Recent NOTD, Strips Edition

It'd been about a year since I wore Essie Sleek Sticks. Based on past experience, I know they aren't durable like nail polish strips, so I save them for times when I know I'll be changing my look again soon. Looking at the stock of these I picked up when they showed up at Dollar Tree, I am going to have to change my look a lot more frequently if I want to use them all up. The design I chose to wear this most recent time was Croc'n Chic, a taupe on peach crocodile print.



Apparently I'd forgotten any skills I had for working with these thick strips, or maybe they're harder to work with if they've been in storage for a year, or both, because it was wrinkle-palooza on my nails. I am a bit ashamed to even share this, but it's how they looked just after I put them on and maybe someone else will see this and not feel so bad if their Sleek Sticks do the same. I did work hard on smoothing them with the flat side of an orangewood stick before I went out in public but it was a battle to get them looking decent. I peeled them off a day and half later, at which point there was raggedy tipwear on most all of my nails as I've come to expect with these.



My next strip mani went much better since I turned to my old favorite, Sally Hansen Salon Effects. I grabbed the summery flowery Spring Fever design when it went on clearance at Ulta and it seemed perfect for this time of year (it reads more Summer to me than the Spring in the name). I put these on just before I had to leave for work, so didn't even get a lightbox pic, just one by the slider in my kitchen.



Sally Hansen was my choice for my next strip mani, too. This time I used the limited edition Spot On design (and again didn't bother to setup the lightbox; to give you an idea of how lazy I am sometimes, that's my lightbox that the package is leaning up against).



Because these have all the strips packed together (unlike the boxed strips which are packed in two sealed packets so you can save half for later), I used the leftovers on my toes. The widest strips left weren't quite wide enough for my big toes, but I decided that was okay, since most people don't look at my feet that closely and the ones who do generally don't make comments on them anyway. If you are not a delicate flower, you can click and see my pedi here.



When I look at how often I turn to strips for a quick mani, I'm still annoyed with myself that it took me so long to try them for the first time. Better late than never, I suppose. Do you use strips? Think they're "cheating"? Tried and never got the hand of them? Tell me in the comments.