Beauty Test Drive: Nail Wraps

I’m not very adventurous when it comes to my clothes but there isn’t a nail polish in the world that I won’t try. My nails have been air brushed, crackled, sequined, and marbled but unfortunately I don’t live in a cheap-manicure-friendly city, so I do most of it myself. When nail wraps appeared on the market, I was captivated by the clean and polished look of the wraps, especially the metallics, and was itching to get them. Minx (seen left, on Beyonce) was the first treatment that was readily available and promised flawless results that lasted for weeks.

Desperate to try it myself, I went to my local manicure bar and got the Minx manicure. The results were great, but it wasn’t an expense I could justify all the time so I went searching for a product that would give me the same look of Minx at home. When I found them, I anxiously went to try them out. I was warned by a fellow nail treatment addict to read the instructions carefully and watch the demonstration video as she had great difficulty applying them herself.

The instructions were relatively simple: file and buff the shine off your clean nails, apply nail wrap, heat with a hairdryer, and file off the excess. A few red flags popped up; I was very hesitant to buff the shine off my nails as that is an important protective barrier. I understand that it is the only way for the adhesive to work, but when I removed the wraps days later, my nails were worse for wear. The other red flag was the direct heat. If you are going to try these on your own, try to use a travel hairdryer, my standard sized dryer worked great to activate the adhesive but, as you can imagine, the direct heat is less than comfortable; using short bursts of heat is the best way to apply them without burning your hand.

Overall the experience was great; I had complete strangers commenting on them. They stayed on quite well but after a few days they began to peel away from my nail. Be sure to heat them thoroughly when first applying, and if there are any tags or loose pieces they will catch on everything, especially hair. These may not be an everyday replacement for nail polish, as letting your nails breathe is the best way to keep them from drying out, but for a special occasion they are perfect.