NEW! Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

Since the launch of Nail Rock, the beauty world has gone mad for patterned nail wraps. I'd heard that Sally Hansen had been selling these strips for a little while in the US and now they've finally arrived on our shores. Like Nailease and Rimmel, this is real nail polish on a sticky base so there's no faffing around with a hairdryer. At the moment they come in two patterns - a gold glitter and lacey foral - but both are perfect for the party season. I was lucky enough to have mine applied by celebrity manicurist, Jessica Hoffman, but I can honestly say these have seemed the most simple to apply yet. For a start, most of the nail wraps I've used have been way too big for my nail - who IS the hand model these companies are basing their sizes on?

After finding a strip to fit your nail, peel off the plastic backing and place at the base of the nail (don't go over the cuticle). Gently press down across the nail - the more you do this the more it helps to bind the sticky back to the nail - then file off any excess at the tip of the nail and pull off. The great thing about these strips is they're so malleable so even when the strip was slightly too wide for my nail, rather than trimming it, Jessica simply placed her file parallel to the side of my nail and gently filed to remove the excess.

 

Nails after 2 days

The only cristicism I have of these strips is they didn't last quite long enough for me. The box says they'll last up to 10 days - I was expecting 7 - but after 3 days I noticed a little chip and by day 5 they looked so worn that I had to remove them. That's still longer than I typically get out of a painted manicure but next time I'll be adding a top coat over the strips. They're also not the easiest things to remove. They come off with nail polish remover but it took me about half an hour to get it all off. Definitely a party season must-have though. I'll be trying the gold glitter next with a top coat! Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, £5.99, go on sale at Asda this month. Sx

Day 4