Romy Raves

So you have heard me blog before about Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, which I absolutely fell in love with because they are fun, quick, easy and totally statement making! Well, I have another great new nail product discovery to share with you: Broadway Nail Dress (pictured on my nails in the silver mesh style)

Broadway Nail Dress is a set of unique stickers that you apply to your nails for an instant manicure in minutes. They are super easy to apply, come in five hip and trendy styles like silver mesh, leopard and floral, and it is similar to Minx but costs a fraction of the price ($5.49) and doesn’t require a professional heat application. 

Basically, you select the sticker that best matches the size of your nail, peel it off, apply it to your nail, smooth out the bumbs with the buffer that comes with the kit and file off the excess. The sticker forms to your nail through your body heat and you can even apply a top-coat for longer wear. And once you get bored with them, they are super easy to remove and just peel off. How cool is that?!

So here’s my opinion of Nail Dress: It’s a fabulous, fun, super affordable way to make your nails look great with minimal effort or expense. They are super easy to apply (I applied mine, while sitting on my couch watching Glee), they look really hip and cool and they are super easy to take off. However, this is not a long wearing product and it only looks good for a few days before it starts to look worn or lift. So, if you want a quick and easy short term nail makeover I’d go with Broadway Nail Dress, but if you want something a little more professional looking and longer wearing, I’d go with Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips.

Broadway Nail Dress can be found at Walgreens, Walmart, Kmart and Rite Aid stores nationwide

After all these years, OPI continues to amaze and impress me. I think their shattered nail polishes are one of the most creative products to emerge on the nail product landscape in a very long time. Their latest collection of Blue Shatters is no exception! I fell in love with the iridescent Turquoise Shatter (a perfect blue green shimmer) right from the start and see so many creative possibilities for layering it this summer.

Behold my first inpsired creation: Turquoise Shatter over Mermaid’s Tears (a gorgeous sage grey green from OPI’s new Pirates Collection) I am in LOVE with this combo because it showcases both colors so beautifully. So many people have stopped me to ask what I am wearing on my nails, what do you think?

And not only does it look unique and different, this combo has amazing staying power, here are my nails after one week of wear. Other than the VNL (visible nail line/growth at the cuticle) they still look FAB

If you want to play around with these fun and creative nail polish combinations, the limited-edition Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection and Blue Shatter, Navy Shatter, and Turquoise Shatter will be available beginning May 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for approximately $8.50 each.

Confession: I hate doing my own nails! I am so picky and detail oriented that it takes me forever to do my own nails, and for many years I have gotten weekly or bi-monthly professional mani’s and pedi’s so that I can keep my nails in tiptop shape. Another confession: I prefer male manicurists because they are even more meticulous than me. True story, about ten years ago I had a fab male manicurist who appreciated my attention to nail detail and nicknamed me PG-13, which stood for ‘Picky Girl’-I remember him fondly. . . but I digress, now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

Being a beauty blogger, I have lots of opportunities and requests to try the latest and greatest polishes and new nail products which is particularly hard because as I mentioned I don’t like doing my own nails. And, recently I have been obsesssed with the unrivaled staying power and mirror shine of CND Shellac which only adds to this challenge. So it took a really unique and special product to get me to do my own nails and thanks to Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, I am back in the saddle again.I am totally impressed with this unique and statement making nail product, which is a cross between nail polish and wearing fake nails IMO. Salon Effects Polish Strips are adhesive nail shaped strips made out of REAL nail polish that you can easily apply to your own nails in under an hour with no drying time. They come in 24 fashion forward styles, last up to 10 days and easily come off with nail polish remover. 

They are so frickin COOL! They really look like a pro did them and little old picky me did them herself (and you can too!) I was truly impressed that I could do something that looked this good! The designs are so fun with choices like metallic leopard (Kitty, Kitty shown on my nails below-LOVE LOVE it!), zebra, lace, flowers, mesh and glitter. They truly have a WOW factor and remind me of the professionally applied Minx for a fraction of the price.

There is definitely a learning curve to getting the technique right. Basically, you find the strip size that best fits your nail, peel the protective coating off the strip, position it just right along the cuticle, press it into place with warm fingers, run the cuticle stick around the edges to make sure it sticks, pull it over the end of the nail and file off the excess~Viola, you have a pretty snazzy looking nail design!

I am totally obsessed with this fun nail product that looks awesome, professional quality and costs under $10. You can buy Kitty, Kitty Salon Effects Polish Strips HERE or you can find it at your local drugstore. Let me know what you think and post pics please!