Drug Store Manicure

I've never been a fan of nail salons. Well, maybe for short period in junior high/high school when it was cool to have acrylic nails (gag), but I find that almost every time I go in for a simple manicure, I regret it for weeks to come. Even though I've had good experiences with polish staying in tact, something about the way the manicurist files my nails makes them weak and brittle. I've tried different salons, but for the most part, the same problem occurs and it takes about 2 months for my nails to grow back to normal. So now I reserve my manicures for special occasions where it is an absolute must that I have professionally groomed nails.

Anyhow, I'm a huge fan of OPI nail polishes. Here are some of my favorites:

What's that on the end?

The newest addition to my nail polish collection: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips. I never got into the nail art trend-- something about it looked too busy on my hands-- but I saw an ad for this in a few different magazines and couldn't resist trying it. The Sally Hansen Salon Effects kit comes with real nail polish strips in different pre-painted designs. I opted for the honeycomb/net print (there were about 10 other choices including lace, cheetah, faux-glitter, some of which were a little too over the top for my liking). Take a look at what comes in the box:

16 strips in varying sizes, a wooden stick for your cuticles, nail file for pre-shaping as well as trimming the strips once they're on, and simple instructions. All you really do is open the strip, stick it on, and file along your natural nail line. This took all of about 20 minutes, comes off with regular nail polish remover, and even worked on my super short nails.

What do you think? I still prefer solid nail polishes, but this was a fun $8 manicure for an otherwise boring weekend.