Back in the days before the economic bubble burst, I used to have acrylic nails, and I LOVED them. Nowadays, finding the extra money in the budget isn’t the easiest, so I decided to check out the thrifty version. Store bought nails have come a long way since Lee Press Ons, ladies! Here’s a review of my inexpensive manicure...
Product used: Nailene French Finish Personal Fit Nails, Medium Length, coming in at a whopping $5.99. Nice on the pocket book! Also, they included a $1.00 off coupon for the next time. Love that!
Application process: I followed the instructions given on the back, and tweeked them just a bit. First, I trimmed my own nails so that the fake one would provide full coverage. Then, I buffed them using the included mini-file. Then, using the included little cuticle pusher thing-a-ma-bob, I gently pressed my cuticles back away from the nail bed. I cleaned my nails with an acetone based nail polish remover. Finally, I began gluing the nails onto my dominant hand first (I figured once the nails were on it’d be more difficult to do the other hand.) The glue container was really hard to squeeze, but when I trimmed the tip with scissors it came out better. I used an application brush from a clear polish to smooth the glue onto the whole nail, then carefully pressed the fake nail onto my own nail.
What I wish I’d done: Sized each nail before gluing, then done any filing on the sides of them to ensure a better fit. It also would’ve been easier if I’d lined them up according to which nail I was applying them into instead of scattering them all over the place! If I'd been thinking, I would've used a regular nail buffer rather than the included file to minimize damage to my natural nail. I also should’ve bought the short length, or trimmed them a bit first, because even the medium length is a bit too long for my taste.
My finished manicure looked like this:
Not bad for a $6 manicure! The “crooked” looking third nail on the left hand is actually a result of my crooked finger, not the nail!!
Wearability: So, night one I had one of them pop off, which was an easy fix. I realized when I put the new tip on the old one had been too big for my nail bed, which I assume caused the problem. When I glued the new one down, I also didn’t use the polish brush to smooth out the glue - it was a good call!! The nail fit better and was more firmly attached to my finger. Over the next four days, I had three or four come off one at a time, which I fixed with the extra nails in the pack. Turns out, I had mis-judged a lot of my nail beds, thinking they were bigger than they were. The smaller ones fit better, looked better, and didn’t have as many gaps in the glue since I was only putting a drop of glue on the nail bed before applying. All in all, I am pretty happy with the manicure, and would definitely do this again for a special occasion. :-)
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