Sally Hansen Salon Effects

The other day I just couldn't get may nail polish to dry so I decided to stop by my local drug store and pick up the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Laced Up (shown above). At my local Shoppers Drug Mart, these bad boys will set you back about $10.99 (Canadian) plus tax, although when they're on sale you can probably save a dollar.

The product is described as follows:

Sally knows nails are the best accessory. Now, Sally makes it easy to get a salon effect any time, any place. It wears like nail polish because it IS nail polish. No dry time, so you’re ready to go.

The kit comes with 16 nail strips (varying sizes), a small file, a buffer, a cuticle pusher, and instructions.

The instructions are pretty simple and have 2 steps (Prep and Application).

To prep your nails it is recommended that you start with clean, dry nails. Use the wooden stick provided to push back cuticles, shape free edge of nail with the hot pink side of the file, smooth the surface of the nail with the white side of the file, and lastly use a final swipe of nail polish remover to make sure nails are clean.

The application instructions are:

1. Select - Choose the best strip for each nail
2. Peel - Remove the clear protective plastic cover and peel the nail polish strip from the backing paper
3. Break - choose the side of the strip that best fits the shape of your cuticle. Break the silver tab away from the strip
4. Apply - Place the strip against the cuticle line. (Press the strip to your nail. Gently stretch the strip over the nail. Firmly smooth over entire nail)
5. Shape - Smooth excess over nail edges, forming a crease around the edge of the nail. Gently file away excess from nail edge.
6. Repeat for remaining nails

Application of these strips was pretty easy. They went on fairly painlessly. The hardest part that I found was finding the individual strips that fit each nail. Some strips were way too big (too big = harder to trim down with the wooden stick), while others didn't cover my whole nail and left a little sliver on the side or near the cuticle uncovered (which I easily remedied with some black nail polish as filler - the Laced Up pattern is pretty forgiving to touch ups). Now, I'm a stickler and hate missing a spot on my nail even with regular nail polish so if you're not so OCD about your nails then it's really not a deal breaker and you don't really need to do touch ups.

Although the instructions mention stretching these strips to fit your nail, I found that you have to be very careful about stretching these strips and wouldn't recommend it unless you absolutely have to. It is very, very easy to stretch them too much (even pulling lightly) and overstretching will leave you with an ugly clear spot in the pattern.   

The one thing that I do love about these strips is that they are already dry so I don't have to wait and pray that they dry and do not smudge. They also come in a range of pretty cool designs and if you don't want to spend the time or money to visit a nail salon for designed nails then these strips are pretty easy to use. 

These strips do come in solid colours too, but personally I would just stick with the patterned ones since it would be cheaper just to buy a bottle of polish if you wanted a solid colour.

The only real downside that I find with these strips is that they are pretty expensive for a one shot deal and on my nails they only last about a week.

I would buy these strips again, but not on a continual basis because of the price. These are going to be my once in a while treat to myself.