I was contacted by Shelley, a
Jamberry rep to see if I wanted to try out a set of Jamberry nail shields, which are revolutionary new nail products that take the
place of normal nail polish. When I agreed, she sent me a cuticle pusher, a file, two sheets of nail shields, alcohol wipes, and directions.
Jamberry Nail Shields are decorative vinyl that sticks to the nail via adhesive. Because they are not made
from nail polish as some competing brands are, they last much longer and
are much more durable. They can last up to 2 weeks on hands, 6 weeks on
toes. Since they aren't polish, they require no drying time and do not
chip or smudge. There are over 250 designs to choose from and each sheet comes with 18 shields and you can get 2-3 (or more!) uses per
sheet, giving you a salon quality manicure that lasts for weeks.
I'm just going to put this right out there, when it comes to this kind of stuff (beauty products), I am very slow and I usually mess things up somehow and this product wasn't an exception. I mean I didn't even wear eye liner until I was 18 and still have issues getting it to look decent, so just because I had issue with this product doesn't mean someone else will.
The directions are simple enough:
- Clean nails
- Cut and file nails to desired shape and length
- Buff the top of your nail and push back cuticles
- Match nail to appropriate sized shield
- Peel off shield and warm with blow dryer for 10-15 seconds
- When warm press onto nail, apply firm pressure around edges and use cuticle pusher to seal it around the cuticle
- Trim the top with scissors and file off remaining shield using a downward motion
- Apply heat and pressure to the shield again until it's sealed to the nail
It took me about 20 minutes to do all of my nails, but the end result wasn't pretty (I mean, from far away maybe). The only nails that ended up decent were my thumb nails, so I have no clue where I went wrong, but I DEFINITELY went wrong somewhere. For some reason the nail shields wouldn't lay flat on my nails, they ended up bunched up on one side or the other and would not flatten out. Then they kept pulling up on the tips, by day 3 I had to take them off, they were bothering me more then looking pretty.
When I emailed my rep she said:
"That usually happens when there isn't enough heat - you can heat the
shields longer up against the blow dryer (I hold them with tweezers
otherwise it gets too hot for me) until the shield has basically become
really flexible and soft and folded over and then put them on. Once its
on an if you still see bunches on the sides, you can try to pull it
from the tip forward on the side where it is wrinkled and push down on
it more as well. Basically I will reheat the shield while its on my
nail, pull on it slightly from the excess that is still on the tip to
stretch out where the wrinkle is, then push with another finger or
cuticle pusher from the back of the nail to the tip along the side where
the wrinkle is to the tip. Once or twice touching up like this usually
gets rid of the wrinkles. This also can occur if the shield is too big
and is touching the skin around the nail, but it most cases its from
lack of heat."
This is what the results are supposed to look like:
She also gave me an
application video to watch for extra help.
I have one sheet left (plus the extras from the last sheet), so I'll test them out again and see if I can get them any better (I'm hoping I will). If you have any questions or would like to see what Jamberry offers, check out
Shelley's page.
As part of my review Shelley is allowing me to give away one sheet of Jamberry nail shields (winners choice) to a lucky fan. Use the rafflecopter form below to enter.
Also if you want to order your own Jamberry nail shields visit www.shelley.jamberrynails.net
and make sure to choose VT Freebie Girl as the associated party at
checkout. Shelley will pick a winner from all those that purchased to
get the hostess rewards (more free shields)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Shelly provided me with two sheets of Jamberry Nail Shields to review and one to giveaway at no charge. In no way did this alter my perception of this product. My views and opinions are my own
