Manicure Fruity Butt Bears

 I am a sucker for a gimmick.  Always have been, always will be.  I am a product marketing expert's wet dream.  As a kid, I sought only the finest in bizarre snack foods.  Dunkaroos, Fruit Roll-Ups with punch out shapes...I don't remember what all.  I think kids today have a greater selection of these foods (Bagel-Fulls, anyone?), and I have not ceased to invest in them.  Growing up, my brother always made fun of my proclivity for eating weird foods, calling such items "Fruity Butt Bears."


I'm no different when it comes to health and beauty items.  Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips?  Had to have them!!!  These are...well, for lack of a better word, they're like stickers.  But the stickers are made of polish.  Already dry, perfectly painted polish.  Stick em on, smoosh em down, and you're good to go!  The strips come in a variety of designs and colors.  I'm not a big fan of the color options, simply because if I want a solid color on my nails, I'll paint them (thankyousoverymuch).


I chose the Lace pattern:

 Pretty, no?  So unique!  I was shocked by how easy these were to apply.  The $9 kit comes with everything you need to put them on properly:  sixteen strips in a variety of sizes (duh), a teeny tiny orange stick for pushing back your cuticles and tearing away excess polish (easy to do) and a teeny tiny file/buffer for shaping your nails and buffing away excess polish that hangs over the tip (again, easy to do).  I struggled with wrinkling in only a couple of places, but those places are very difficult to notice.


If I had to complain about anything, it might be the color saturation.  The black is just not black enough in some places.  I tried capture it here, but you may need to click to enlarge to see it:

I'm sure I'm the only one who notices it, but it's the sort of thing that drives me crazy.

Please note that the top picture is with a coat of Seche Vite topcoat, and the second is without.  I think the topcoat helps it look a bit more "finished," and even saturates the color just a bit.

At $9 a pop for a one-use system, these are bit on the pricey side; but these promise 10-day wear and from what I'm reading in reviews, that may not be an overstatement.  Not sure I'll have the patience to leave them on that long, but I'll keep you posted.  If they're all they're cracked up to be, I think they'd be great to apply before a vacation when touch ups and redos won't be possible.

*EDIT*:  I wore this for about three days before it began to chip on my weaker nails.  Given the pattern and color of the design, I don't think anyone would have noticed, but I took it off anyway.  I would venture to guess that someone with stronger nails really could pull these off for much longer...the coverage still FELT strong, if that makes any sense at all!