Review: imPRESS Press-On Manicure

I received the imPRESS Press-On Manicure in Tweetheart to try in my Holiday VoxBox from Influenster. I have never been a fake-nails kind of gal. No matter what I do, I just don't really like wearing fake nails. imPRESS didn't change my mind, but it definitely opened me up a bit. The last time I wore "drugstore" nails was probably middle school, so a lot has changed since then, but not enough to sway me. I'm just rough on my hands and artificial nails are not my friends when it comes to taking out contacts.
The first thing I liked about the imPRESS manicure was the packaging! The nails came in a little plastic nail polish bottle! The bad thing about this, though, is there is no logical way to size them. You just have to guess and try each to your finger. If they had been in any sort of order, the process would have been a lot easier, especially when it came time to find nails for the second hand. There are 12 sizes of nails, though, so you should be able to find one that fits your nail. If not, you can also clip and file them to perfection. It doesn't say that on the package, but the entire nail is colored, not just the outer layer, so there should be no problem. imPRESS also includes a "prep pad" to clean any oils off of your nail that might prevent good adhesion.

 Even though I had clean, dry hands and I used the prep pad, my index finger popped off in less than twelve hours (the thumb was taken off intentionally so I could take out my contacts without scratching my eye). The other nails weren't budging. I might have had lotion or something on that one finger, and it was a little more wiggly than the rest from the beginning, so I don't think it is the product's fault. The other nails look amazing from more than 6 inches away. They definitely do not look like my "natural" nails to me, because I'm me, and, well, I spend a lot of time looking at my natural nails. They do not scream "DRUGSTORE PRESS ON NAILS!" either, and actually look quite nice from the normal distance people are looking at your nails. My boyfriend said "people can't tell," which is saying something.
Removing them (which I decided to the day after I applied them) proved to me that the nails were not going to go anywhere. The adhesive is very thick and strong (as well as easy to apply-just peel the tab off of the nail and press!), so I don't expect that the nails would have popped off without just cause.
Two things that really bothered me were that you could see my nail from underneath, which looked weird to me, and the fact that the nails didn't perfectly cover my own.

 As you can see, the imPRESS nails weren't wide enough to cover my whole nail. There were bigger sizes, but the next size up was TOO big and pinched my skin. The thickness of the adhesive also made it look like the artificial nails were popping off-which they weren't.

You can see here the weirdness of my nail under the imPRESS nail. It doesn't look so bad in the picture, but it looked really strange to me.

Final words: imPRESS Press-On Manicures aren't going to change your mind if you don't like artificial nails, but really, nothing will. If you do like press on nails, these are an excellent option, as there are tons of styles (including more nail art-y ones) and they have quite strong adhesive. If you are in doubt about whether to try these or not, go for it. They are relatively inexpensive (from what I've seen, anywhere from 6-8 dollars) and are a pretty nice alternative to a salon manicure.

These are availible at drugstores and WalMart. For more information and a coupon (!!!) go to the imPRESS site.
P.S. Thank you to my wonderful boyfriend who took the pictures featured in this blogpost!

Disclosure: I received these free of charge in my Holiday VoxBox from Influenster, but my opinions are my own.

A pedi and some recent manis

This is two coats of OPI Sparkle-icious over one coat of OPI Plum Full of Cheer. I LOVE THIS! It wasn't too hard to take off, either.

Some of the amazing sparkle!

This is two coats of Orly Rock-On Red. A very classy, dusty red. One of my favorites. Not color accurate, but almost.

Zoya Ali. This is a very, very bright neon pink in real life. My camera can obviously not handle the greatness.

Essie Berry Hard

Sorry about the inferior picture. The lighting in my dorm room is pretty awful. This was three coats of Essie Berry Hard, which I got at Ulta on clearance. I like the color, but I was disappointed in the brush. The bristles were a little clumpy, like polish had dried on it. This made the polish apply unevenly. I have Essie Lollipop, which I liked a lot better. The brush on that was normal and the color applied much more evenly. It really is too bad about the brush, but I'll probably use this one again and see if a little polish thinner will thin unclump the brush.
Concerning wear, it chipped pretty quickly on my right hand, but I don't wrap my tips so that might be part of it. It's such a pretty color and I really like the jelly-ness. I am looking forward to getting more polishes from Essie, although if the brush keeps being lame like that, I'll have to let it go.