Testing out the Kiss Nail Dress Jeweled Nail Art Strips

Last week I did a post about the new Kiss Nail Dress nail art appliques I picked up, and on Friday I had a chance to test them out. They didn't turn out exactly like I imagined them to.

I started off with clean nails prepped with rubbing alcohol to remove any leftover oil or moisture and improve adhesion of the strips. Since it's pretty cold out, I let the strips warm up until they felt flexible before I applied them. Here's what happened:

They look pretty good from this angle, right?

But when I tilt my nails up a little and look underneath... Uh oh. Big gaps. The ends of the strips at my free edge wouldn't stick down for anything. Filing off the excess only made it worse by leaving rough, torn edges (those little gems did not want to be filed!).

And they wouldn't stick at the cuticle end, either. See how they stick up and create gaps around the cuticle there? You can probably see the gap a little better in the flash picture.

To be completely honest with you, I only had enough patience to do one hand. I really wanted to do a full manicure and then leave them on all weekend to see how well they wore, but I just couldn't do it. I took these off immediately after I snapped these pictures.

The problem I had with these is that they were really stiff and not very sticky. I have very curved nails. Bad combination.

Another weird thing I noticed about them is that once you started to flex them to the shape of your nail, they didn't look smooth anymore. They looked speckled and glittery underneath the gems.

Okay. First attempt failed. I really want to try these again because I think they look super cool, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to get them to work on my curved nails.

A few tips:

• These will likely work best on people with flat or only very slightly curved nails.
  
• When choosing the correct size decal for each nail, go a little bigger. They don't stretch like Incoco or Sally Hansen Salon Effects, so they end up being too narrow if you have curved nails and you pick the size that looks exact.
• Make sure they're at least room temperature. They're stiff, but they become a little more manageable the warmer they are. Rubbing them with your palms or hitting them with a little warm air from a hair dryer should do the trick. It helps if your hands are warm, too.
  
• Might be helpful to cut these down to your approximate nail length first, instead of after applying. Filing them down after they were on my nails made them want to lift up even more from the edge.
• No oil or moisture on the nail. Prep nails with alcohol or acetone first, and let it dry completely. Very important. These are not very sticky and anything that impedes adhesion at all will just ruin the strip.
  
• Since the strips aren't very sticky, avoid touching the adhesive side as much as possible.
  

I think that if these were half as stiff and twice as sticky, I wouldn't have had a problem with them. Maybe my nails are just too curved. Bah.

New Kiss Nail Dress Nail Art Appliques

Speaking of new drugstore nail stuff, have you seen these?

They're called Kiss Nail Dress, and they're jeweled nail strips. I haven't used them yet, but they looked so cool, I had to have them. I've seen similar products from other brands (Dashing Diva comes to mind), but these are much cheaper and easier to find.


What's cool about these compared to normal nail decals or nail appliques is that they're textured. There's actually a three-dimensional design. Little jeweled bubbles that stick out and look like you took the time to sit and glue hundreds of rhinestones onto your nails.

Right now there's a $1 off coupon on the display, which makes them even less expensive. Bonus.

Will report back after I've tried these, but I don't know when I'll get a chance to test them for wear.

Kiss also has a website where you can check out all the designs, plus a tutorial video that I should probably watch before I try to apply these.

New items from Kiss for Halloween 2011

Spotted the new Kiss Halloween display while out grocery shopping. This year they have lip gloss in addition to their awesome Halloween nail decals!


These are the new decals. NSHW05 and NSHW06. They're really similar to last year's, but this time there are some large body art stickers and slightly fewer decals. I still think it's weird that there's a decal that says skull... Really? Skull? Why not a picture of a skull instead? Regardless, the designs are adorable.

This is the new Kiss Limited Edition Halloween Dark Seduction Lip Gloss in black. There was another color on the display, it may have been red, but I only grabbed this one. Gorgeous packaging


It has one of those odd curvy applicators. I can't remember what brand had those... The long fuzzy wand that curves in... Know which one I'm talking about?


Here's the Dark Seduction gloss in black applied straight from the tube and then blended out a little bit. Flash and no flash. It's very dark, I was surprised! I thought it would be more sheer and grey, but it's not. It's a semi-sheer black with a purple tint.

The gloss has an odd and slightly unpleasant strong black raspberry candy scent. The scent lingers on my lips after the gloss is gone. It's just really strong and slightly too perfumey for me to really enjoy it much. Maybe it will grow on me.

The gloss formula isn't spectacular. It's slippery on the lips so it doesn't stay where you put it and it settles into all the lines in my lips. It looks great blotted down, but if I want to keep the glossy effect I may have to wear it over lipstick.

I found mine at Meijer in the Halloween seasonal section. I haven't seen these anywhere else yet.

New Kiss Catwalk Nails Collection Decals

You may remember me mentioning these Kiss nail decals in my Valentine's Day post. They deserve their own post, they're so great. They might have replaced those Fing'rs EDGE skull designs as my favorite decals...

The only name I can find on the package for this style is "Action" so I'm going to assume that that's what they're called. There's a number on the front, so that could also be the name of the style. I have no idea. But this is what they look like:

It comes with four sheets of decals. Each clear sheet containing the stickers is placed on top of a square of pink paper so it makes this pretty colored stripe effect in the package.

On the back of the package there are some ideas for combining decals to create new designs. There's also some really obvious directions.

Click this to enlarge. There are four distinct styles on each of the four sheets. Skulls, crosses, flowers, hearts, squiggles. The skulls are really cool because...


...When you look up close, the banner across the heart says "Rock, Kiss, Love" in hologram lettering! You may have to enlarge that picture to see it. The writing is SO SMALL, I'm amazed that they included that tiny detail. I love them for it, even though rock kiss love makes no sense.

Some of the decals have little metallic "gems" (they're really just flat shiny areas) on them in addition to the matte coloring, another nice touch.


Here I am wearing one of the floral-squiggle-gem decals over Trind Caring Color CC134 (I'll be reviewing this line soon!). The top picture is after a day and a half of wear, the bottom picture is freshly applied.

One thing that I really love about these decals is that the clear backing portion is 1) small and 2) really clear. This allows the design of the decal to be the main focus; you don't see a thick clear-ish outline around the design to distract you.

The decals are very thin and delicate but they also adhere really well, a fantastic combination. They lie completely flat, blend in with your polish perfectly and don't peel or curl up.

Honestly, I can't think of anything I don't like about these. I love the designs, the construction of the decals, the coloring, the packaging, the wear time and removal... They're just really damn good decals.

I guess I can think of one thing I don't like- the confusion about the name! Is the name 54031 or is it Action? Is it neither? What is the name?!

And maybe I suppose they're a little close to Ed Hardy territory, but whatever, they're awesome looking skull nail decals!

I don't remember where I got these... It was either Walgreen's or Meijer, but they sell Kiss decals everywhere so you shouldn't have a hard time locating them.

Valentine's Day Beauty Wishlist

You all know how much I love holidays... So whenever I see something holiday-themed, I immediately want it. I've been putting together my Valentine's Day beauty wishlist over the past couple weeks and I thought I'd share my favorites with you. Since I started putting together this list, I've actually bought some of the things, so you can expect full reviews soon!


Urban Decay's flavored body powders. I actually have all of these scents in the old-style packaging, but the new style packaging is even better! I am a total sucker for packaging, I know. I'd get them again just to have the gorgeous boxes. I really do like these, they're sweet scented (Cocoa is amazing, I wish it had a matching perfume) and they also taste sweet. The have a little bit of a tinted shimmer. I used to wear them on my chest/collarbone/décolletage when I was wearing lower-cut shirts. Oddly enough, whenever I wore these, this guy I worked with always told me how pretty I looked.




Physician's Formula Happy Booster blush, bronzer and powder. I don't think I've lusted after any beauty product quite like I did with these. The minute I saw them I just couldn't stop thinking about them. I did end up finding these last week and I love them so much. I'll do a review on them shortly, but let me mention that these currently have $3 off coupons attached to them, so if you're thinking about getting one, make sure to get one with a coupon on it!



Stila Make Me Blush. I feel the same way about this that I do about the Physician's Formula Happy Booster powders. I know that logically, it's just a blush. But when I see it I go crazy. It makes me giddy to look at. Of course, I caved and ordered the set that comes with the Hugs and Kisses lip glazes. It's actually a pretty inexpensive indulgence- the set is only $20.


Philosophy Sweet on You set. One of my readers told me about this! It's supposed to smell like those candy hearts that I love. I have the sweetest readers :) Anyway, I'm a huge Philosophy fan so this is extremely appealing to me. I really really want this!


Bath and Body Works Valentine's Day PocketBacs! They're 5 for $5 right now. These are so cute. I'm a bit of a germophobe so I always have hand sanitizer in my purse, but I wish I had these instead of my plain unscented Purell! Here's what the scents are:

• I Love You (aww ♥) in Sweet Pea
  
• I Love Shoes (lets get ‘em!) in Stylish Strawberry
  
• I Love Cake (maybe just a mini cupcake so that I can fit into my LBD tonight) in Buttercream
• I Love Boys (#bieberfever) in Berry Crush
• I Love Bling (who doesn’t) in Rock Candy

Buttercream and rock candy scented hand sanitizer! Must have these!


YBF Pucker Up lipstick set. They're in heart-shaped tubes! I remember that Models Prefer used to have a set just like this, and I remember always wanting it. I'd probably only be able to pull off that pink color in the middle, but like I said, I'm a complete sucker for packaging.


Kiss Catwalk Nail Decals. Actually, this isn't so much a wishlist item as a recommendation. I just got these and they're perfect for Valentine's Day. Just wanted to make sure I mentioned it!


Sephora Collection Flower Kabuki brush set. Gah. I can't handle how cute these are. I'm not sure how well they would even work for applying powder, but I need them. Anyone have these? Are they good? I love looking at them.


Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb gift set from Nordstrom.com. It comes in a heart-shaped box, just like a Valentine's Day box of chocolates! I'd rather have perfume than chocolate. Well, maybe. Perfume lasts longer. Can I get perfume and chocolate? I've been meaning to get a full sized bottle of Flowerbomb...




Kat Von D Adora fragrance and Painted Love Lipstick in Adora. Adora doesn't even sound like a fragrance I'd like based on the list of notes (Lychee, Boysenberry, Thyme, Cassis, Hyacinth, Jasmine, Mango Flesh, Patchouli, Sheer Musk, Amber Wood.) but I love love love the bottle. It looks so heavy. And the lipstick? I don't think I really wear red well, but the color of it is so bright and sparkly and look at that romantic looking tube! The red flowers on the black satin background! The little clear base that shows the color!


I'm having cute makeup overload.

Guest Review - Kiss and Revlon Press-On Nails

This is only the second time I've had a guest review! This time the guest reviewer is none other than my dear Mom. I was sent some press-on nails by Kiss that I'm literally unable to review. They're so short and small that they don't even cover half of my nail bed, so... yeah... review not possible. While my hands are on the petite side, they definitely aren't petite enough for the Kiss Petite french nails. However, my mom has some of the smallest hands and nails I've ever seen, so she was a perfect candidate to try these. Just one of the perks of being my mom.... Another is that you have an endless variety of polish colors to choose from when I give you a mani/pedi... Also, I'll give you unwanted critical commentary of stupid prime time sitcoms with identical plots for free!


In addition to the Kiss Petites, I put some Revlon press-on nails on her to compare, and here's how the Revlon Zoe nails worked for her:


"I liked them because they stayed on-- no bubbles or loosening. Didn't like because too wide and the color on tip chipped within 2 days."

I applied these to her using the Revlon NailStay glue that's included in the Revlon kit. I filed them down to a medium length- these start out pretty long, which I personally prefer because I have longer nail beds, but the long length doesn't work for her. My opinion of these is that they look a lot less natural than the Kiss nails, the tips are too thick and white. Not that a french manicure ever looks natural, but you know... some are less tacky than others.


And now here are the Kiss petites:


"I liked these better because they were smaller and thinner. I didn't think the glue was as good as the other brand, it bubbles and I kept getting my hair caught in them. The finish lasted, looked more natural and stayed shiny."

I applied these to her using the little disposable tube of glue included in the Kiss set. She's right, the Revlon glue is superior, not just in application, but in longevity. It's kinda difficult to apply the proper amount of glue using those little one-use tubes, and it doesn't set as fast or as strongly as the Revlon. They also lifted on her sooner than with the Revlon glue.

However, I think the end result looked a bit more natural. The actual thickness of the nail is a lot thinner so they do look more like a natural nail from a front/head on view. The base part of these nails is clear, so you won't be able to hide any imperfections on your nail or bubbles in your glue, but that also makes the nail look brighter and shinier. She didn't notice any chipping or wear in the white tip of the Kiss nails and she was able to wear them for a whole week with them still looking new.

The small width and length of these suited her pretty well. This set comes with some extremely tiny nails- the smallest ones are slightly bigger than a lentil! So if you have extremely petite hands and nails with very short nail plates and you want to try press-ons, these would be the nails for you.

The Kiss nails overall seemed thin and lightweight, especially compared to other brands of fakes I've tried. Someone would be less likely to detect that you're wearing press-ons with a nail as thin and clear as these. I can't say I'm a fan of that super bright white tip, but if these had a softer, more milky and translucent natural white, they'd definitely pass for real nails.


Thanks, Mom, for contributing your reviews and photos!

(These were sent to me for review...)

New Kiss Halloween Nail Decals and some of my decal collection

Since Halloween is coming up quickly I've been scouring the stores for some new Halloween-themed nail stuff (and makeup and housewares and so on...) and came across these in Walgreens:

(Click to enlarge)

Aren't those CUTE?! They are two separate sets- the left purple/black background is set one and the right orange/yellow background is set two. The left ones seem like a variation on my favorite Fing'rs EDGE decals with the skulls and bats (of which I may or may not have about 20 packages stockpiled...) and the ones on the right don't remind me of any existing set of decals.

I adore these. There's only one thing I don't like about them. See how on the set on the right there are words? "Witch" "pumpkin" "skull" and whatnot? That's really lame. Boo is cute, Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat are cute, but honestly, how dumb is it to have the word 'skull' written on your nails? It's not a picture of a skull... It just says 'skull.' Uh.... Did they need page filler or something? Why not throw on a few more pictures of bats or actual skulls?

And just for fun, I took a picture of some of my Halloween decal stash (I am obsessed with decals)

The new Kiss ones are on the top left so you can see how they're packaged. Last year's Kiss ones (in the middle) were really cute. I don't know if you can see it but there's a pumpkin with a witch hat that's just adorable. There's also some bones in one set that look like dog bones that I've used with the Fing'rs paw print decals.

Are there any Halloween decals I'm missing? I need to collect them all!