Recent NOTD: Essence Studio Nails

Weekend before last I came across the Essence Studio Nails Nail Fashion Stickers I'd bought back in the summer when Ulta had the display. I'd read some not too favorable reviews of these after I bought them, which didn't make me excited to try them, but there they were so I figured I should use them. Of the two I had, I chose the black lace on pink design, called 07 All or Nothing.



The package said they'd last up to 5 days, half as long as the Sally Hansen Salon Effects box promises. That was fine, since that'd get me through the work week. They were less than half as expensive as the Sally Hansen strips, so it's not like I had paid the same for less wear time. The application process was similar to the Sally Hansen strips, except there's no orange stick or file provided, and there's no clear top sheet on the strips to remove. The Essence strips are a bit thicker; I found them easier to handle but harder to smooth over the curve of my nails. There are fewer sizes provided that with the Sally Hansen, and it was harder for me to find ones that fit my nails well, but it worked out okay. I had some bigger gaps around the strip than I'd like on some nails, and smaller gaps on others, but when they were all on it looked fine.





Wearing these, I did find I was noticing the edges of them catching on things, probably because of the thickness of the strips themselves. I probably could have gotten used to that. What really bothered me was how fast they started to look worn. Here they are after about 24 hours--not pretty:





Not only were the tips showing a lot of wear, the black part of the design was flaking off in spots well away from the tips. Since all I'd done in these was sleep and do my office job, I didn't think there was any reason for this sort of damage to have happened so fast.

By the end of day two, it was so bad I called a halt to the experiment. Just look at this mess:





The directions said to just peel them off to remove, which I did. I'm pretty sure I took a layer off my nails in the process—that's one way to get rid of stains, I guess.

So overall, I can't recommend these. Sorry Essence; you do a lot of fun polishes, and I wish you'd send more of them over here, but these strips are not good. I have one more package of these and think if I wear them at all, I'll just have to plan to only have them on for a few hours.

*****

In a more positive vein, Apothica (a sponsor of this blog) and the related site SkinCareRx are doing 12 days of giveaways on Facebook, starting today and running through Christmas Eve. They're going big, too: total prizes between the two giveaways are worth more than $5,000. To enter go to their pages here: Apothica and SkinCareRx.