Sally Hansen Salon Effects

In the beauty world of products, I think there is nothing that is more fun and as expressive as nail polish.  You can have so much fun with your nails and go all out expressing your mood or personality with them.  I have quite a big collection of nail polishes, over 50 colours, and that pales in comparison with the nail polishes I have used and given away.  So it's safe to say I have tried out many different nail polishes and I always get excited trying out a new nail product.  When Beauty Bulletin sent me Sally Hansen's Salon Effect nail polish strips I was delighted because I have been eyeing these in stores for many months now.

These nail strips are so easy to apply and go on smoothly without any bubbling.  With a couple of other nail appliques I have tries, I had trouble placing them on my nails and many of them required me to cut them to size before applying them to my nails - it was such a painful process.  Sally Hansen's nail appliques are made with real nail polish, so when I apply it I use the sharp edge of the wooden cuticle stick to remove the excess around my cuticles.

The length of the nail strip is more than enough to use on 2 nails so I was able to use 5 strips to do a complete manicure.  This means that I will get about 2-3 manicures out of a box of 16 strips.  For R80 this is incredible value for money.  Once applied on your nails the nail polish hardens up and is surprisingly tough to damage.  I've had them on my nails for 3 days now without any sign of them chipping or separating from my nail.  But that is expected from Sally Hansen products.

The steps:

1. Gently push cuticles back with the wooden stick provided
2. Shape and buff nails with the nail block provided in the pack.
3. Use some nail polish remover to ensure that nails are clear of any oily traces - this ensures the nail strips adhere well to the nail bed (The Sally Hansen nail polish remover that I use has a wonderful sugary, sweet smell that I love).
4. Peel open a nail strip and place the sticky side down on a nail.
5. Smooth it with your thumb and ensure the applique is sticking securely right up until the tips of your nails.
6. Use the soft side of the file to remove the excess...
7. Use the excess on another nail

Overall I am incredibly impressed with these nail strips and will definitely be buying a few more to keep around for when I only have a few minutes to get a manicured looked.

PS. Thank you to the ladies at Beauty Bulletin for sending me this product to review for the Beauty Bulletin website.  Read my review on the Beauty Bulletin website and don't forget to join if you are not already a member!