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Friday, June 20, 2014

Actual NOTD: Stripes for the Tigers

If you follow me on Instagram, it won't surprise you to hear that yesterday I spent the time I normally would be writing a blog post hanging out in Comerica Park with some of my coworkers, watching the Detroit Tigers play. In honor of the occasion, I adorned my nails in Tigers colors: dark blue, white, and orange. I used Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips in Ay Ay Captain for the blue and white, then topped every other nail with L'Oreal Mango Mamma for the orange.



I'd worn this strip design before, way back in summer of 2011, when I was not pleased that the navy stripes showed a lot of wrinkles/puckering. This box of Ay Ay Captain was better on that score, although the navy stripes still weren't as crisp and flat as I'd like. Here's a shot that shows the issue more clearly:



I did get some compliments on my nails at the game, so perhaps the flaws were not as obvious to casual observers as to my camera and my critical eye. I didn't have time to change my nails last night, so I'm still wearing this look today.

Since I subjected you all to a raggedy naked nail photo in my last post, I thought it appropriate to show you what my nearly bare nails looked like before I put these strips on. This is after my treatment coat (pretty sure it was Starting Over After Artificials this time, though I didn't write it down because I did this mani on the fly, not all organized-like—I actually put the Mango Mamma on in my car before I pulled out of the garage to head to work yesterday, knowing I had an hour-ish commute for it to dry). I've got a spot on my middle finger that looks ready to peel and another tiny one on my ring finger, but that's so much better than where I was three months ago that I'm delighted.



The only drawback to my nails getting healthier and longer is that it's a bit harder to get two manis out of one box of Sally Hansen strips (traditional packaging with two strip packets in the box); I had to cheat a bit and leave a bigger gap at the base of some nails in order to be able to cover the tips with half a strip. I'll take that problem over rampant peelies any day.

*****

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10 comments:

  1. The top pic isn't loading for me. Love the stripes! They do look a bit wrinkly, though. How weird.

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    1. Lizzy, I tweaked some things and hope you can see it now--it's the best one. :) Yeah, the visual wrinkles on the blue stripes are very odd; it seems like maybe that layer of the strip is too thick and formed a bunch of tiny cracks.

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  2. I have the same problem with the first photo - it's weird how the colors seem to wrinkle, but the strips are cool.
    Your nails really looks healthy - but I never would dare using strips, I would be afraid that removal also would remove a bit of the top of the nail...

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    1. Maria, hope that photo is working for you now, too. Thanks for letting me know; I guess I could see it in preview because I had a local copy or something.

      I almost always wear a treatment coat under strips to protect my nails, though with ones like these SH that come off with remover like regular polish I don't worry about damage even if I go bare underneath. The peel off ones do concern me on that score, so those always get treatment under.

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  3. I had the same problem when I tried nail polish strips with wrinkling puckering :( never tried Sally Hansen ones though

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    1. Lovestruck, the odd thing is, these wrinkles are there even before I put this design on (more like little cracks in the blue parts). I do sometimes get actual wrinkles when I apply but never all over like this looks. It's very strange, and I don't recall seeing the problem with any other design besides these stripes.

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  4. Your nails are certainly looking good now. :-)

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    1. Thanks! I'm hoping they'll stay this way for a while now. :)

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  5. Such a cute mani, I'm all for matching the mani to the fave sports team ~

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