It seems to be the first major trend of this year: Minx-like nail stickers. DIY, cheap and readily available. Cheaper than getting actual Minx, easier to apply by yourself (no heating by UV lamp or hair dryer) and I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted as long. I've used Incoco a bunch of times and it has become one of my preferred travel manicures because I can apply it with no distraction to anyone else anywhere -- I've even applied it planes, much to the amusement of flight attendants who all asked me whether they really worked -- and because they last quite a long time (over a week!) without looking ratty. But the Incoco ones are generally plain... and the new drugstore nail sticker thingies tend to have awesome patterns that are as complex as the Minx ones... if maybe a little less vivid (or metallic) for some designs.
Case in point: some toenail Minx that I bought off of eBay. I loved the pattern so much from when I got pedis with Piff I wanted to have some to try on myself.
Now compare that to the new SH nail stickers that look like they took their inspiration from the Minx design...
Sally Hansen Nail Effects Girl Flower
Admittedly, this lightbox photo washes the colors out a little bit BUT this set of SH Nail Effects still literally pales in comparison to Minx. However, they're pretty easy to apply. Again, I've had some practice with Incoco so it went pretty quickly (took me about 20 minutes to do both hands). They're about $9 at Walgreens but I got them B1G1 50% off. The great thing is that if you keep your nails relatively short, you can cut them in half before you apply them and have enough for two full manicures. (They include 16 nail stickers of different sizes. None of which fit me perfectly but nothing a pair of scissors can't solve.) I have no idea if they'll last more than a few days though it's done well so far.
Closeup of Girl Flower
So pale and pixelated. Sigh. The other designs I chose look a lot better and more Minx-like however.
Here's a photo of the mani (on Day 3) in sunlight, where the colors show up as more saturated.
Sally Hansen Girl Flower (3rd day of wear)
Let's see... in the last three days, I've done a good bit of cleaning, washed my hair twice and have done the dishes twice. And the Nail Effects stickers seem to be sticking... for the most part. You can see two small chips on the tips of my index and ring fingernails (left side of the photo). The "gaps" at the cuticles are still intact though and because this is such a varied pattern with pinkish, whitish details throughout, the chips are actually quite hard to see until you get really close (like with a macro setting on a camera -- I didn't even realize I had chips until I saw the pics!).
I'm on my fourth day of wear today and I'm definitely getting itchy to change my mani. I think, though, I'll see what I can do to spruce this baby up: I'm thinking some glitter polish to fill in some of petals, nail art gems for the center of the flowers... this could get elaborate. (Dude, it was $8... it feels like such a waste of money NOT to wear it for longer...)
Speaking of new nail polish thingamajigs... have people seen the most recent nail polish printer presented at this year's CES?
