I had never tried these strips until last night. I picked these up a few weeks ago at Walgreens and wanted to wait until closer to Halloween to use them. I have heard such good things about these strips -- unfortunately I can't agree with all the positive feedback.
The Ghoulie Girl strips are comprised of little orange and white ghosts on a black background. You get 16 strips in varying sizes in one pack. I've heard of people being able to get two nails done with one strip, but I am not so talented as to be able to do that.
Let's start with the positive -- the design is REALLY cute! And definitely not something I'd be able to recreate on my own, so the strips are good for that. They let people who aren't as good as nail art still have cute designs on their nails with minimal (kind of..) effort.
So what didn't I like about these? Well, first of all, I ripped one of them down the middle trying to get it off the backing. My nails are almost ALL between sizes so I got pieces of the strips on my skin and had no decent way to remove them besides scraping the excess off with an orange stick. Which made the sides all rough and jaggedy. Also, when I tried to file the excess off of the tip of my nail, it wouldn't make a clean cut. The tips of my nails are still all sharp and jaggedy and I feel like I messed up the shape of my nails trying to just get the extra strip off the ends.
They took FOREVER for me to put on (which I'll admit is probably because it was my first time using them) and I feel like I could've done three manis in the time it took me to apply ten nail decals.
I DO think these are cute, and they're a good alternative to doing your own nail art... I just don't think I'll be repurchasing. Especially for ten bucks a box. When I only got one mani out of it. And I don't think I'll be wearing these any longer than I would a normal mani. In fact, they probably won't stay on a day because I can't stand how there's little pieces of nail decal floating around on the tips of my nails and stuck to my skin.
At least they look cute?
What do you guys think of the Salon Effects strips? Do you like them? I think I'm probably the only person ever that has hated these :(
Don't worry you're not the only person who hates them. I tried them not long ago and ripped 2 down the center while trying to get them on and just had horrible luck all the way around. Most of all I hated spending 10 bucks on something I could only use once, knowing I could get polish and other things for the same price.
ReplyDeleteI love them! Wish I had that design. I think it takes practice...but think about it, once you get the hang of it you get an awesome salon art mani for less than 10 bucks...can't beat that. I use a buffer on the nail tips after I file off the excess and then seal it all in with a top coat. In the beginning I would get one or two that wanted to lift due to improper nail prep but I would use clear nail polish over the edge. If it was still a little lifty, I noticed that the next day after it had time to cure with top coat that they were all perfectly stuck on and flat. I especially love how they feel so thin on the nail.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to suggest to go with the smaller size for each nail, instead of the larger. Less trimming equals a cleaner look.
ReplyDeleteThese do look cute :D
ReplyDeleteThese look fine! I was expecting a ragged, horrible mess from the way you were talking about them last night. Your photography skills must be amazing! ;)
ReplyDelete@Jennafroggy: Exactly! I'm glad someone had the same problem :)
ReplyDelete@MyPinion: I haven't tried using a top coat. I didn't know if I was supposed to or not. I know that I did everything right when prepping, but I suck at filing my nails so maybe that's where I went wrong ;)
@Miss L & Mandy: Thanks girls :)
The design is absolutely attractive! I would love to be able to recreate this freehand style.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried using Sally Hansen Salon Effects. They are cute, though. But you're right, if it takes forever to put on and makes a mess, it's not so fun wearing them.
You know, I always love the designs for these but like you I absolutely hate the application. The strips are way to big for my nails and I can never get the sides of tips to lie down smooth. Also the wear time is pretty awful on me. For $10 I should be able to wear these for more than 3 days before I notice considerable tipwear.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame because those little ghosties are so damn cute!