Product Review- Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips

Hi guys-

I've been wanting to blog, but this has been a busy week. Shoving my "busy" thoughts aside to jot this down real quick on my lunch break.

This review is just my own thoughts, no endorsements.

I got Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips for Christmas. I'd been wanting to try them but too cheap to fork over $8.50. I could almost get a manicure for that!
But, the allure was the cool patterns and that they could last "up to 10 days".
You see, I have a big problem with nail polish. Inevitably I chip or in some way mar my polish. Usually within 48 hours. Sometimes within a few hours. I've tried lots of top coats to remedy this. No real winners.

So, I decided to try these just before New Year's. I have to say, they were more complicated to apply than just good 'ole polish. But since it was my first time I cut them some slack.

The positives are: You can get cool patterns that are impossible with a manicure. They stay nice and shiny. They given an even coverage look (no shade variations nail to nail). There's no risk or ruining your surroundings with polish. When they do chip it's a little harder to tell because of the pattern (if you choose a patterned one).

The negatives are: They are pretty expensive compared to polish. It's a pain peeling the strips off and lining them up just so to your nail. They still chip after a few days and there's no "re-touching" them like polish. They seem to catch and snag easily. Like if you run your fingers through your hair a hair can get "under" the edge of the strip and snag. The tips can be a little rough at first and snag.

So IMHO- I think they are nice for special occasions where you want a certain pattern or look. But as an "All the time" thing to keep up your nails- too expensive and does not wear any longer than polish.

But the second set I tried, hounds tooth, was perfect for this night:

And then I could wear them for the rest of the week, since we won! :)
I put them on Sunday afternoon and took them off this morning after they chipped yesterday, beyond what I consider acceptable. In fact notice in the picture above the top right of my pointer finger had already chipped by Monday night. I repaired it with white polish and a black marker.

So all in all, fun but not worth the cost for the most part.

Weekend Update 01-07-12

Hi ho all!

I don't really have pictures of this weekend. But it marked the end of the holidays officially. I took down our tree. Sad to see it go, but man was it dry and prickly. Not the most fun to handle.
And of course that officially meant it was time to pack and organize all the deco and haul it back into the attic. Not fun.
And because I'm impatient and we don't own a ladder, I found an alternative way to get the lights off the roof. The clips we used to attach them just slide right off. So I grabbed one end of the line and started pulling. It actually worked quite well, and no people or lights were harmed.

Satuday I did score a really good deal. One lady was getting rid of a lot of her Christmas deco. My only objective for after-Christmas shopping was accomplished after all. All the stores were sold out of discount lights before we arrived. But this lady had 3 large tubs of lights- even wrapped onto cord keepers, which I got for $11. We now have like literally 20 strings of white lights on green wire. And like 10 strings of white on white icicles. And they all work!

So by the time I got it all organized, wrapped, labeled and separated (our stuff and mom's stuff separated), there were 9 tubs of Christmas. Wow. And four artificial trees (different sizes), and a lighted snowman. And 2 wreaths. And a lot of gift-wrap supplies. Whew. Thankfully I had John to hand it all up to me then I'd scurry into the attic to put it away. I was sweating though.

Saturday night we had friends over for dinner. Another set of preggo friends :) It was nice because I had not seen the momma to be since their announcement. And it was nice because John handled dinner since I was organizing and then needed a shower ASAP :)

Sunday I completed operation Christmas take-down. Along with operation laundry and operation clean kitchen. Lol.
Sunday night after church we stayed for our "Fitness Group" that our Pastor started. Month one mandates are going well so far. Making healthier choices feels good. We're not allowed to weight until Feb 1 so I won't know results until then. But the focus of the group is health, not weight loss. That's just a benefit (hopefully).

Happy New Year!

Is this what Kate Gosselin feels like?

So I got the bright idea to try taking 4 dogs to the groomer, alone.

I was under directive to make sure all their nails were trimmed and filed, so as not to ruin clothes and flesh.
Usually we just trim them at home, but that does still leave the edges pretty sharp for awhile. We've tried the PediPaws and it causes such horrific behavior it's just not worth it.

I knew it was going to be an event as soon as I hooked all 4 canines to their leashes before leaving the house. There was a lot of pulling and tangling of leads.

Once I finally got to Petsmart, George, the dachshund who thinks he's a pit bull, immediately started barking like a rabid animal at every customer who passed by. And heaven forbid they saw another dog in the store. It's a good thing their collars fit tight enough to keep them from slipping out.

Well by the time I'd reached the back of the store where the grooming department is, I had already drawn a crowd. Three employees came to check on me, since my brood was making such a ruckus that I'm sure they thought a fight was going on.

I could see that there was another dog in the grooming area checkout with it's owner, and not wanting to try and control four dogs contained in a 4ft by 8ft area with another dog, I decided to wait outside the door until they were done. I struck up conversation with a mother and daughter waiting for their dog who was already being groomed. It helped me feel less awkward about the other shoppers nearby who were secretly watching the scene unfold. The conversation on my end went something like this: "These aren't all mine. NO! I would never have 4 dogs by choice. STOP IT! I should have never come here by myself, I'm crazy. QUIT BARKING!"

Then the nice store manager came to my rescue. He was extremely friendly and helpful. He did not act like anything was a problem. Instead he petted all the dogs and then offered to take them off my hands one at a time to go into the grooming area. Thankfully about 5 groomers were on staff that day and they each took a dog to quickly tame their Raptor-claws. This part went pretty smoothly with only a couple freak-outs on the dog's part.

Unfortunately since 3 of the 4 dogs had never been there before the checkout took longer than the service. Inputting rabies certificates, names, addresses and such. I was hoping to go to the register (at the very front of the store) and pay before they were done so I did not have to drag them through that. Well, that did not happen. In fact, I ended up waiting in the grooming area holding four dogs while trying to get my invoice, while they were intermittently barking and twisting their leads into something that resembled Medusa's hair. In fact at one point a lady opened the door to bring in her dog, and she was actually going to walk in, with my pack there barking like they were set to kill. Thankfully, the groomer asked her to please wait outside a few minutes.

So everything got straightened out and I headed to the front, 4 dogs in tow. Everyone in the store knew all my movements with my 4 personal alarms going off. I even braved it to stop on one aisle and pickup a bag of rawhides (for the sake of my sanity on the ride home). Even waiting in line at the cashier went fairly smoothly. They got petting and love from several other customers. They couldn't go far because by this time they'd tangled their leads into only having a few inches of slack each.

And after a treat for each of them from the cashier, I made it out the door. Sanity half-intact. I wish I had photos of it to show you. Or maybe an incriminating video. But of course, I had no extra hands. I did, however, take a picture of their leashes after the outing.

The ride home was thankfully fairly quiet. Everyone's jaws were busy working a rawhide.

And as I write this I realize George has chewed a hole in the electric blanket and severed the internal wires. Great. Lucky for him it was off. Unlucky for us it was off. It's a good thing he's cute and is now laying on me looking up with those pitiful eyes and saying "What Aunt Momma? I love you."

Turd.