Fun Nail Trend For Less

When I was growing up my parents had a friend whose wife worked in a nail salon. I was more a tomboy back then, but I always found her nails to be so unique. She would come over with really long nails decorated in feathers or pictures. As I grew up I felt the look was rather tacky, but more recently pictures and patterns on nails are back in style.

A couple of months ago I was in Walgreens. If you haven't already figured it out, I am there all of the time. I actually live right behind a Walgreens, so it is a nice little walk to get the essentials. In any case, I was on a nail polish mission. I am very loyal to OPI nail polish, but you can't buy it at Walgreens and sometimes I just can't convince myself that spending that much is wise for the wallet. So, here I was at Walgreens scouring the colors for something I like when I noticed the Salley Hansen Salon Effects. For those of you who don't know, it is a set of h

nail stickers that adhere to your nails like a polish. Positive attributes are no mess or dry time, but the price was a bit steep for one wear, average $9.00 at Walgreens and Walmart. I spent a long time switching weight from one foot to the next, hands on hips deciding whether it was worth the leap of faith. I decided against it thinking who would want to buy them when they probably don't last. I tried to move on with life, ha ha ha ha...so dramatic. As you can imagine, that didn't work. I started to see Katy Perry sporting cute pictures on her nails (courtesy of Minx nail products). If that wasn't enough, I started to see ads for the Salon Effects everywhere. They showed up in my magazines, on television, in the stores. I just had to try them. So, on a whim I picked up a pair and tried them out. They looked great, but didn't last very long. However, I am a creature of habit, I don't like giving up on my investments. So, I purchased a second pair and tried a top coat. This worked well and they lasted at least the 10 days advertised on the box. I then decided to try them on my toes, ahhhh, perfection. I was so impressed. People complimented me at stores and had no idea they weren't salon adhered.

I tell this story because I know how it feels to be fearful of new products. You can see from my story I was too, but that it was worth the try. I am not saying you should try every product you are curious about without some research, but maybe my story will convince you to try them. I love them and you can see my nails below using the denim Salon Effects and I think I have one with the butterfly pattern as well.

Some other tips and tricks are to make sure that if you are doing your toes that you don't just start peeling off backs and sticking them everywhere. Map out a plan first. You will need two boxes if you want to do fingers and toes. Since toes tend to be wider than longer, you will want to flip some of the nail stickers on their sides to fit. If you have longer finger nails, you will want to try to curl a bit of the sticker under the nail so it will adhere better. You can file the end of your nail afterward to get rid of that piece. Absolutely use a top coat, to coats are better than one and will make them last longer. I prefer the OPI top coats because they are thicker and stickier, but Revlon has a decent anti-chip top coat also. Lastly, if you have somewhere to go and you think removing them is easy, think again. These stickers are a layer of adhesive, a white coat and then the picture over them. This means your nail polish remover must get through all three coats. It can be a bit sticky and messy, but soaking your nails in a doused cotton ball or in filling a small ramekin or cup will help out a lot.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have been!