A key one of these is nails. Now my flatmate is amazingly dedicated, a master nail-lista if you will.
Some of her amazing creations:
I however, have neither the patience, nor the dedication to build up the skills to do anything nearly as impressive. I also don't have the budget to get my nails done professionally which would be my other option. Enter the best nail cheat sheet since fake nails:
Pre-formed nail polish strips.
Not stickers mind (or nail "wraps"), I've tried these as well and they last about an hour before tearing or smooshing up, at which point I get annoyed and pull them off.
I've tried a few versions. The best things for me were that there's no dry time so I can't smudge it (which I ALWAYS do when I paint my own nails), the finish looks professional and it lasts about as long as a salon job. Also, unlike fake nails it's just nail polish, no glue, so no damage to the actual nail.
I came across the Manicare Glamnails strips a few years back. From memory I think they were even on sale then, perhaps they were ahead of their time but I thought they were awesome. Eventually they were discontinued and I began buying up as many packs as possible when I saw them on sale.
They were easy to apply, they looked pretty much flawless even with my terrible handiwork and the best part was they lasted until they grew out. Technically I think they state "up to 14 days" or something but they lasted way longer and it took quite a while for them to even start to crack.
Now, lucky little thing that I am, just as I was starting to get to the bottom of my Glamnails stockpile Christmas rolled around and what did my nail-lista flatmate give me? A whole new option for nail polish strips. They are called Incoco and as it turns out they're actually the company that made the Manicare ones (if you look closely at the top pic you can see a little logo "Technology by Incoco").
I had been wondering about this because I couldn't figure out how the Manicare ones were discontinued when they were clearly a brilliant idea which many other suppliers were trying to get on board with.
They work and last exactly like the Manicare ones which essentially means they're high quality, low maintenance, exactly-how-I-like-it-thank-you-very-much-and-I-don't-have-time-to-do-my-nails-this-week-and-they'll-last-anyway-so-awesome-next-gig.
The Incoco ones that I got came from a little market store and they don't appear to come with a file like the other two packs do, which could be considered environmentally friendly (I mean, how many mini nails files does one person need?), and I have lots of them from all the packs I've used in the past, but there was something about being able to throw the pack whole into a travel kit and do my nails on the fly (anywhere from hotels to dingy pub bathrooms) without having to remember extra bits. I'm definitely going to invest in some more of the Incoco ones from the website next so maybe their full packaging includes a file. Either way it's of minor note.
So that's my cheat sheet for low maintenance girly nails with minimal fuss. Even I find them hard to mess up, they look great and last through the rock and roll ups and downs.
(Oh yes, and Incoco ships to Australia!)
Happy polishing
X
I came across the Manicare Glamnails strips a few years back. From memory I think they were even on sale then, perhaps they were ahead of their time but I thought they were awesome. Eventually they were discontinued and I began buying up as many packs as possible when I saw them on sale.
They were easy to apply, they looked pretty much flawless even with my terrible handiwork and the best part was they lasted until they grew out. Technically I think they state "up to 14 days" or something but they lasted way longer and it took quite a while for them to even start to crack.
If you look closely at the above photos you can see how much they've grown out while barely cracking or chipping. This suits me as I can't be bothered doing this more than about once a month (if that) and these seems to last about that long until they start to look raggy.
The other issue with painting my nails is that I'm constantly cutting them short to allow me to play guitar and I can actually cut my nails with these on and the edges rarely chip. Pretty impressive in my book, see above re: low maintenance.
So when these began to be hard to come by was about the time that I came across the Sally Hansen versions. They were more expensive, even ignoring that I got most of the Glamnails ones on sale, but Sally Hansen is a renowned nails brand so I figured they'd be worth the money. I have to say, I was more excited by the designs available as this wasn't really an option in the Manicare ones. However, I wasn't as impressed with the result. While they were definitely just as easy to apply and claimed about the same shelf life, I found that these ones began to crack through after just a day or two and the more they crack the more they chip and flake off. If you're the kind of person that wants to change their nail polish regularly this probably isn't an issue and overall they did last as expected, only really starting to look shabby over the week mark but for my reasons for using them I wanted them to be very hard wearing and they just didn't quite get there. This for me is the main benefit of the product, a salon like finish that is cheaper than a salon and but lasts longer that normal DIY from a bottle. Given the higher cost of the Sally Hansen products compared to the Manicare ones I had been using I wasn't stoked.
This was about the time I tried a few of the sticker varieties. They failed on all fronts. I will say though that I occasionally still use the left overs when I tear a nail too far down the nail bed to trim, as the plastic nature of them can usually seal off the hang nail until it grows out enough and it stops me from causing myself constant pain from catching it on things. This is one area where nail polish doesn't cut it.
Now, lucky little thing that I am, just as I was starting to get to the bottom of my Glamnails stockpile Christmas rolled around and what did my nail-lista flatmate give me? A whole new option for nail polish strips. They are called Incoco and as it turns out they're actually the company that made the Manicare ones (if you look closely at the top pic you can see a little logo "Technology by Incoco").
I had been wondering about this because I couldn't figure out how the Manicare ones were discontinued when they were clearly a brilliant idea which many other suppliers were trying to get on board with.
They work and last exactly like the Manicare ones which essentially means they're high quality, low maintenance, exactly-how-I-like-it-thank-you-very-much-and-I-don't-have-time-to-do-my-nails-this-week-and-they'll-last-anyway-so-awesome-next-gig.
The Incoco ones that I got came from a little market store and they don't appear to come with a file like the other two packs do, which could be considered environmentally friendly (I mean, how many mini nails files does one person need?), and I have lots of them from all the packs I've used in the past, but there was something about being able to throw the pack whole into a travel kit and do my nails on the fly (anywhere from hotels to dingy pub bathrooms) without having to remember extra bits. I'm definitely going to invest in some more of the Incoco ones from the website next so maybe their full packaging includes a file. Either way it's of minor note.
So that's my cheat sheet for low maintenance girly nails with minimal fuss. Even I find them hard to mess up, they look great and last through the rock and roll ups and downs.
(Oh yes, and Incoco ships to Australia!)
Happy polishing
X
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