Lushly Luxe - OMG Nail Foil Strips Review

You've probably already seen Jme's review last week of OMG nail polish strips, but today I've got the nail foil strips here to show you. These were sent to us for review and honest opinion. We figured we'd review one of each type so I've picked the Floral Nail Foil strips. You can see the entire selection of nail foils here.Remember, these are nail foil strips, not transfer foils!

[Floral Nail Foil Strips from OMG Nail Strips]

This is a lovely red and gold design that I thought was just perfect for the Lunar New Year on the weekend!

[Floral Nail Foil Strips from OMG Nail Strips]

There are 16 strips per nail foil package and it comes in nice matte black packaging with a window through which you can see the actual contents. The strips are a very generous sizing - the largest is about 2cm across!

[Packaging and Instructions: Floral Nail Foil Strips from OMG Nail Strips]

Instructions are on the back (click the image to zoom in) but I was informed that this was the beta packaging and some additional info will be added which I've noted here:

Instructions
1. Clean and manicure nails and cuticles prior to applying nail strips
2. Peel nail strips from the flat side of the strip, the rounded side will be placed just above your cuticles.
3. Place the round side of the nail strip at the base of your cuticle. Applying pressure from the middle of the cuticle press around in one direction and then the other.
4. Holding the nail strip at the cuticle base stretch the nail strip over the tip of the nail while smoothing out any creases on the side of the nail.(foils need to be stretched more than polish strips to reduce bubbling)
5. Using a cuticle pusher tuck the nail strip in along the cuticle base.
6. Hold your nail so it is facing up and use a thin fine grain nail file, filing in a (downward only) direction to remove the excess nail strip from the tip and around the sides of your nail.
7. Now that your nail foil is applied use a hair dryer on high heat and your finger to smooth out any remaining imperfections. (for Nail Polish Strips heat is not necessary but you will want to apply two coats of clear coat to increase longevity.)

Now... onto the images!
Prior disclaimer: this is the absolute first time I've ever tried applying nail foil strips so take from that what you will! ;) 

[No topcoat: Floral Nail Foil Strips from OMG Nail Strips]

Image quality:
I'm fairly impressed by the design. I couldn't spot any pixels just by eye and the contrast between the golden foil and duller red background looked really good. If you're being nitpicky, the images don't line up perfectly (for example on my ring finger where it looks like there's a closely overlapped shadow of the image), but this is not obvious on the nail.
 
Size:
As I've mentioned - generous sizing! I actually only used the two biggest strips and the third smallest to do this one hand because I have fairly slim nails so there was plenty to go around. I did leave my nails fairly long so that I could get most of the pattern on it so this is a consideration as well.

[No topcoat: Floral Nail Foil Strips from OMG Nail Strips]

Application:
Now... I'm a total n00b when it comes to nail foils but I didn't find it very difficult. I did figure out that I should have done a few things better, but I'll get to that later. 
On my flatter nails (thumb, middle, ring), applications was super easy. Just line it up and smooth it out from the middle outwards. I just used my nail to smooth it out rather than a cuticle pusher. I then pulled it taut over the free edge and carefully filed off the excess using a glass file.
It was a bit more difficult on my super curved index finger (which I've complained about before!) so there's a lot more wrinkling going on there.
 

[With topcoat: Floral Nail Foil Strips from OMG Nail Strips]

Topcoat:
You need topcoat over nail foils to reduce lifting and prolong wear! Jme has mentioned that which topcoat you use matters! I wanted to test it out so if you look at the above photo, I have a quick-dry (Seche Vite) on my thumb and a non-quick dry on the other fingers.
With quick-dry you end up with wrinkling and slight dulling of the golden parts of the foil. The non-quick dry does not change the appearance of the foil.

HOWEVER, you can actually use quick-dry if you want this effect! The gold takes on an antique gold foil look and the textured surface helps a bit in hiding wrinkling from application.

[Quick-dry topcoat (thumb) vs Non-quick-dry (others]

Things I've learnt from this:
1) Make sure you cut the strips to the right width for your nail. Or slightly smaller, even, because it makes a big difference in reducing wrinkles!
2) Pull the strips as taut as possible and bend it down over the free edge so it wraps slightly.
3) When filing off the edge, file only downwards in smooth motions, moving from one side of the nail to the other. This helps a lot with preventing lifting. 
4) Topcoat matters!

Overall, I think this is a cheap, quick and easy way to get a fancy look on your nails, provided you don't have nails which are too curved. The nail polish strips seem to have better stretch and application (possibly also because wrinkles are more apparent with the foil finish) so that might be an option too! 

Personally, I need to figure out how to apply them better on curved nails before I can get practical use off them! I'd appreciate any tips and tricks anyone might have!
 
Check out OMG Nail Strips (FREE SHIPPING, y'alls!) or their Facebook page to get an idea of what other bloggers have been doing with their nail foil strips! =)

Flamingo Camo - OMG Nail Polish Strip Review

Today, I have nail polish strips from OMG Nail Strips, and a few tips on how to apply them (like I'm some professional or something, hah!)

Onwards to the strips! :P

[Camouflage Nail Polish Strip (Pink)]

I rather like how these strips turned out! The nail polish strips were thin and easy to apply. The end product looks nice and smooth. You can see the pixels of the print from up-close, but you have to be pretty close!

A couple more photos before I go on to the tips!

[Camouflage Nail Polish Strip (Pink)]

I think they look pretty spiffy and it's pretty simple to apply for patterns I'm too lazy to produce using nail art.

Ok, here we go with the tips! Strips tend to be very thin, so I recommend using a similar-ish colour as the base coat (something I did not do, and you can see a little green peeking through at the tips of the nails where I stretched the strips a bit too much). You want your base coat to be fairly smooth because this strips are thin!

The instructions at the back of the package says to remove the transparent protective layer first before you apply the sticker to your nails. I find there are actually two methods you could go with:

1. Per instructions, remove the transparent layer, peel the sticker off its backing and stick it to your nails. This method means it's easier to stretch the strip over your nail and it applies with no wrinkles. The downside is that because the polish strip is so thin, it can be a bit floppy and difficult to align to your nails properly. I accidentally destroyed one strip because I removed it one too many times when trying to get it right. 
2. Leaving the transparent layer on, apply the sticker to your nail. You can still stretch it a little across your nail. Then remove the plastic layer. With the plastic layer on, the sticker is a little stiffer and easier to align to your nail. The downside is that because it doesn't stretch as much with the plastic on, one or two wrinkles might appear at the edge of your nail. But once you remove the plastic layer, you can actually push out the wrinkles and they should become flat and smooth again. In the last photo above, I used this method on my pinky finger and it's pretty smooth.

The usual tips: Use the edge of a metal ruler to remove any excess on your skin, and the rough side of a buffer to buff off the excess from the tips. 

With nail polish strips, I use a top coat to seal it in so that there are no rough edges and it lasts longer. It won't last long at all without top coat! The instructions also say to use UV top coat, but I don't have any. Quick dry top coats can emphasize the imperfections (if you have a small hole on the strip, it can widen it) and if the top coat tends to bubble, it can make holes in your strip. I used Blush-Amour base coat to seal the strips, and then Jordana Quick Shine Top Coat over the lot for extra gloss and protection. You can test your top coats on the leftover strips to check for negative effect. My nail polish strips lasted five days without any peeling. :D

Alright, I'm done with my essay! This nail polish strip was sent to me for review by OMG Nail Strips. You can find them on their Facebook too.