NOTD: My Sydney Manicure

If you read one of my previous posts you'll remember that I went to Sydney for 3 nights almost a week ago. It was an amazing time but before I went, I was very concerned about my nails. :P I knew I wouldn't be able to paint them or pay too much attention to them so I wasn't sure if I should paint them and just hope that they don't chip too much or break, or if I should leave them bare (which I usually don't like to do because I always manage to break a nail when I don't wear polish - eg. Today). So I was thinking about it & I saw Sally Hansen Salon Effects real nail polish strips in a Chemist Warehouse catalogue for $9 (they retail for about $13.95 here I believe) and I've been wanting to try them so I went and purchased them in the "Skinny Jeans" pattern. It's a pretty subtle pattern compared to some of the other ones they have.

I watched a few YouTube videos about these and how to apply them so I was pretty confident that I wouldn't mess it up when I put them on. But they were different than I expected. I wasn't sure if I should use a base coat before applying them but since I wanted them to last as long as possible, I thought I would use a base coat. Mistake number one. I believe you aren't supposed to use a base coat with these, from what I heard from other girls.
I didn't have a good time applying these. They were a mess! I had a hard time getting them close enough to my cuticle without actually touching the cuticle, and a couple of the strips dried out because I took so long to apply them! And for some reason, when one of the strips dried out, I was unable to find another in my packet the same size which was really annoying and left one of my nails with a strip that was too small for my nail and looked funny. Also, the strips didn't want to stick to my nail at the cuticle properly and went kind of bumpy. But I think this had to do with me using a base coat.

More info & photos after the jump! :)

Packaging

Packaging - Simple application instructions. But you get a proper instruction sheet inside.

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

So it probably sounds like I absolutely hate these but I actually do like them. I do want to try them again! They looked nice from a distance and did last a while, longer than regular polish would have. But I did end up buying polish remover and taking them off halfway through my trip because I broke a nail because of them. They make your nails very hard which makes them more prone to breaking. I broke my thumb nail SUPER low down, ironically I was opening a bottle of polish at the time. Removing them was also a NIGHTMARE. They left all these little bits all over my nails and hands and it was just a big mess. I'd definitely recommend using a polish remover with acetone in it (or pure acetone-and possibly the foil method) to remove them.
But having said all these bad things about them, I think that some problem I had were just user error and if I find these on sale again I'll be happy to try them again!

-Elissa