Kiss Stick on Strips Review.

Kiss Stick On Nail Strips
Satin (Left) Beach Bum (Right)

Featured in my Haul Post, I picked up some of these nifty little do-dads, after having my hopes crushed in finding the Sally Hansen Nail Effects Nail Strips. I grabbed these from my local Dollar General for 3.00USD a piece, so for that price I really didn't have much to lose, especially when the Nail Effects are closer to 8.00USD for one box.

So I'll be drawing a lot of comparisons between the two brands, bringing up some pros and cons for each and trying to weigh those to see if these would be a suitable replacement if I'm unable to find a retailer that sells Nail Effects.

Beach Bum

Nail Strips in Satin- Sheets.

When I first grabbed these I assumed that they were strips of nail polish like the Nail Effects by Sally Hansen, but once I gave them a more thoughtful look I realized that, no they were not. Instead, they are just stickers, similar to the regular nail art stickers you can purchase from Kiss. You get 18 stickers, in multiple sizes separated into two clear backed sheets. The two I purchased are 3D designs, so they are slightly raised and not super smooth.

Satin- is a mixed animal print design in black and silver with filigree. The prints are broken a part by lines of gold with clear rhinestones or by the silver and black filigree pattern. There are different styles so that each nail on one hand is different, but flows together with the same theme. 

Beach Bum- is a silver background with multicolored rhinestones, all the same for a unified manicure. 

Nail Stick On Instructions

And Some Tips

Clean nails with alcohol (Be careful, can make your nails dry and brittle if done too often)

File and Smooth Nails ( A light grained buffer like on a buffing block works best, you only need to buff until the shine of your natural nail is gone. Be kind to your nails )

Select size that best fits your nail

Apply near, not on cuticle and smooth away from center

Fold down over edge and file excess.

I ended up deciding to try out Satin and when I opened the package, I was seriously surprised with how bad these things smelled. The Nail Effects smelled like wet nail polish when you opened the little foil sealed packages, but that was expected with strips that were ultimately just bits of nail polish already cut out to the shape of nail. But, these Nail Strips smelt horrible, like bad rubber/plastic. 

With that aside, I went ahead prepping my nails and finding the right sizes.

Kiss Stick On Strips In Satin Applied

To be honest, I struggled with these little devils and I've done a lot of these full nail strip kind of things in the past. Luckily, since these are stickers and not nail polish, if I didn't get them placed evenly I was able to peel them off slowly and re-situate them so they were as even as I was going to get. Unlike Nail Effects, once you set them on your nail it was pretty much where it was going to be. Now, the Stick On Strips have no give to them at all, they don't stretch, so if you're nail-beds are wider than mine, you may want to avoid these. I can deal with little bits of bare on the sides of my nails, but I mean just a tiny bit. With the Nail Effects, the warmth from your fingers made the strips more pliable and you could very carefully stretch them to fit the entire nail even it the size was a little smaller than your actual nail. They do offer a decent size selection, but I don't believe there would be enough of the larger sizes for those who have wider nail beds, than I do and mine are pretty average despite my freakishly small hands. 

As for the stickiness of these stickers, it's decent, but if you happen to be like me and have to fight with the first few to set right, they do lose they're tackiness and start not wanting to stay put. I remedied the mild lifting by apply a little of my top coat underneath the lifted areas, waiting for it to become mostly dry and pressing the sticker gently down, then they'd stay.

Getting these suckers to lay smooth was another issue...you can see from the photo above that my nails do have a little length to them. One of the reasons I struggled with these was I couldn't get them to lay smoothly on the nail. They would crinkle in one or two spots at the sides and they don't have much give, so I had to peel them back up to uncrinkle them. The only finger I was able to get to lay flat with one attempt was my middle finger and I coin that to it being shorter than the rest, since I broke that one earlier in the day. I never had issues with getting the Nail Effects to lay smooth against the nail...

The packaging says these are suppose to last up to a week, not recommended to be worn more than 10 days. On the instructions it says nothing about sealing them with a top coat for better wearing time, so on one hand I applied a top coat and on the other I left as is. I've currently been wearing the Satin set for four days. The hand with the top coat, I've noticed the stickers at the tips of my nails are beginning to deteriorate, while the hand WITHOUT a top coat I've already lost one sticker on my pinky finger and my thumb and pointer finger they're crinkled up at the tips.

This wear and tear is from normal hand washing and day to day activities, which is pretty much nothing, since the arm injury (again we're not going there) restricts me from doing too much with my right hand. So if you want these to last the seven days, I would definitely apply a top coat, especially along free edges. In comparison to Nail Effects, which I've worn for nearly a full two weeks, with periodic top coat touch ups. And I'm going to add that the smell of the stickers doesn't go away after a day of wearing them, again I'm on day four and the smell isn't as pungent, but it is still there.  

Are these a suitable replacement if I'm unable to find Nail Effects? Yes and No. For a less pricey version of nearly instant nail art, they're not bad. Would I buy then again? Sure, when I wanted something quick for only a couple of days. Would I recommend them? If you're a beginner and you're not experienced with nail art or if you just don't have the time, yeah. For three bucks, it's not a lot of money. They have a really good selection of designs, colors, 3D, smooth to suit everybody. Are there better brands out there? Yes, but for now they will do.

Until next time,

Stay Creative.