My nails decided to join in on the fun of my twelve days of Christmas! I actually ordered these Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Peppermint Twist last winter, while I was in Taiwan. If you're just tuning in, I like to have fun and express myself (or just my mood) through my nails from time to time, and I've so far been a big fan of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects. They're essentially strips of nail polish that you can stick directly onto your nails and will last for up to 10-14 days, depending on the design. They retail for $9.99 a box (which come with 16 strips for your 10 fingers, which you can stretch to two full applications if you have nails on the short side like me), but you can often get them on sale.

I've tried the Girl Flower print, the Frock Star "print" (it was a multicolored glitter that quite frankly decided to start chipping almost right away), and the Kitty Kitty print.



I'm not sure what went "wrong" this time around -- maybe it was because I was under the weather and not paying as much attention as I probably normally would have, or maybe because the strips are now a year old ... or maybe because I'm plain out of practice -- but the strips did not perform to my satisfaction. They didn't seem to fit my nails quite right and ripped off at the nail edges to create what looked like chips just after application.


But overall, it's hard to tell that there's really anything wrong with my nails from afar and they do look like tasty candy canes, so ... all in all, I'm still happy. I'm willing to bet that they would've turned out better if I had been a bit more patient. With new kinds of nail applications readily available on the market (like at-home gel nails and Shellac-type things), I'm not sure how long these strips will be around, but for now, they're fun and economical.