I'm a certified nail technician, but I no longer do it full time. So back in the day my nails had to be perfect. Now my nails are natural, but kempt, and I only fake it if I'm on holiday, or going to a party or date night.
I'm on holiday in Aussie right now, so great timing! I chose the design Daiquiri - long, stiletto nails in a 'feature' nail design. You could play around with the finished manicure, but the suggested look from thumb to pinky is: pink, glitter, feature, glitter, pink. I followed this pattern.
The design is very pretty and blinging. I love the glitter nail. Being a bit picky, the diamante feature on the line of the feature was a little misaligned, but in a way it added to the natural look, because humans rarely get things perfect right?!
Very easy to apply. If you allow the glue to get tacky on the nails before pressing down it creates less mess and minimises over-spill.
These are easy to file down if you need to, both at the tip and down the sides for fit. The file is a bit pants, if you need to file quite a bit, you'll want a tougher one.
They look as natural as falsies can, and do not look like press-ons. My girlfriend's are convinced these are gel or acrylic because of the quality!
Long is long - even though I'm used to long nails I do keep catching my thumb. The glue sticks so well its actually a bit sore when I catch it, but thats a reflection of my nail choice. It would be cool if each design was a available in variety of lengths.
I really love these nails, thanks BR!
If you're a woman of age, I dare you to try and get through reading about these nails without humming Penny Lane.
If I'm going to an event, or a special occasion I always have my nails done at the salon. You know, gel nails, usually with a french tip, because I become overwhelmed choosing a design on the spot. I was really excited about this trial, but also a bit worried, mostly because, my nails are odd.
My drunk party trick is slamming my fingers in doors. Not on purpose you understand, but nonetheless its what I'm known for. Toilet doors, taxi doors, electronic gates. The result has been uneven nail beds - some are pretty much flat, with no natural curve. So I was a bit worried 'full' fake nails wouldn't fit properly (as opposed to just tips, and the bed being built up with gel like at the salon)
Anyhoo. The super fun part of this trial was selecting our design. I spent like an hour on the Teddy Lane website. Making a list. An actual handwritten list y'all, of my choices. I really like that it clearly shows the length and shape you're choosing. I choose a medium length, almond shape design called Catwalk.
Here lies the biggest negative of the trial.
Its actually difficult being sure of the design you're choosing. The live action photos compared to the 'stock' photos show very different shades and its hard to gauge the finish of the nails. Going by the photos I thought Catwalk was a pinky-gold glitter. Its actually a rose gold embossed foil. Nice, but not what I thought. And if I'm paying $29 on press ons, I want to know what I'm getting. So my feedback here is to add a text description of the designs too.
On to the actual nails - beautifully packaged, with very detailed instructions. I found matching sizes really easy, and actually had enough of a mix left over that my sister got a set out of it too!
I chose to go for the 10 day wear. Gluing them on is a bit of a 'leap' moment. You line it up, say a fleeting prayer to Manicurus, the God of Nails and go for it.
The length and shape I chose were perfect for me - a bit of a statement without erring into Ru Paul territory. My flat nails weren't an issue at all, the nails pressed on evenly and relatively straight, and really did look natural. Particularly around the cuticle area.
I work in admin and these held up remarkably well given the aggressive typing of my email replies and changing many a nappy at home. I wore gloves when washing up and I even did a bit of weeding (with gloves) too.
[review continued in Tips section]
Tips: The foil design started to wear on day 5, and by day 8 was looking past the point of acceptable out-of-the-house nails. But the glue was still super tight, so rather than try and ping them off, I waited for the glue to loosen before wiggling them off.
The price is fair for the quality of nails. Potentially a bit pricey for the press-on concept, but then again a lot less dollar than a salon gel job and it wreaked less havoc on my nails, than the aftermath of gel. So...yeah, I'd try a different design at this price for sure. In fact I've only marked this down on 'would I use it again?' because I wouldn't go for Catwalk again (on account of it being foil, not glitter like the images look).
Looking at my boring, wonky natural nails, I cast my mind back over my 10 days of Teddy Lane and the background music to my reverie fades in. ...'Teddy Lane was on my nails and on my hands'...and by golly gosh, did Teddy Lane look good there.