Review: Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Laced Up - LOVE

This is a review for the Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Laced Up. I bought this when I went to NY.

Long time readers of Cosmeddicted know that I have a hard time painting my nails. I lack the patience to wait for nail polishes to dry. On top of that, nail polishes chip extremely fast on my nails.

Seeing all the hype about the Salon Effects in the blogger world, I was very excited to try these out.  I'll cut to the chase - THESE ARE LOVE.

This is what is included in each box:

two packets of product, instructions, an orange stick, and a nail file

Each packet of product contains 8 strips.

If you have never used these before, I strongly suggest watching a few Youtube videos in advance.

I wasn't sure about this pattern, but I ended up LOVING it.

What they do: (from Sally Hansen's website)
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.

Price:  Around $10. They are a little pricey if you buy them at the retail price. I have found them much cheaper online, though.

Pros:

• No dry time. This is HUGE for me! 
• No need to paint 2-3 coats of polish!
• Lots of different patterns to chose from!
• MINIMAL chipping!! 

These are my nails on Day 7.  This is my right hand, and I'm right handed. There is about 1mm of chipping on the tip of the nail, and 2-3 mm of chipping on the cuticle.  I usually get more chipping than this on Day 1 (yeah, I'm EXTREMELY hard on my nails).

The pattern (black lace on beige polish) also helps to disguise chipping.


Cons:

• $10 for one manicure is kind of expensive. However, if you have short nails like I do, you can get a full manicure from one 8-piece package (so 2 manicures in one box). There are several Youtube videos on this as well.
• These are the same thickness throughout, instead of being thinner towards the edges. They will chip easily from the sides or from the cuticle, so press down hard!
• These are much harder to remove than normal nail polish. I suggest using the foil method to remove them, especially the ones with glitter.

Tips:

• When applying them, remember to swipe all of your nails first with acetone. Remover with Vitamin E and other ingredients will make it harder for the strips to stick.
• The instructions suggest stretching the strip to make it adhere better. I suggest not doing this. It makes the strip harder to handle.
• I found the nail file included was very hard to use, so I just used my own.
• Push your cuticles back before applying these, or steer clear of the cuticle area. This is the area that I had the most chipping.
• There are pros and cons with using a strip which is larger/smaller than your nail. 
• If you use one that is smaller, it can easily chip from the sides. A full coat of top coat should prevent this.
• If you use one that is larger, it can chip from your cuticles. I found this to be harder to fix.

Would I repurchase? YES YES YES.  This is on my must-buy list when I go to the US again, and on my wish list!

These do take a little getting used to, but I really liked them! I also bought a few other patterns which I'm excited to try!

xoxo, K