I'm really not much of a girly girl & you might have noticed if you know me in real life or you follow me on social media that I rarely wear nail polish. Here's why:
- I don't have time to paint my nails.
- Baby B still sucks on my fingers fairly often, so I don't want nail polish flaking off into her mouth.
- As the mother of two messy, germy children, one of whom is in diapers, I wash my hands a lot & find myself doing a lot of things that are hard on my nails.
- I avoid exposure to toxic chemicals whenever I can--most nail polish is full of them.
- The less toxic nail polish is expensive.
When I got the offer from Influenster to try out Broadway Nails ImPress Manicure I admit I was pretty skeptical. I tried press-on nails when I was in high school--major thumbs down. They felt weird & fell off pretty quickly. But I thought, hey, let's see if the technology has improved & decided to give these a chance. After Influenster sent me a set, it took me about a week or so to actually get around to putting them on.
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| Pretty plain purple press-ons |
The process was a lot faster than painting my nails. I wiped my nails with the included alcohol prep pad, while it was totally drying I chose the sizes of the nails that would fit, peeled off the backing & pressed them on. I think the whole thing was done in under five minutes & they look pretty great. Definitely faster than painting with nail polish, waiting for it to dry, then doing a second coat. That takes care of issue #1 above.
Because these nails are solid magenta colour, I don't think anything could come off in the baby's mouth if she sucked on my finger. I probably won't intentionally let her, but the chances of her getting my hand into her mouth are high. With some of the other styles of nails, there are designs painted on top, or glitter or even little plastic gems, so there could be a risk of that coming off & being swallowed. So if you pick the plain styles, that crosses #2 off the list, more or less.
After five days of wearing the Broadway Nails, washing my hands a dozen or more times a day, locking & unlocking bikes, picking tape off a play table, they fared quite well. I even received a few compliments on them. The colour looked better than any nail polish I've ever used, as they can't really chip. That takes care of #3 on the list. There was a little adhesive past the ends of my natural nails, which meant stuff got stuck underneath the tips of the nails. They also became a little looser by this point, so when I ran my hands through my hair, a strand or two would get caught under the edges of the nail. The nails were nowhere near falling off though.
In terms of chemicals, #4 on my list, I don't know what's in the adhesive, or if that could possibly be absorbed into my body. However, there are no fumes like with nail polish, so I'd say the Broadway Nails ImPress Manicure are probably safer, health wise.
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| One of the many crazy designs available |
The downside to press-on nails is cost. A set of Broadway Nails ImPress Manicure costs about $8+. They're single use only--the set does include 24 nails, but they're 12 different sizes, so you won't likely get a great fit with the leftovers after your first manicure. Even very high end less-toxic nail polish is a lot cheaper than that per use. If you're comparing it to having salon manicures done, it's cheaper, but I'd say the acrylic nails I've had done were a lot more durable than these.
In terms of environmental impact, I'd give Broadway Nails ImPress Manicure a fail. Each set comes in a plastic box the shape of a nail polish bottle, with a soft plastic tray inside that. Then there's a packet for the nail prep pad, a slip of paper with a tiny nail file attached to it & another plastic package around the whole thing. Very little of it, if any, is recyclable. That's a whole lot of garbage for one manicure.
If you're really keen on nail art & have a special occasion to dress up for, but zero time to do your nails or go to a salon, maybe these nails would make sense. But for the money & environmental impact, I'd say choosing a less toxic nail polish brand is better. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I'd buy these in future--I definitely liked them more than I thought I would & you can't beat them for ease of use.
What do you think? Have you used Broadway Nails Impress Manicure before? Would you try them out?
Disclaimer: I received two sets of Broadway Nails ImPress Manicure to facilitate this review. I was not otherwise compensated for this post. The words, images & opinions above are my own.
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