Sally Hansen Salon Effect Real Nail Polish Strips

Last Monday I picked up a pack of Sally Hansen Salon Effect Real Nail Polish Strips (what a mouthful!) from a local department store. I had looked at them before and liked the patterns, but wanted to get myself a treat after a long day (a long Monday that is, even worse!) and finally purchased them. My choice of pattern was laced up, a black lace pattern on a cream coloured base. I hoped the background would have been see-through, so I could just have added fancy lace to any base, but the cream works okay too. Not really my colour, but neutral and goes with many other colours.

One packet contains 16 strips and I paid around 8 euros for them (I seem to have misplaced the receipt, I can't find the exact sum, sorry!). There are simplified instructions on the back. I'm only wondering why they call the product "real nail polish strips" since it isn't actually a conventional nail polish. It's not fake, but it's not a nail polish. If there would be a product called fake nail polish strips, this would be it!

Instruction on the back of the package.

What's actually inside.

The package contains an instruction leaflet, a stick to work your cuticles back, a tiny nail file with three different roughness surfaces and two packs of nail strips, with 8 strips each.

First, push your cuticles back with the stick, then polish the nails with
the white side of the file.

File your nails to a nice shape with the pink end. I'd recommend your own file,
the pink area is so tiny it's quite hard to work with, but not impossible.

Choose the right size stickers (or cut them down if needed) and apply one to
a nail (there's a protective film and a backing, the actual sticker is very thin and
soft). One end of each sticker is like half an oval, the other is more square, so pick
which one fits your nail best!

A large and floppy sticker ;P Be careful not to stretch it much, it can tear or
the pattern might stretch and look lopsided.

After the sticker is in place, you just gently file the extra off with the peach end of the file. The strip is very soft, so you can gently rip off any extra if you have picked a slightly too big sticker or applied it off centre. Repeat on every nail and you are done! I recommend doing one nail at a time, so you won't have to work with sticker ends hanging off your nail tips, it's much easier! I also applied a clear top coat and it seemed to really help the strips stay on well. I've now had them on for a week and they still look okay. There are some small tears at the edges, but those could maybe have been avoided with a few more layers of the top coat.

Not the best picture, but I'm trying to show how the strip pack doesn't open
as it's supposed to, the foil separates into two parts and the clear plastic seal
didn't tear off. I had to cut it open. This happened with both packets.

Finished nails! I'm not sure about the colours, but they look pretty neat still.

Pros:

-No drying time, except for the top coat

-Nice designs

-Easy to apply and a few strips extra in case you mess up a few

-Last long (with top coat)

Cons:

-A bit pricey

-Silly strip packets don't work like they should

Generally I liked the product and might well buy another pack some day, especially if they come out with more fancy designs :) I really liked how well they lasted on my nails and the super soft and thin stickers were a positive surprise, they were easy enough to apply.