Alright friends, I finally tried those stick-on nails everyone’s raving about! Always thought they’d be cheap junk, but my real nails looked like crap after gardening. Figured why not give it a shot? Grabbed a cheap set from the corner store – worst case, waste a few bucks, right?
Getting My Tools Ready
Dumped everything out on my kitchen table. The box had:
- Little plastic nails in different sizes
- Weird sticky double-sided tabs
- A tiny file looking like sandpaper
- Mini alcohol wipe thingies
That’s it. Felt kinda barebones. Searched for nail glue – nothing. Just those tabs. Huh. Hope they stick.
Prepping My Real Nails
First, I washed my hands real good with soap, scrubbing around the nails. Dried ’em completely. Then I ripped open one of those alcohol wipe packets – smelled strong, like hospital stuff! Really wiped down each fingernail hard. Wanted zero grease or dirt.
Next, took the tiny file. Roughly scratched up the surface of every single nail. Felt weird, like I was ruining them! But the instructions said “lightly buff.” So I did. Brushed away the dust.
Finally, cleaned each nail again with another alcohol wipe. Let everything air dry completely. Drank some coffee while waiting. Patience isn’t my strongest suit!
The Sizing Chaos
Time to find the right fake nails. Started laying out the plastic nails on my fingers to match sizes. Was kind of annoying! My pinky nails are way smaller than my thumb. Had to try a bunch from the box. Labelled each plastic nail with a pen so I wouldn’t mix them up later – “P” for pinky, “M” for middle, you get it.
Trimmed the fake thumb nail a tiny bit with scissors. It was huge! Shaped the edge slightly with the file. Not too bad.
Sticking Them On… For Real
Okay, here we go! Peeling those tiny sticky tabs was fiddly. My big fingers struggled. Finally got the backing off one. Pressed the sticky side firmly onto the back of the fake pinky nail. Like, the inside curve part.
Peeled off the other backing from the tab – revealing the second sticky side. Took a deep breath. Carefully lined up the fake pinky nail over my real pinky nail. Started pressing down from the cuticle side out towards the tip. Pushed hard, especially around the sides and base. Held it there, counting to like, thirty. Felt super weird!
Repeated this whole annoying peeling-sticking-aligning-pressing routine for every single finger. Index finger took two tries – aligned it crooked first time, looked dumb. Peeked at it and freaked out! Managed to pull it off (gently!) before I pushed too hard. Second try was better. Middle finger? Smooth. Ring finger? Needed a bigger size. Thumb? Held it forever. Whew.
Final Touches & The Result
Pressed down super hard on every single fingernail again, especially the tips and edges. Ran my thumbs along the cuticle line over and over. Wanted them flat!
After about ten minutes… tried tapping them lightly. Didn’t fly off! Cool. They felt weirdly solid? My hands looked instantly fancy… from a distance. Close up? Cuticles were a tiny bit messy, but eh. Good enough for first try!
Left them alone for an hour just in case. Wrote this whole post carefully pecking at the keyboard. Feeling pretty pleased! Might try a patterned set next weekend. Cheaper than the salon, for sure.
