Review: So Real False Nails by Nailene

I wrote a review of Nailene’s Tip Whitener Pen a while back and a lovely lady from Nailene contacted me to ask whether she could send me some product samples to try out. Included in my goodie package were 3 packs of false nails – 2 classic French tipped ones and a set with blue sparkly ends.

On Friday night I decided to give one of the standard French tip sets a go. I have never worn false nails before so was a little apprehensive about applying them (even more so about how I would get them off again!) but I went for it nevertheless.

I chose the nails that were the right size for each of my fingers – there are 2 sets of 12 sizes in the pack so it shouldn’t be a problem to find ones that fit. I was able to find a good fit for all but one finger, but it wasn’t too noticeable that the fit on my right hand ring finger wasn’t exact. The nails look as though they have been attached to a strip of some kind when they were manufactured as each tip had an extra nodule on the end that needed filing off. This was easy to do with an ordinary emery board.

The pack instructs you to buff your nails and push back the cuticles – a nail buffer and orange stick are provided for this purpose. Then I was ready to start gluing the nails. I found this fairly easy even though it was my first time doing it, but I did manage to get glue on my fingers and almost glued myself to the table at one point. The excess glue on my fingers was mostly removed with nail varnish remover, the rest had come off by the time I’d taken a shower and slept overnight.

The nails look pretty natural and I was pleased with the way they made my hands look. They are not at all long (Nailene describe the length as ‘medium’ but as my fingers are long, I think a shorter length would be too short for me), only slightly longer than my own nails which I tend to keep pretty short anyway. I was worried about how I would manage removing my contact lenses with them on though, and this was not something I attempted to do at all over the weekend.

I applied the nails Friday evening and by Sunday tea time 2 of them had dropped off. I stuck them back on but a third one fell off as I was cooking tea on Monday (fortunately it ended up in the sink and not in the lasagne!) so I decided I would remove them that evening.

You will need to set aside a good amount of time for taking the nails off. The pack says they will dissolve after a few minutes of soaking in acetone nail varnish remover. No. After an hour and a quarter, I still hadn’t got all of the nails off – and resorted to prising them off with my other nails once they had soaked for a while to soften the glue (NOTE: This method of removal is not recommended, but seriously, I thought I would be there all night!). There is still some glue on my own nails this morning that refuses to budge – I’ll have another go with the nail varnish remover tonight.

Despite the trouble removing them, I would definitely recommend these nails and would probably use them again if I was going to a wedding or other special event. As long as you are aware that it will take a long time to remove the nails you can plan in doing it. I liked that they were short in length, yet still looked good.

You can buy Nailene So Real nails at WalMart, CVS and Rite Aid in the US, and try Boots stores for them in the UK.