Review: Battle of the Nail Products

This is a review I was asked to do by a friend to show a full trial run of the products she sells, Jamberry Nail Wraps. I have also been asked how these things compare to other comparable items on the market and also how they compare to nail polish itself. I decided to also do a mini review while doing this comparing nail polishes on different ends of the cost scale. Here is my start. I will wear these until they reach the end of their use! I will post blogs as it happens.

Day 1: Application day

Here is the list of products on which finger!
Thumb- Jamberry Nail Wrap in Popstar
Index- Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish strips in Heart Breaker
Middle- Maybelline New York Color Show Fashion Prints Nail Stickers in Wild Reptile 
Ring- O.P.I. Nail polish in No Room For The Blues
Pinkie- Broadway Nails High Shine Nail Polish








Here is my first impression of these products as I applied them and how easy it was.

Jamberry- These are heat applied. After a lot of searching on Youtube I found a couple of videos using a blow drier, an iron, and a hair straightener. I used the iron just because it seemed easier for me. You apply them by warming them up which softens the material and adhesive. I won't lie the first one I messed up! But that was due to user error not product failure! There was no smell and a little tug towards the free edge helped to smooth out the surface over my curved, humped, twisty, weird bendy nails! I then used a piece of plastic pulled tight over the surface and held it near the iron to help smooth any remaining lumps. I have to say this product is beautiful once it's on, it has a nice shiny smooth finish and when you file the free edge to remove any overhang it creates a nice finished tip. These can also be used on your toes. They are $15 a sheet and depending on your nail length you can get 3 or more sets from one sheet. They last up to 4 weeks on the hands and 8 weeks or longer on the toes. While application is a little intimidating once you get the hang of it they are beautiful. However you have to buy them from a consultant and wait for them to be mailed, unless you have a local dealer and they have them in stock! However, they come in over 300 wonderful designs.

Sally Hansen- These stink! They are real nail polish strips and they smell like it! Once you get past the smell they are very hard to apply smoothly because they want to stick to everything they contact! I had to reapply my first nail 3 times before it looked nice (I almost gave up and showed you the crap application). They are very thin and break easily. If you have nails that aren't nice and straight and flat you will have a little trouble getting these smoothed out, which will require a little tugging and stretching of the strip. This has to be done gently or it will break. Once they are on you file any overhang from the free edge which has to be done carefully or you will end up with it breaking or becoming jagged. These also only come in 3 sizes. It was hard to get a good sizing done with them. I opted to trim down a too big form. Once these are on and set they harden like regular nail polish, up until that time they can be torn or dented on the nail but nothing like a full coat of polish. They are supposed to last up to 10 days and can be removed with polish remover. You get 16 strips per package along with an orange wood stick and a buffing file. Once they are on they look like they need a top coat and the design looks like it can be rubbed off. They were $9.99 at CVS.

Maybelline- What can I say nice about these? They are very pretty in the package. That being said these things smell like those cheap inflatable plastic pool toys! They are thick and make me think of duct tape! They are hard to get smooth because of their thickness. Once I got it on the adhesive felt like duct tape on my nails. You are supposed to file the free edge to smooth it to the nail tip but when I did this it rubbed off the design at the tip and it looked like it had already worn off. Also, it didn't feel as smoothly applied at the tip as the other two. It just didn't blend into the nail and felt like something I just stuck on it. You could probably do the same thing WITH duct tape! These were $5.99 at Walmart. You get 18 strips in the package and the packaging makes no promises of the duration of time they could last. (Maybelline is one of my all time favorite brands but lately they just fail to WOW me)

O.P.I.- This is one of the more expensive drugstore polishes. Which you would expect a good performance out of. This smelled like...nail polish!!! I have other nail polishes in this brand that applied much better than this color did. It took 3 coats but was still a little streaky. It took a long time to dry but I think that was due to the number of coats it required. It's $8.99 from Kroger for a 15 ml bottle.

Broadway Nails- I got this polish at my local dollar store with 8 others for $1 each. It is such a cheap brand that they couldn't even afford to give the color a name! BUT don't let that fool you, many of the colors were one coat only! This one I applied two. It also has a much faster drying time than I expected. Of course like all polishes it has a strong chemical smell that doesn't go away for a few hand washings after it is dried.

I topped both polishes with a clear coat of Sally's out the door quick dry top coat.

I hope that you check back for updates on how this test is going and I can't wait to see how it works out!

Love,
Mom