Nail Power - My Adventure as a Manicurist

I'm not really a "nail" girl, but for the sake of scientific experiment, I recently became one.

I do love a good experiment.

When my ole' friend Jess threw out a shout-out to the facebook world, asking for some people to test out the fancy pants new nail wraps she's selling (Jamberry), next to nicely manicured nails (Julep), I couldn't resist!  So I messaged Jess my address, and in my mailbox just a few days later they showed up!

Of course, since this was a scientific experiment, I went above and beyond what I usually do for a nail-painting, since I wanted to make sure I started out with the appropriately level starting ground.  You know, for posterity's sake.  I mean I went all. out.  Looked up the proper brush strokes for painting, made sure to cover the ends of my nails with paint, all of it.  I was aiming for the bigtime.

Turns out, I'm not an exceptional manicurist.

I made Handsome take the picture right there.  After looking closely at my nails, he suggested that maybe he should take another, but from, like, across the room... He wasn't real impressed with my painting skills ;)  However, the Jamberry wraps were not difficult to put on.  You are supposed to heat up the wrap before you apply it, after you wipe your nails down with an alcohol swap; I didn't feel like running back upstairs to get the hair dryer, so I used the "exhaust" from my laptop to warm them up.  Worked like a charm.  

The next day, post shower (the real magic behind every good manicure), my nails looked awesome!

This manicure experiment, which I cleverly named #JamberryVJulep, lasted for a week.  I haven't made a habit of painting my nails because the dots of color floating at the ends of my fingers were distracting to me.  This time, though, it seems that I've become more mature because I was able to resist the little floating points of color, and I kind of enjoyed having pretty hands! 

Just because they were pretty doesn't mean I went easy on them.  No sirree!  I washed dishes, picked open boxes, peeled labels off of wine bottles, etc.  So although I had pretty nails for the first 2 or 3 days, by the week's end, they were looking kind of rough...

Also, it should be noted that I don't take excellent pictures one-handed.

But, you can see that above.

The Verdict: At first, I had more fun painting my nails than I did carefully placing the Jamberry wraps.  By the end of the week, everything was wearing a little bit, but the Jamberry wraps were not showing their wear, especially when compared to the painted nails.  

If you're interested in trying them, you can check out Jess's website here.  I'm planning to place an order myself when I'm feeling particularly school-spirity, because, hello!?!  Go TIGERS!

Have you done any science experiments lately?  Tried anything new I need to know about?  Have you used nail wraps yourself?  Happy Sunday, party people.  Let's get this party of a week started!

<3 M.