The latest site I discovered was Influenster.com. Their program is unique as it offers surveys in order to build your profile and gain points, and through learning about you and the products you enjoy (and others that you don't), when you reach a certain amount of points you may be accepted into a VoxBox program. The VoxBox will be sent to you with free stuff that you then have to review through a survey and social media. (A link to the Influenster/ VoxBox program will be at the end of this post.)
After binge-taking surveys one day while watching TV, I later qualified for my first VoxBox. I took the "do-you-qualify" survey which was pretty vague. It asked if I had heard of certain brands, notably Sally Hansen and L'oreal. A couple days later I received an e-mail saying the VoxBox was on it's way with Broadway's ImPress Press-On Manicure.
My reaction: What?
I have had acrylic nails for over a year and a half, so I was optimistically hoping the product that was now in the mail for me were nail stickers or nail wraps, something that could go over the existing artificial nails I have.
I headed to the Instagram tag to see what these things were all about. Bold prints, colours and cute packaging. Most of the patterns I saw were a bit... flamboyant for my taste but I figured all but two would be okay and if they turned out to be press on nails, (I was too hopeful to actually research the product) I'd give them to my friend.
When I received my VoxBox, I was in for some surprises.
Surprise 1: They came literally three days after I received the notification e-mail.
Surprise 2: Definitely fake press-on nails.
Surprise 3: They were the two patterns I had hoped they wouldn't be.
Over the Moon is a hot pink and red ombre with speckled leopard print.
Dancing Queen is plain black and white zebra print.
Firstly, I'm just not an animal print kind of person. I say that even though I had a complete animal print bedroom from the ages of 12-16. But on my person as anything other than a pair of simple leopard print flats or MAYBE an infinity scarf, I just can't do it. Both of these prints are extremely loud and borderline gaudy to me to have on every single nail. Maybe if I had received just one of these packages and a plain colour (which apparently retail for two dollars less than the patterns) it wouldn't have been as overwhelming to have as an accent nail.
So the box sat under my desk for weeks. Influenster sent me e-mails reminding me that I had to complete the surveys to be eligible for future programs, but I wasn't going to use these and I had no friends that were any more adventurous than me.
But I do have a ten-year-old neighbour.
I've been painting her nails since I moved across the street from her family when she was three. Every so often I'll get a text from her mom's phone:
And today was one of those days. Since I work tomorrow, she came over after dinner and I brought up the conversation we had a few months ago about how fake nails aren't appropriate for girls her age. She had been disappointed... but today me and ImPress Manicure had come up with a solution.
I had been hoping that, as this is the girl whose dream prom dress is this little number:
She would find the crazy nail patterns perfectly delightful. However, her taste is aligned more with mine when it comes to acceptable nail patterns. I had kind of assumed that would be the case. So, our solution would be to put on the "fake nails" and paint over top with the nail polish of her choice. Yay for compromise.
These are the contents of the two separate packages. The packaging is really cute with having the nails inside plastic nail polish bottles. Each one came with a little alcohol towelette to clean the nails before application, and one package came with a baby nail file (the little pink oval on the middle-right). Not sure if that was because they knew I'd be receiving both "bottles" or one was just not included with the zebra print one. Weird.
So, I cleaned T's nails with the (very strong smelling) towelette and as instructed, began to find plastic nails that matched the size of each of her nail-beds. T selected the zebra print one (good call, I think). Each package contained 24 nails which covered 12 different sizes. They were a good range and the smallest ones fit her little baby nails perfectly. Then, as instructed, I laid out the ten nails before applying them.
(Ignore the two-week nail growth on my own nails...)
Application was easier than I thought. Given, I had full use of my dominant hand for all ten fingers and was holding T's hand steady with each nail application. But even still, I'd give a solid 9/10 for application process... losing one point just because one of the plastic protectors came off weird on one and in an attempt to get it completely off, most of the stickiness wore off as well. This is probably my own fault, but I digress. There is no glue and the process is as simple as peel-stick-push.
Here you can see T's hands with all ten nails. They look more than a little ridiculous, even without the pattern. I knew I'd have to file them anyway for a more age-appropriate length, but I felt they were a little long even for adult fingers. Maybe on Pebbles Flinstone at age 19... but otherwise... not a fan.
And here are fully filed down, kid friendly length. The little pink nail file was all but useless so I used mine that is for my acrylics. I had to admit that once the nails were shorter the pattern wasn't as overwhelming and was almost cute on her. But we definitely agreed that nail polish was necessary.
And here's the finished look! T picked my China Glaze polish in Custom Kicks, and it's actually much more turquoise than the picture shows. I'm definitely not the best at painting nails, but the smoothness of the plastic underneath really helped and the polish went on perfectly. Also, shoutout to China Glaze because the polish covered the zebra print almost completely with just two coats!
Thanks so much to Influenster for sending me this VoxBox, T for being my guinea pig and to you for reading this post! If you're looking for something with a bit more permanence than a basic manicure without the cost/ commitment of shellac or acrylic/ gel nails: I recommend giving these a try! I personally wouldn't give up my acrylics, but these seem like a more cost effective (and gentler! I had to take off some of the nails that didn't set right and T said it didn't hurt, plus no residue on her nail!) way to get a professional looking manicure. But maybe skip the crazy animal print. Or don't... it's your life, man.
According to the insert, the nails are said to last a week and will retail at Walmart, Target, London Drugs (and a couple stores I've never heard of) for $8.99 (colour) and $10.00 (pattern).
You can check out this product (along with some actually really awesome alternative colour and pattern choices) on their website: http://impressmanicure.com
For more information on Influenster and the VoxBox, you can click this handy little button:
Thanks so much for reading this post and I hope you have an awesome day! :)
Adrianna.
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