The Sally Hansen Salon Effects in the Teal with It shade are my favorite nail strips. The day of the office holiday party last year, I told my husband that I had read about Salon Effects nail stickers online, and I wanted to try them. While I was getting ready for the party, he went out and bought me the Teal with It nail strips and surprised me with them at home. That was the first time I wore blue nail polish. The strips were and are gorgeous and always get me compliments on my mani. The color is very attention-grabbing, even from far away. It's quite a bright blue.
Unfortunately, I was not able to capture the color in photographs, and I didn't see any pictures online that showed the color accurately. The color is more like turquoise in real life, and it has a greenish teal shimmer, and it looks metallic, but without any of the pesky brush strokes that I get so often with liquid metallic polishes.
This mani did take me a long time. I took 90 minutes, and I only had one perfect nail this time, my right pinky. All my edges were covered, though. I did have to use little slivers of strips here and there to patch up any parts that the strip didn't cover right away.
Even though these Salon Effects manis take me a long time (and I'm including the prep time in there), my sister-in-law just whips them on in 15 minutes. And, you can't beat not having to do any cleanup and not having any stains with gorgeous blue nail polish.
Last year I bought Orly Smudge Fixer because I read online that if the nail polish strips dried out, you could revive them by brushing Orly Smudge Fixer on them after placing them on your nails. Orly Smudge Fixer has a thinner-like effect. In the past, I have used Smudge Fixer to smooth over a seam where I have added a sliver of strip to patch up an empty spot. I had read it was good for smoothing out the wrinkles in the polish strips, but DON'T DO IT!!! It removed the polish quite a bit and let the sticker backing show through a little in a spotted effect. Instead of wearing away the color, I would have rather just worn the strips wrinkled. From far away the polish strips still looked nice, though.
I use top coat on my nail strips to help them last. I added one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat to the Teal with It strips.
I only use the Teal with It strips when my nails are short because then I can cut each strip in half and use it for two nails. I am hoarding my last few strips of this shade because it's not sold anymore. If you cut your strips in half, just make sure you remove the plastic cover on the strip first because it's hard to remove after cutting.
Not only was I using the Teal with It strips because my nails were short, but also because they have another added benefit. If I have a tear in a nail, even a really bad tear, the strips will hold the tear together until it grows out enough to be cut or filed off without pain and without looking bad. I had a very bad tear in my right index finger, well above the edge of the nail bed, and yet my nail was still perfectly attached below the tear. Weird. It didn't even hurt when I used acetone, which surprised me. The Teal with It strips held the nail together perfectly. You couldn't even tell there was a tear beneath the strips. The strips hide ridges in nails, too, which is quite impressive given that you don't use base coat underneath the polish strips.
I did get some crinkling around my cuticles and some lifting at some edges, but I used nippers to cut off any pieces that stuck out. I got some minor chips near the tips of the nails by the third day.
This "polish" had the honor of being the first polish I wore twice since becoming obsessed with polish. I last wore it nine months ago to my office holiday party, the last time my nails were this short.
As for removal, the first time I wore the strips, I removed them with regular polish remover, not 100% acetone. The "polish" came off, but I had some sticky bits to deal with. This time I removed the strips with pure acetone, and everything came off easily, leaving no residue behind, sticky or otherwise.
In the pictures below I have the Teal with It strips and two coats of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat. The pictures were taken on Day Two and Day Three and afterwards, so they show wear.
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Indoors
This is a macro shot of one of the strips, a little blurry, but it's the closest I got to the true color of the polish strips, and you can see a little bit of the green teal shimmer in the turquoise polish. |
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Indoors
Another macro of the same nail polish strip. |
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Sunlight. Left Hand.
You can see a little bit of the shimmer effect.
The background color is not accurate; it's lighter and brighter in real life.
I patched up my pinkie a lot near the cuticle, and it really shows. |
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Indirect Sunlight. Right Hand.
You can see a little bit of the shimmer effect, especially near the cuticle on the pointer finger.
You can click to enlarge the picture to see the shimmer a little better,
but then you'll see the bubbling I caused by using Smudge Fixer |
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