A few years ago, I was really into nail art. I spent a lot of my evenings relaxing and trying new designs. I never got into anything complicated. A little glitter here, maybe some stamping there…
The downside to nail art is the time. It takes a lot of time. From base coats, to applying stickers or stamps, to the top coat and dry time. It takes time, and it is not very Filthy Casual friendly.
My friend’s wife became a Color Street consultant and reached out to me to try Color Street Polish Strips. In all honesty, I was not originally interested. She reached out again, and my impressions are based on my personal experience with the polish strips.
Cost
If you’re reading this, you are genuinely curious about Color Street and thus, you are probably most concerned about the value. Honestly, when Ann first approached me, I was put off by the price. I am not sure why I was so deterred by it as I drop $20 on bottles of polish all the time, but I was. So, let’s break it down:
The average price of a set of Color Street Polish Strips is $11-13 a set depending on what style you choose. One set contains 16 strips which is only enough full strips for one manicure with a six extra in case you make a mistake, or want to use a few for accent nails. You also have to pay $3.00 shipping and tax unless you have a local consultant. For the sake of simple math, let’s say that your nails are short enough that you can manage to get two manicures from each set, and you paid shipping and tax. Your average cost of a manicure is going to be roughly $8.00 on a $13.00 set.
I can purchase a bottle of high-quality nail polish, such as Butter London, at $18/bottle from a store, so no shipping, but I have to pay tax. Out of that one bottle, I can get 4-8 manicures depending on how many coats I use. So, buying my own polish with some tax factored in, I would be paying $5.00 for a simple, one-color manicure on my own.
Not only am I averaging less per manicure by doing it myself, I am getting more manicures out of a bottle of polish.
That being said, painting your own nails is not easy for every one. I have friends that no matter how much they focus, they cannot paint their own nails cleanly and end up with a less-than-stellar manicure that may only last 1-3 days.
So, is it worth it?
What’s comes in the set?
Each set of Color Street strips comes with two prep pads, a small file, and 16 polish strips. As I mentioned, depending on the length of your nails, you might only get one manicure from each set with some left over accent nails. If you have short nails, you can cut the strips in half and extend your strips to two, possibly three, manicures. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there with suggestions on how to get the most out of the strips and how to reseal the plastic to keep the strips from drying out.
Application and Removal
Application is super easy, y’all. If you can peel and place a sticker, you can peel and place a polish strip. You may be familiar with Jamberry Nail Wraps (which went defunct and was acquired by a different company), which required you to use a heat source to activate the wrap. This is not the case with Color Street. Color Street is 100% nail polish, not a wrap. No special tools are required! If your recollection of Jamberry is the reason why you haven’t considered Color Street, you should definitely reconsider. The strips do have some stretch, but you have to be careful not to tear them.
I take my time on the application. Generally, it has taken me no less than 30 minutes to put on a full set because I am a perfectionist. I take my time. Some people will claim they can get a full set on in 10-15 minutes, and I have no doubt they can. Compared to the time I expended doing a traditional manicure, polish strips are a huge time saver. A traditional manicure always took more than an hour to prep, paint, top coat, and dry.
As for removal, the nail polish strips are removed just like normal nail polish.
You can watch application videos and/or view application instructions here: https://mycolorstreet.com/annh/application#videos
How long do they last?
I have done two full manicures, and both lasted about a week and a half. I do use the nail prep pad, and I do apply a clear fast-drying top coat. I prefer Seche Vite. Here, you can see the length of my nails. With this length, I was unable to get more than one manicure out of the set. My nails were too long.
The picture below is after two full weeks of wear, no trimming or filing. It really looks no different than my normal, traditional manicures. Good, high-quality polish traditionally lasts about 10 days, and coincidentally, so did the strips. You can see that the polish only faltered where it it should have. There is wear and tear/chipping from typing, and growing away from the cuticle. You can extend the cleanliness of your manicure by cleaning up near the nail bed with some acetone and a small paint brush and also file the tips or trim the tips. I did not do this with the first trial manicure to see how it held up.
Final Verdict
I had no intention of actually giving nail polish strips a chance based on cost alone. After actually trying them, I kind of feel silly for letting that be such a major factor. I truly feel that if you don’t have the skill level to do your own manicures, you really can’t beat the price. Have a special event coming up, but you’ve already expended all your money on hair or the outfit? Or, maybe you can’t wear polish due to work? This is great cost-saving alternative for that one-time manicure. I didn’t think that at first, but after seeing how much time it saved me, the ease of application, and the durability being comparable to my normal regular polish manicures, I quickly changed my mind. Color Street has plenty of designs, as well as traditional polish colors, to give you great looking nails quickly.
I definitely opine to ignore the price and give it a try.
If you are considering giving Color Street a go, they just released their 2019 Spring Collection. They are running a buy three, get one free special, so now is the time to buy! Consider contacting Ann or visiting her website to order: https://mycolorstreet.com/annh
**I WAS NOT COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY FOR THIS REVIEW OF COLOR STREET PRODUCTS, NOR APPROACHED BY ANN TO WRITE A REVIEW AND/OR RECOMMEND HER AS A CONSULTANT. MY REVIEW AND OPINION ARE MY OWN AND MAINLY BASED ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE**
Filthy Casual for Life 