Let me start this post with a confession: I love crafting. I love painting. But when it comes to doing my nails, my right hand ends up looking like a clown: colorful in all the (normally) wrong places.
I come from Spain, a country where ‘fake nails’ are used for two things: To dress up as a kid, or to dress up as an adult. It never crossed my mind that press-on manicures could actually look good. However, I recently attended the SHE event, where I came across the KISS booth. When they offered to test a ‘fake’ imPRESS manicure on me I was extremely curious. Apparently, their goal was to provide a natural, gorgeous-looking manicure without all the hassle.
(I have to confess that, at that point, I didn’t believe it. I was too skeptical and conditioned by my upbringing.)
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| My first ‘fake’ manicure |
Guess what? After they put the press-on nails on me, I started receiving compliments from total strangers, who were convinced my manicure was real and I had impeccable, gorgeous nails. Ehem! My nails are a bit of a disaster. Due to an accident, I got one of my fingers injured as a kid. I lost the nail, and when the new one grew back it was grotesque. It is still larger than the rest of my nails and has a strange texture to it, which only gel manicures are capable to conceal. Until now!
I wore my first fake manicure pride for over a week with no hassle. Because they are waterproof, they stuck with my real nails regardless what I did (including going for a spa treatment!) I trimmed them to my desired length, and they didn’t bulge until I decided to remove them soaking my hands in acetone. People will usually peel them off after a hot bath, but I preferred to be on the safe side 🙂
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| So many options to choose from! |
Pros: Easy-to-use (peel off the adhesive, peel them on your nails, press down and voila!) Natural results, similar to gel polish, without the nasty ingredients. Perfect manicure in a minute. Long-lasting (provided that you use the nail polish remover sheet included prior to sticking them on, and avoid water for half an hour after putting the nails.) This manicure doesn’t damage your natural nails. Astonishing designs, with over 40 colors and patterns. Cheap ($6.99) and widely available (CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Kmart, Walgreens.)
Cons: The only downside to this type of manicure is that you have to be careful of not invading your cuticles too much when applying them. In my case, a couple of them got too close to my skin and whenever I typed I felt there was ‘something’ digging into my flesh. It wasn’t painful, just a bit weird. Also, and because I cut them down too much, there was a bit of glue showing up. If your nails are as tiny as mine, choose a short style with less glue.
My verdict: They totally lived up to my expectations! I will definitely keep using them.
You can check out their range of colors and patterns at www.impressmanicure.com, and follow them on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram as @BwayNails.
I’m curious: Have you ever used a press-on manicure? How did it feel on you? Did your nails stay for a week, or is it that my nails are weird in that aspect?
Disclosure level 1: The author received a free sample manicure. There was no paid compensation to write this post. This post
doesn’t contain affiliate links.
