Showing posts with label Appliques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Appliques. Show all posts

September 25, 2010, 4:56:00 PM

Review: Essence Studio Nails - Nail Fashion Stickers

Essence Nail Stickers

Hi guys! With the change of seasons Essence likes to update their collection with tons of new colors and cool products. This September they added Essence Nail Fashion Stickers to their selection and I was really curious about them. I've tried the Incoco appliques before, and those really knew how to impress me. However, these Essence stickers are much less spenny! There are 14 different designs available and I picked up 3 of them: So hot!, Drama Queen! and Hollywood! (they sure shout a lot over at Essence).


Application

Before applying these you need to clean your nails first. I removed my polish and thoroughly cleaned them with alcohol. After that you select the correct size for each nail and place them on your nails. Some rubbing should remove or reduce wrinkles. Gentle file off the excess of the sticker and you're good to go! As you can see these are nothing like the appliques by Incoco, as they are made from actual polish. Essence Nail Fashion stickers should last up to 5 days. If you'd like you can seal them with a top coat.

Let's not sugarcoat this, these aren't exactly right for my nails. The sizes were pretty okay, but they were still a little bit too small and I don't have the broadest nails in the world to start with. I tried applying these as neat as I could but my nails are just too curvy, so I ended up with wrinkles everywhere.

Wear

So, these should last five days? Nuh uh. I applied top coat on one hand to see if it would make a difference but after an ordinary shower, the stickers decided to curl up around the edges, on both hands! It looked like a big mess so they didn't even make it through the day.

Overall

Considering the price (1.99 eur) these are not that bad. They're not fantastic either. I do love the designs, I think they're fun and the finish does remind me a bit of Minx Nails. I bet someone with flat, small nails would rock the hell out of these. It would have been great if there were more sizes to choose from! The wear isn't like they promised at all, but these would make a nice manicure for a party.

I'm not sure where these stickers are being sold, but you can buy Essence products at Kruidvat (NL), Rossman, Muller, DM Drogist (DL), Ulta (USA) and Shoppers (Canada). For more info check www.essence.eu

July 23, 2010, 6:12:00 PM

Incoco - The New Revolution In Nail Polish?

INCOCO. The Revolution in Nail Polish.

The world of nail polish as you know it is about to change forever! Finally there's an answer to the spills and smears of messy nail polish bottles: Incoco Self-stick 100% Nail Polish strips.

No other product can provide base coat, color coat and top coat in a single dry self=stick nail polish strip. In minutes, you can have a professional manicure that lasts up to 14 days


Incoco offers strips in many different colors and finishes and today I'm showing you Ruby Shoes, pretty, isn't it!?

How it's done

Incoco has really nice instructions up on their website, so if you're interested in this technique please check it out here. It can be tricky at first, but after you're done with a few nails you'll get the hang of it. You start off with a clean, buffed nail (ridges will show) and select the size that best fits your nail. Each strip actually has 2 sizes, one at each end. After that you just remove the top clear film, and peel the color strip from the backing paper. All you have to do is place the color strip on your nail against the cuticles. Smoothen up any wrinkles it might have, pull it over the tip of your nail and tear the excess off. If needed you can use the included file to smoothen up the edges.

If you're worried these might stain your nails, each color strips consist out of base coat, color and a top coat, I experienced no staining after wearing these for a full week. They're also b3f, which is a huge plus.

Wear

Yes a full week, no chipping, almost no tip wear, no scratches, dents whatever. I'm really impressed, I'm pretty sure I could've worn them for another week, but I had some new growth so I took it off. You can remove these with the special Polish Removal Cloth that's included. This is actually a piece of felt with Acetone based remover. I haven't tried it on any other color besides Ruby Shoes, but removal was okay, not as bad as I thought it would be considered the glitter! I've also tried using my regular non acetone remover and that worked fine as well.

Conclusion

I really like these! The thing that really appeals to me is the wear, Im thinking I'll be wearing these when I go on vacation, no worries about chipped nail polish, yay! Other advantages are: easily and quickly done, no smell, no drying time and an immaculate looking manicure. It can be a bit challenging to find all the right sizes for your nails. For me the biggest disadvantage is the price. The Ruby Shoes costs $7.99 for 2 strips (= 1 manicure), a bit much when you compare this to a bottle of nail polish. But, if you're looking for a manicure that lasts a long time, with little effort, these are awesome.


Visit the Incoco Website

The products in this post were provided to me by Incoco for consideration - for more information please read my disclaimer