Friday, October 28, 2011

Long-Term NOTD: Sally Hansen Spun for You

I am now caught up to my vacation nails. I figured one of the Sally Hansen strips Halloween designs would be perfect for my trip and decided on Spun for You, which is black spiderwebs on silver. I applied these late Friday night, the 14th, before we flew out the next morning. My nails were still short enough to use only one of the two packets of strips, so I packed the other in case I needed to replace a strip or got a sudden hankering to do my toes to match. (I'd painted them earlier with OPI Your Royal Shine-ness topped with OPI Crown Me Already—blingy silver for our silver anniversary trip. If feet don't freak you out, you can click here to see; the combo was so shiny it confused my camera when trying to focus.)





I was especially tickled by how the webs fell on my right hand; the center of one on my ring and other sections of the web radiating out on the other fingers.


On the plane out to California:



With a ginormous leaf I picked up off the ground on one of our strolls around L.A.:



With a Halloween balloon at Disneyland:



I would have bought one of these shirts, with silver spiderwebs on black, if I could have found one in my size:



And now we've come to the part of the story where sensitive souls might want to look away ... Thursday evening I zipped out of the hotel to buy a gift bag to put a little present for our future grand niece in (we were meeting my niece and her husband for dinner), and getting back into the rental car, I reached for the door without paying attention and this happened:



And I thought the rip I got a few weeks back was bad? This was way worse. We were running a tiny bit late for dinner, so I wrapped that mess up in an off-brand Band Aid from my toiletries kit and did my best not to think about it. After we got back to the hotel, I sat down to do damage control, only to find this in my purse:



Because I am a crazy nail person, I was traveling with two glass files, so I didn't even have to deal with the not longer in one piece one when I sat down to deal with the broken nail and shorten the others so I wouldn't have one odd finger out. (I didn't even consider trying to patch it, since I didn't want to have to baby it for the rest of our trip.) When I removed the broken tip, it took a lot of the strip with it, but I'd brought silver polish (and silver glitter, and orange and black cremes, and matte top coat, just in case) so I was able to touch up the bare spot with that and it didn't look too bad. I even continued to get compliments on my nails the rest of the week.



We got back late Sunday night, ten days after I'd put these on, and they were still in darn good shape (not counting the break, which wasn't their fault). I've been so busy since then catching up that I still have them on my nails today. Yep, that's right; two weeks since I put them on and they're still hangin' in there. There's tip wear, sure, and a rather horrifying gap at the base of my nails where they've grown out, but all in all I'm amazed at their longevity. (The OPI silver I used for touch up is not holding up nearly as well, and it's only been on there half the time.) Here's a pic I snapped in the parking lot on my way into the office this morning:



I was so skeptical about these strips when they first came out, and I still won't pay full price for them, but I am a convert now for sure. I won't always wear them until they're so tackily grown out, but it's nice to know I can if I have to!

23 comments:

  1. Ouch, I actually cringed when I seen your nail. But your repairs looks awesome!

    These strips looks like they work well when you want to have something on your nails and want them to last...without having to go to the salon. I'm certainly keeping them in mind if I ever need something on my nails to last for a while!

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  2. These are so cute on you!

    So sorry about your injury :-(

    I've been really skeptical about the nail strips, but I think this post has convinced me that they will be great for taking on trips!

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  3. Oh goodness, that accident! :(
    It's so crazy to see how long these stay on though. Two weeks? Wow. You can even see really evident nail growth in the last photos.

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  4. those are tooo cute! arrrrrh, sorry about your nails but at least the stickers stayed on.

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  5. WOW! I'll have to try some of those, if they stay on that good!Thanks for the info :)

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  6. Wow that is some long wear! Those are so cute!

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  7. This post was very interesting! Sorry about that ugly broken nail. Hopefully it was not painful. Those nail stripes lasted a LONG TIME!

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  8. So cute! And aww your poor nail! And wow that is a huuuuuuge leaf! lol

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  9. Ohh, I hate when that happens. It seems like that is where most om my breaks come from these days, opening doors. At least the strips lasted well through your vacation. I can't get over how long they stay! You toes look great, too! I love bling! And that has to be the biggest leaf ever.

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  10. OUCH!!!!! Awwww but they look great on you for sure! :D They will grow back in no time!

    I think they are expensive but - they look soooo good on you!

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  11. Beautiful Nail strips.Sorry about your nail. Happy Halloween.

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  12. Wow that is one huge leaf! Hey just noticed your tab explaining your blog title. Has that always been there? I know I asked about the meaning recently and feel stupid I'd that was there!

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  13. i love the stickers, they look absolutely amazing :-D
    so sorry for your nail... and file :-(
    ... but at least the stickers lasted ;-)

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  14. Wowee these nail strips look amazing! The lasting power is seriously brilliant.
    Oh gosh I actually screamed at the poor broken nail =(
    Lol at the leaf =P Its massive!

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  15. OWWWW That made me cringe a bit. I hate breaks like that.

    I LOVE those strips. My goodness, kicking myself hard for not grabbing those.

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  16. I love Sally Hansen strips. They lasted so long on me. That one in particular looks relaly cool on you! Sorry that you had to file them down cause of the break!

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  17. Wow, those strips are rockstars :) Sorry for your nail! That kind of thing always makes me cringe.

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  18. Thanks, everyone!

    imfeelingnail-venturous, the break wasn't physically painfully, just emotionally. But I know it'll grow back so didn't spend more than few moments of vacation time cursing about it. :)

    Fingers, that name tab has been there for a long while, but I gave it a more explicit name after you asked before.

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  19. Those strips looks so good even after that horrible tragedy, I'm so amazed how well they held up.

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  20. Ohh this is SO cool!! Do you know by any chance if they can be bought in the UK??

    Great blog! As a newbie nail blogger I get a lot of inspiration from blogs like yours. So thankyou!

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  21. Wig Wam, thanks for the kind words! I'm not sure if these strips have made it across the ocean, but I'm thinking there have to be similar ones available. These spiderwebs were limited edition for Halloween, so this particular design isn't around here anymore.

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Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.