Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Sally Hansen Salon Effect vs. Kiss Nail Fashion Strip

As a busy lady trying to juggle multiple jobs, a love life, and crazy demanding family, I am left with few hours to myself a day. I think it is necessary to do things that make us feel good about ourseves and fresh. Nothing makes me feel fresher than a fresh coat of nail polish! "But what about that dry time!?" Fear not, for there is a new trend in instant, stick-on nail polish art! I have tried the Sally Hansen Salon Effect and also the Kiss Fashion Strips. Both companies have packaged their products in clear boxes with the tools that you will need to successfully apply the stick-on nail polishes. The first product I tried was the Sally Hansen Salon Effect. The package came with the stickers, a nail file, and a cuticle pusher stick. This product was hard to figure out at first and also a bit difficult to maneuver because the sticker pieces felt so fragile but don't let that fool you. These polish stickers are surprisingly stretchy and adhere to nails with your own body heat. You peel them off of a clear plastic sheet, then peel them off of the paper that helps it keep its shape (kind of like a temporary tattoo). You then pick a nail close to that size and just press on and smooth out any imperfections or air bubbles. They say to file the rest of the sticker off but I find it is much easier to just melt and rip off the excess and file the imperfections off. Also, this product actually smells like fresh polish which is something that I was not expecting but it is not a strong scent. These usually come in a pack that is good for 1 to 2 uses depending on your nail sizes. The cost is about the same price for a decent nail polish, around $7-$9 (but I found them for cheap at Christmas Tree Shop $2.99!). I rate this 4.5 out of 5. The final .5 I am taking off because it was difficult to figure out how to use when I took it out of the package but the quality of the finished product was a gorgeous shiny new coat. The second product I tried was the Kiss Fashion Strips. These come in a pack that has enough for 2 uses and a nail file. The application of this one was much easier.... or so I thought. It was a lot less fragile feeling and also peeled off like an actual sticker. I applied it to my nail the same way I applied the Sally Hansen Salon Effect and the Kiss Fashion Strip is not heat activated or effected. I had to file off the excess which left me with an ugly paper tip. "What do you mean 'ugly white tip?" I mean that this thing looked like I straight up ripped the design off a piece of paper and you could see the paper inside bits hanging off. To be frank, my nails looked jacked up. The first nail was really bad so I tried another one and this time used a nail clipper to cut off the excess which looked a little better but you could still see that the product was printed on a piece of paper. It even wrinkles like a piece of paper! The out come was not completely horrible....until I got in the shower. The tips started getting wet and left a white fray of sticker paper on the edge of EVERY nail. I ripped them off after my shower and decided that I was disappointed in my purchase. I am going to rate this one a 2 out of 5 because it was easy to apply but the edges were just too frayed and I hated looking at them and they fall apart in the shower. I do think that this is a great alternative for younger girls so that they are not smelling harmful fumes (yes, this one was scentless) and they are easy to stick on if you know how to peel a sticker you can use this product. They also peel off easily, it did leave some sticky residue though which I wasn't too thrilled about. They sell for about $6.99-$8.99 depending on the design. I will probably end up using the rest of them as letter sealing stickers because the ones I got were rainbow tie-dye and they are still cute even if I can't wear them.

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