Nail of the Week - Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Houndstooth

Want to get stopped by every single person in an airport? Wear Sally Hansen's New Salon Effects in Houndstooth. The reason I was a bit MIA yesterday was because I was flying to Austin. In the airport I had men, women and children all staring and stopping me to ask what I did to my nails and how they could have theirs look like mine! Sally Hansen's Nail Effects are a new take on the "minx" nail. These pretty designed nail stickers are like instant nail polish for your fingers.

Here are my thoughts on the actual packaging and how I applied these amazing "nail stickers". The Sally Hansen Salon Effects retail for $10.49 at CVS in the city I live in. However, some people have reported they have found them for as low as $8.00 a piece. The entire kit includes 16 nail stickers, a cuticle stick, a mini nail file and a nice little instruction kit. For the first nail, I followed the instruction to the tee and had no problem applying the stickers. However, I would recommend a practice run first because the stickers can be hard to smooth out at first. To do a practice run, I would recommend using one of the stickers that is too big for your nails (the kit includes 16, so there are invariably stickers left over) and trimming it down to the size of your nail and applying it. If you do it the first time smoothly, then you are ready to apply all the stickers. If you struggle a bit - try different techniques to get it to smooth out evenly. I recommend using your finger to smooth down the middle of the sticker first and then applying the edges of the sticker. I also advise using scissors to trim the excess sticker once you have applied the nail sticker to your nails. Finally, I do not recommend using the nail file provided. I used a glass nail file and I had no problems, however the nail file provided isn't the best and I found that a glass file makes the whole process a lot easier.

Please also note, there is  no need for a top coat or base coat with these stickers. One thing I did notice about the Sally Hansen Salon Effects was that they smell a lot like nail polish on the fingers. In fact, when you first open the sealed package provided within the kit, the aroma of nail polish is extremely strong! Another thing to note, the stickers come with a clear plastic overlay to protect them which you peel off if you read the instructions. Unfortunately, for the first one I mis-read the instructions and applied the stickers without removing the clear plastic coating. Failing to remove the clear plastic coding made it extremely difficult to smooth the nail sticker out on my nail. The nail sticker on my thumb on my left hand crinkled badly and did not look pretty.I had to remove and re-do the sticker. I thus recommend to note the clear plastic coding and learn from my mistakes! :)

I will be testing the Sally Hanse Nail Effects out all week. I am going camping this weekend, so if the Sally Hansen Salon Effects last through this weekend, I will be extremely impressed! I will keep you updated on how they hold up! I have thus far been swimming in chlorine water with them and traveled across the country with them without any crazy mishaps. They have stayed beautiful and in tact thus far. We shall see if they can overcome the hurdles of camping now! :)