Since I have pretty nice, sturdy nails (thanks genetics!) I haven’t really had the urge to try press-on nails, but one night I left the polishing too late and had a pack of Elegant Touch Express Nails handy, so I thought why not?
These nails come with glue pre-applied. Once you’ve picked out your nails (easily the most time-consuming part of the whole process), it takes maybe 5 minutes to apply them all.
1. Wipe down your nails with the alcohol prep wipe
2. Peel off the plastic backing
3. Press onto your nail, leaving a small gap between the false nail and the skin at the cuticle area.
4. File down any jagged bits with the included nail file and admire!
I used Garnet, a pretty deep plum colour.
The Good:
* Super fast…once you sort out which nails you’re going to use, that is. I’d prefer if the nails were organised so you could work out which ones matched quickly, because a lot of them look very similar.
* Really natural looking! Several people asked me about whether I got my nails done and were surprised when I told them they were press-ons.
* If you’re bad at nail art, they have some sets with nail art on them…or you can paint a plain set while they’re off your nail, then stick them on!
The Bad:
* They slide around a lot, especially after the first day. This means that when you try to scratch or type too hard or wash your hair, the false nail slides up towards your skin, which means that it sometimes gouges the flesh at the base of your nail upwards. My cuticle area was a wreck by the time I took them off – I was actually planning to wear them for as long as possible, but 48 hours was all I could handle before I started going crazy.
* If your nails are quite curvy, they won’t sit quite as well and will slide around more, and the gap between your natural nail and the false nail is a harbour for dust (and worse) to collect. This is probably a problem with all false nail sets though.
* They aren’t very scratch resistant, nor bend resistant, so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to reuse these unless you’re super careful with them.
I can’t see myself wearing these regularly (it would drive me nuts!), but for a special occasion these would be fantastic.
These are available from Priceline and Coles for $14.99, and come in 11 shades. including my favourite, Empty Heart, which has a cool negative space look.
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My one and only dalliance with press on nails ended in disaster because i am a very hands on person. Although I absolutely love sets with nail art I do too many things (cooking, cleaning etc) to fiddle with them. My nails are also the super curvy type you mentioned, and super small to boot.
SOBS.
They look great for fake nails! It’s a shame that they were so uncomfortable, though 🙁