French Kissed feet: Sally Hansen French Manicure Kit
Written: Oct 18 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great for pedicures.
Cons: Difficult for manicures.
The Bottom Line: For winter, try a French pedicure. It's a really sharp look.
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| nwinston's Full Review: Sally Hansen French Manicure Kit |
~=~ Nails R Not Us ~=~
I have a nail problem. No, not that kind of nail. I'm actually pretty good with a hammer. Although my husband would like me to quit moving pictures around and leaving holes in the walls. My nail problem involves the growth at the tips of my fingers.
Some women always have the perfect manicure. They could be hand models. Me, I have hands that look like I've been hammering all day. Washing diapers, serving the millionth snack, doing dishes, supervising art projects with the kids, dirty yard work and prying Legos apart really take a toll on my fingernails. My hands could model for a nail shop's "before" pictures. My nails are brittle and tend to split and peel. Not a pretty sight. As a result, I keep them short and try not to attract attention with them. If I do polish them, it's with clear or light pink polish.
~=~ Small Justice ~=~
On the theory that everyone has to have a good feature, I was blessed with perfect toes. People are always remarking on how great they look when I wear sandals. Or am barefoot. Which is a lot since we don't wear shoes inside our house. It may sound strange, but I'm not making this up. People really do comment on my toes. While that shows that those commenting need a hobby, I still take some pride in my perfect toes. I keep them polished and groomed at all times. I know what you're thinking. Fingernail compensation. In an effort to make up for the ugly hands, I try to draw attention to my piggies. Yep. You've earned an "A" in psych 101!
~=~ French feet? ~=~
I usually polish my toes in a bright fuscia, pink or red polish. The theory is that the brighter the color, the greater the distraction from the hands! I saw a photo somewhere of feet that looked like they had a French manicure. Only on the toes, it's called a pedicure. It looked neat. So I decided to give it a try.
~=~ Shopping confusion ~=~
Since I generally ignore my fingernails, the trip to the drugstore was mind boggling. There were 2 aisles of nail products. WowWee! How to choose? Then I saw the Sally Hansen French Manicure Kit. Advertised to have everything necessary for a French manicure, I figured I couldn't go wrong. With a sale price and in-store coupon, I was out of there for $3.00 and some shreds of sanity intact. Good thing I didn't have to sort through every product on both aisles! It would have been more daunting than choosing a cold medicine.
~=~ Kit? ~=~
Curiosity had me wondering what was in a manicure kit. Turns out Sally Hansen's had 2 nail polish colors, white and light pink (barely mauve for those fluent in color speak). It also had some press on strips to keep the white color line nice and straight. And of course, instructions. Tempted to toss the instructions as I typically do, I had a braino and accidentally read them. Good thing. Otherwise, I might never have known to put the strips on before painting in the white color.
~=~ Beauty product challenged ~=~
Former parent of a teen foster daughter, people always ask how I was so brave to take in a teen girl. Actually, it was a big help. I'm beauty product challenged. It was so nice to have someone who had infinite time and interest to try out all the latest beauty products, then experiment on me. You know how your hair always looks better when you leave the salon than when you do it yourself? I had salon do's everyday with a teen gal in my home. Being a guinea pig isn't always a bad thing!
Unfortunately, I was going to have to go it alone using the Sally Hansen French Manicure Kit. Tempting as it was to adopt another teen that liked to paint nails, I knew my husband would balk at the cost of feeding 30 teens per weekend again. (on the theory that if her friends are at your house, you know what they're doing.)
~=~ Trying it out ~=~
The time had arrived to see if Sally knows French nails. I unpeeled a white sticky strip from the paper backing. The kit comes with 100 of them. I attempted to line it up so it divided the white part of my toenail from the pink. I started with my big toe thinking the bigger target would be easier. The strip was too long so I let it hang over. I pressed very hard, so paint wouldn't seep under it. I figured it was similar to painting baseboards.
Once I had pressed the strip hard enough to stop blood flow to my toe, I shook up the white polish bottle. Blood flow resumed, making gangrene a non-issue. I removed the top of the white polish bottle. There was way too much paint on the brush. I wiped it off on the bottle. More paint dripped down from the cap. I wiped it off. When the right amount of paint was present after repeated wipings, I painted from the center of my white toenail tip to one side, then to the other. I waited 5 minutes for it to dry. Then I removed the strip. Miraculous! I had a perfect white stripe across the top of my toenail. Very professional looking.
I went on to the other piggies. Not wanting any to feel left out and squealing, I worked quickly. When all 9 (Yes, I have 10 toes. As I already explained, I did one first as an experiment.) were dry, I peeled. All but one looked great. I touched up one which lost a little paint in the peeling process. The smaller toes were more difficult to paint but worth it. I had to cut the strips in half to use them on the tiny toes. After I was done, I stood up and looked at my feet. The white stripes looked very crisp.
Time to cover with barely mauve. Hoping for a light pink effect with the white stripes still visible, I definitely got a light pink effect. An invisible one. It took 3 coats for the mauve to barely show up.
~=~ Does it always work? ~=~
Since doing the pedicure the first time, I've used the kit 5 additional times for the same look. Each paint application lasts between a week and two, depending on how rough I am on my feet. At the beach, the sand was abrasive and the pedicure only lasted a week. Each time, I've gotten a great look from the kit. But if you put the barely mauve on before the white is desert dry, it will smear the white stripes. This is the first product I've used that doesn't make me feel like a beauty school reject!
~=~ Bottom line ~=~
I'm too much of a spastic painter to use Sally Hansen French Manicure Kit on my hands. Also, I don't have enough finger nail tips to make it work out. Kminer wrote a review stating that she didn't have great luck with this kit on her fingers. But it really works well on my toes. My only request is that Sally add a little more mauve color as "barely" doesn't cut it for me. After getting smooth feet from Avon's Sloughing Cream, now I can really show off my feet with a French pedicure!
~=~ Details ~=~
Ingredients: Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocelulose, Tosylamide/Formaldehyde Resin, Tosylamide/Epoxy Resin, Dibutyl Phtalate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Propyl Acetate, Amyl Acetate, Diacetone Alcohol, Acrylates Copolymer, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Camphor, Benzophenone-1, Octyl Methoxycinamate, Octyl Salicylate. May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (sunscreen for nails??), D&C Red No. 6 Barium Lake, D&C Red No. 7 Calcium Lake, FD&C Yellow No. 5 Aluminum Lake, D&C Red No. 34 Calcium Lake, Bismuth Oxychloride, Iron Oxides, Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide, Guanine, Mica, Aluminum Powder, Polyethylene, Terephthalate.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nwinston
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Location: US
Reviews written: 272
Trusted by: 239 members
About Me:
Loving my boys and the summer weather in Oregon!
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