BEAUTY: Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips

For months now I’ve been eyeing the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, laying in wait like a lion stalking its prey for the price to drop at all. I don’t delight in handing over my hard earned cash for much of anything, honestly, unless I feel like it’s a real value and at $10-$11 a pop these strips didn’t seem like one to me. I know it’s like paying for a manicure, but, uh, I won’t pay for those either.

When I spotted this pack of neon yellow polish strips at my CVS for 75% OFF (about $2.50) I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about. For those who haven’t tried them yet, here are my thoughts:

First, here’s what comes in the package as well as a 

few other items you’ll want to have on hand:

The directions are pretty simple and aside from having to cut down some polish strips they’re pretty easy to apply. I was surprised at how nail polish-y they were (that sentence sounds stupid in so many ways). They aren’t like cheap nail stickers, they’re actually like real polish, just in thin nail-shaped strips. Ahhh, I get it now.

I like to stretch a product as far as I can (even at 75% off I still want MORE!) so I only used half the provided nail polish strips by cutting them in half the wide way with scissors and reshaping where needed. My nails were short enough to do this, but it might not work for super long ones. The pack is divided into two vacuum sealed pouches so I presume they’ll dry out eventually if you open both. They smell like real polish too, which was weird.

These go on just like you’d think – start at the base and smooth over your nail. Then just file off excess with provided nail file and smooth edges with provided wooden stick and – voila! – at home manicure!

Please ignore my haggard cuticles.

I was pretty pleased with the result, mostly for the density of color. I’ve found it’s hard to get a really opaque yellow and getting other colors this dense usually takes several coats which all have to dry, which is boring.

 

I thought the result was equivalent to the effort I put in, which was moderate. It also took about the same amount of time as putting on a coat or two of regular polish to apply. In the future I probably wouldn’t take the time to do this for plain colors but I totally think it’s worth it for all the cool patterns they have (I’ve got my eye on you Leopard Print, Houndstooth and Girl Flower).

 

Definitely fun to play with and a decent result – or even a great one if you are more diligent that I was with these. I’ve seen a bunch of the plain colors marked down lately so it’s a good time to grab them, but for a pattern wait for the regular BOGO 50% Off sales at the drugstore and get two awesome patterns! Just ‘cause I’m cheap doesn’t mean you have to be!

xoxo,

Michelle