February 2, 2011

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Laced Up: swatches, review, tutorial

Hello, Beautiful!

A few weeks ago I made a post about Sally Hansen's Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Misbehaved. I was so impressed with them that I decided to try out another pattern. I couldn't decide between Laced Up and the multi-colored glitter. I decided that since I could always glitter up my nails with polish I already own that I'd go with the Laced Up pattern.



If you've never tried these before I'll tell you that they are a really quick and easy option for someone looking to make their nails look cute in a hurry. They are super easy to apply. Probably the hardest part is deciding the right size for your nail.

The photo below is from the side of the box. Detailed instructions are inside, but it's pretty much what you see in the photo below. You'll clean and smooth out your nails, apply the design, smooth it out, and move on. I put detailed instructions on how to apply these strips on the Misbehaved post.


These nail polish strips last a long time, so you definitely get your money's worth. I had mine on for a little over a week before I couldn't take it any longer and had to change my polish color. But during that week my nails looked the same all the way through without any signs of wear. I'm not nice with my nails either and generally mess up every manicure. Not with these! 

I received a lot of compliments when I had on the Misbehaved pattern, but I don't think I'll get as many compliments on the Laced Up pattern.

I have to say, I don't like the Laced Up pattern for me. They're pretty, and I like the design up close, but from a normal viewing distance (and any further away) I hate the way they look. The base color blends in well with my natural skintone, so unless you're looking at them up close my nails just look like I spilled black paint on them.

As you can see in the swatch photos above and below, some of the nails are great in pattern and color. But then you look at my ring finger and you can see it looks faded in comparison to the other nails and the pattern looks broken (or maybe it's just the black coloring isn't as strong and shows the lace under it). Even the pinky is slightly less intense in black coloring compared to my pointer or middle finger (it looks more faded in person than in the photo). I'm not sure if the fading on some of the nail strip is just random factory mess up, or if it's something that happens in every box with this pattern. Either way, I'm just not liking the Laced Up pattern as much as I loved the Misbehaved pattern.

As you can see in the swatch photo below, the box represents the pattern perfectly, as did the box with the Misbehaved pattern. That leads me to believe that the box will not lie when it comes to showing you what the pattern will look like on your nails. Now that may not be true with the glitters, but I'll have to report back on that when I try the glitter patterns.


So what's my final verdict? I still love these real nail polish strips. I'm excited to try new patterns and I hope they'll continue to come out with new designs. But when it comes to the Laced Up pattern I think I'll have to skip this one in the future. It just doesn't look right on me.

What do you think of this design? Have you tried these real nail polish strips yet? If so, which design/color did you go with and what are your thoughts?


Also...

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2 comments:

  1. Ive been looking for the lace ones, they are soo cute!

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  2. I am with you on not really liking the Laced Up pattern. I had the "Checked Out" pattern on for 8 days then I did the Kitty Kitty & they lasted 13 days. I was so pleased with them & that was the longest I have went without changing my nail design, LoL... I do want to give you my opinion on the glitters... Yesterday I applied the GlitzBlitz (gold glitter). Right of the bat they were MUCH stiffer & hard to apply (the others were a breeze). I literally had to hold the strips in front of my blow dryer to let the heat kind of soften them up & make them more pliable. Still they did not lay down like the previous strips I used. I applied a topcoat, as I did with the others & thought they looked very nice. I loved the nice uniform glitter coverage they provided without having to apply layer after layer after layer... They were so sparkly & shiny... & peeling off within a couple hours, LoL. They just DID NOT lay down like the other 2 designs did, ugh :( The other 2 designs I used were straight up polish strips, they were so easy to stretch & form to the nail. Almost like they hugged it. The glitter on the other hand makes the strips feel stiff & awkward. Within a couple more hours I had picked of quite a bit of the strips, whats funny is when I went to remove the rest with acetone they were a b* to get off, like all glitters. So that is my experience with the glitter strips :( Not again... I already have the pink Glitter strips, but I am just gonna use them on my daughter. I don't want the frustration & she LOVES to pick nail polish off anyway, LoL, she is 5! ***Side note... I did do my daughters nails in the Kitty Kitty & to my amazement it lasted 10 days... Mind you this little girl can pick of her all the polish on all 10 fingers in a matter of hours, to the point that my husband just shakes his head & asks why I even bother painting them anymore. She would come home from school everyday, throw those hands out & say "look momma, they are all still on" So yeah I love them, LoL, just not the glitters. Wow I have rambled :)

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