a chair, and sang Grow A Pear to him. The show ended with Your Love is My Drug and Tik Tok. And then some of the equipment above the crowd caught on fire. Pretty sure that WASN'T part of the show because it started sparking down ONTO the crowd and the arena staff started freaking out. I thought the huge spotlights were going to fall! Ke$ha came back out and said she wanted to sing one more for us and re-emerged in a glow-in-the-dark leotard and helmet with big feathers coming out of it like a mohawk and sang We R Who We R.

Wild Safari

Release your wild side. 

 This is a fairly simple design because it's a French. 

I think it's great for summer. 

It would also look great on toes, especially with brighter colors. 

Zebra, Leopard, Giraffe, Tiger

Then I was editing pictures and threw this one in too.

Colorful Leopard

I wasn't sure how this design would turn out, but I really like it. It's very colorful and perfect for the summer! I got many compliments!

Products used:

Finger Paints base coat

Pure Ice in Oh Baby!

Pure Ice in Flirt Alert

N.Y.C. in Taxi Yellow

China Glaze in For Audrey

OPI in Rumple's Wiggin'

Finger Paints in Well-Cultured Pearl

konad image plate m57

stamper

scraper

dotting tool

Beauty Secrets top coat

Jungle Fever

What do you get when leopard meets zebra? Jungle fever! (...although technically here it's a line of glitter). This is the lovely leopard design I posted earlier and have been wearing for a few days. I just added the zebra pattern over half of it today.

Product used:
Finger Paints base coat
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Flashy Fuchsia
Pure Ice in Black Rage
Stripe Rite in silver
Stripe Rite in silver glitter
Konad Special Polish in white
image plate m57
stamper
scraper
Beauty Secrets top coat

Lovely Leopard

This is the first design using my new image plates that I added to my Konad collection. It's almost painfully simple with just a pink base color and a white leopard print overlay.

Product used:
Finger Paints base coat Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Flashy Fuchsia Konad Special Polish in white image plate m57 stamper scraper Beauty Secrets Top coat