Source: Danielle James / Madame Noire
I’ve never been a fake nails type of woman. I am blessed with long nailbeds and am able to grow my nails long (albeit, they always break). Nevertheless, I gave in after over 20 years, and got a gel manicure last month. I wanted bling, I wanted drama…and I didn’t want it to go away. My $150 manicure (no, I did not pay for that) had me receiving compliments everywhere. The train. Restaurants. Work. When I got them removed for a photo shoot, I replaced them with my signature, natural, white nails. Unfortunately, my nails had already had some damage. They were breaking at the base, chipping, and it wasn’t pretty.
Fast forward to Wednesday night. I had an event, then a first date. I looked down at my nails and they looked raggedy. The kind of raggedy that would make the first impression the last impression. The week before I had been in a similar situation and tried some press on nails, but they were too short for my nail beds (something I didn’t notice until I was on the train, during the application process). I thought press on nails might not be for me.
In my beauty supply drawer, I had some Kiss Masterpiece One Of A Kind Luxe Mani press on nails ($11.99, bejour.com). The only reason I considered press on nails again was because these were long and coffin shaped, so there was no way they wouldn’t fit my nail beds. The color was a blue ombre and came with jewels. The nails look like a $100.00 manicure!
The application process took about 15-20 minutes and though I’m a beauty girl, I’m no expert. I thought that was fairly fast. The nails come with glue, you put the glue on the nail and on your nail and bond them together by holding down for 5 to 10 seconds. I didn’t like this. The Kiss Nails I used the week before, you simply had to pull off an adhesive. I have no proof, but it felt and seemed healthier for my nails and ironically, they stayed on longer than the glue.
Source: Danielle James / Madame Noire
I put on the nails and the final look was driiiip! They looked really good and fit. If I had more time, I would have cut a little bit and filed to give the nails an even more natural look. With press on’s, it can be hard to find the right size for each nail, I didn’t have a problem with this nail set.
The nails lasted throughout my date and he definitely noticed them. However, the next morning, as I was combing my fingers through my hair, the ring finger nail popped off. Good thing the back comes with 30 nails, so I fished out a backup and repopped one back on. On the train, my thumbnail popped off. I had left the glue at home.
This was the first day really working with the nails and the length just really annoyed me. I think this is more of a personal thing, because my co-workers loveeee long nails. Charise commented, “You’ll get used to it.”
Source: Danielle James / Madame Noire
I took my nail clippers in my drawer and immediately cut them down to the length above so I could actually type during the day. The length is beautiful, but I wouldn’t wear them like that for more than one night. The nails are very pliable, so you can cut and file them to whatever shape and length you like.
I’m writing this 48 hours into wearing the nails and my entire right hand is almost off and my left hand just lost the middle finger. I had a friend try these nails and she kept them on for over two weeks! Nothing popped off. However, she also had her press on nails professionally applied at a Kiss event.
I’ll definitely wear these again. If you are going on a trip, I’d bring the glue and the extra nails so when they pop off, you can just replace them and keep it moving.
Do you wear glue on nails? What brands do you like? Sound off in the comment section!
