What I'm learning about Jamberry

I'm on day 4 of my Jamberry challenge, and I'm learning a few things about how the wraps hold up:

1. Because I had a little bit of excess hanging off from my nail, due to not wanting the tips of my nails to be white from filing, it finally caught on my laundry as I was lifting it out of the dryer today. I went to the bathroom, turned on my hair dryer, and re-stuck (and actually filed) the nail tip.
2. While the nail wrap was heating up, I was able to MOVE the entire thing; sliding it across my nail, and I was able to fix how it was covering more area on one side of the nail than the other.
3. When I applied the nail wraps initially, I didn't have a cuticle pusher as is recommended for the application. I don't think I applied enough pressure with just my finger.
4. After the initial heat application 4 days ago, it's become harder to keep a certain spot on my wrap down. I think that spot got some oil or fuzz under it, and that's why I'm having a hard time with it.
5. (Updated 11/11/14) Something I forgot to mention, and may be the cause of my wraps lifting a little bit (see above): The day I got my wraps applied, I also washed my face with a DIY scrub that includes a LOT of olive oil, brown sugar, and vanilla. I'm pretty sure washing my face, getting the nail exposed to the olive oil for a few minutes, did NOT help them stay on... since, ya know, you soak your nail in olive oil to REMOVE them. I guess I should have mentioned this in my first post. :)
6. (Updated 11/18/14) Today I took off my nail polish and Jamberry wraps and holy cow were my nails stained! Most of the time when I paint my nails, the nail polish I use doesn't stain my nails at all, but this time... It was crazy. The orangey color I used on my ring finger died my nail yellow - it's like a highlighter colored my nail. This time around, I'm going to use a solid nail wrap and see how it does against my bare nail. 

I'll update this list as I learn more about these nail wraps! :)

Seven Day Jamberry Challenge

I'm sorry the lighting in my images aren't the best. I took these with my iPhone AND it was already dark outside, so there was no natural light to work with.

These pictures are only to help you get an idea of how Jamberry nail wraps compare to nail polish:

The above picture is right after I had applied the Jamberry wrap and nail polish. We'll call it "day 1". I didn't even get around to cleaning the excess nail polish to make it look pretty.

Day 2 isn't showing much change on any of the nails. It looks slightly more cleaned up around the cuticles, though.

Finally day 3 my cuticles look a lot better, but there's already slight chipping on the tips of the nail?! Whaaaaat?! I used OPI nail polish, by the way. I also didn't have enough time to add a protective clear coat, which could be why they're chipping so early. Usually I don't see chipping in my nail polish until days 4 or 5.

Day 4: I did a lot of laundry today, which made the tips of my nails chip a little more than yesterday, but it's still barely noticeable. I did have to touch up my jamberry nails slightly because a little corner started to come up. It was my fault because I chose not to file my nails as much as I should have, so I went ahead and filed it after re-heating the wrap. Read about what I did about it, here.

I took the photos for Day 5, but they looked the exact same as Day 4, so I'll do you a favor and not post superfluous photos. :)

Day 6: The area around my cuticles is looking rough on the fingers with nail polish, but the Jamberry nail hasn't changed much. You can see where I snipped a little of the Jamberry wrap after filing some more (after I took the pictures on Day 4)

Day 7: I did some more laundry and some heavy duty cleaning, and my fingernail polish is "officially chipping". The Jamberry nail still looks like new. I'm going to take my nail polish and jamberry nail off soon and try an entire manicure with the Jamberries and see how that goes.

Day 10-ish: Today I removed my nail polish and Jamberry nail wraps and I have to say.. My fingernails were pretty stained. The orange nail polish made my nails a highlighter-yellow and the burgundy color made the tips of my fingers a purplish, magenta color while I was removing them. A little later in the day, about 3 hours later, the dye has gone down on my actual fingers, but the nails are still tinted. I'll take a picture when my husband gets home with the phone.

Starting Jamberries

In July, I was invited to my first online Jamberry party by a friend of mine. It was the first time, I believe, that I was introduced to these nail shields. Honestly I had never been familiar with any kind of nail wrap prior to that. It was a fun party, and I won a half sheet of nails, but when asked if I wanted to host a party, it was during a difficult time in my life - of course, I declined.

Four months later, I've been to three of these parties, and have won that first half-sheet (mentioned above) as well as a sheet of accent nail shields. 

Some people like to go all-out with their Jamberry nail shields - wearing a design on every finger. I honestly can't stand a heavily patterned wrap on every single nail. It's not my style. I prefer to have a pattern on an accent nail or two, and nothing more. So for me, these free Jamberry products will last for a long, long time.

Knowing all of this about me, I want to come out and say that the last party I participated in (it actually ends today) was the most fun I've ever had at a Jamberry party. I really got to know the consultant (who was only recruited a month ago) and she was very helpful in answering my answers. She is also the person who motivated me (indirectly) to FINALLY try on my Jamberry nail shields. Yes, I've had them since July and never even tried them on. Well, I've finally applied them and am on day 3 of the 7-day challenge. I'll include my daily pictures in another post so you can see my progress; I'll just update that post as I upload my pictures.

This is a pretty lengthy post, but bare with me. I want to be as fair as possible to Jamberry as well as any future Jamberry customers. I'm going to tell you how I applied my Jamberries... ya know... the usual Jamberry review. I have read SO MANY hateful reviews of Jamberry, but they never include HOW they applied the nail shield, if they had a base coat, if they previously had some kind of foot or finger fungus, if they're inexperienced in applying nail wraps to begin with... Things you SHOULD take into account if you're going to leave a nasty review that might ruin a reputation with a company.


The Application

Some of the biggest complaints out there is using heat to activate the nail's elasticity and stickiness. Yes, a hair dryer is hot if you leave your hands in front of it for a while. That's why Jamberry recommends the heater they sell, or even your car's heater will work! You might have to hold it there for a longer time if you're in a car, but they claim it'll work. Then you could really call these "on-the-go" nails. ;) 

How I applied my nails - I laid my hair dryer on its side on the bathroom counter. I didn't even have to use a hand to hold it! Granted I made sure there wasn't anything flammable that would get in the way of the hair dryer. It was easiest for me to cut the pieces through the plastic base (WHICH VOIDS THE WARRANTY, SO BE SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO RETURN THEM IF YOU CUT THE PLASTIC BASE AT ALL) to get the length I wanted from each shield. To cut through the base, I used normal scissors, as cuticle clippers can't cut through that thicker plastic. I don't have any orange sticks, so I just used a toothpick to hold the shield up to the hair dryer. 

Actually, I picked up the shield in the wrong place - The toothpick was holding it at the rounded part instead of the end, where the cut is. It made the sticker a little "off" when it was fully applied, since I had less control of where the sticker would be positioned, but it's not noticeable at all. My next finger was easier to control, since I knew where to hold it with the toothpick. Still not perfect, but with practice, I'll get better at it.

I used the plastic baggie method to stretch the excess (it was less than a millimeter's worth of excess shield) and when the shield cooled, I cut the excess off with my cuticle clipper. The shield was quite flush with my nail at that point, but I had read that it's best to use a nail file to file off any extra shield sticking out. Very important - only file in a downward motion. The second-most common complaint I read about is jagged tips, which are caused by a side-to-side filing motion. I didn't like how much base-nail polish was filed off with this technique, though. I felt like my cuticle clippers got the excess shield cut close enough to the nail that the filing was superfluous. A little filing was necessary, however, around the far corners/edges of the nail (the base of the nail right next to the side of the nail at the tip of the finger). It did stick out enough to where it might catch on something, so I definitely had to file that off... But filing wasn't easy. It felt like it was just getting the shield to stretch and not come off cleanly. Easy solution: I just clipped the rest with my cuticle clipper! I then used heat again to make sure everything was smooth and sticking down properly.


Time It Takes for Application

I painted my nails before putting on the Jamberry nail shields. The time it took to paint the nails and wait for them to be adequately dry enough to apply the shields took about an hour. I even ran the nail polish under some really cold water to make sure they were at least dry enough on the surface for the application of the shields. 

Applying the nail shields? 5-7 minutes tops, most of which was me telling myself "you can do this, you can to this" and getting mentally prepared. I estimate it would take 1-2 minutes per nail once I get the hang of it.


End Results

What really sold me was once I left the bathroom, my toddler came running up to me and started poking my newly-painted nails. She even kinda dug into one of my nails with her little fingernail, leaving a dent in the painted nail. When she was poking around at my accented, Jamberry nail shields, digging her nails into the surface a little, I didn't have to pull away, afraid that she'd damage my perfectly smooth Jamberry nails. She kept abusing them, and there were no marks to show for it.

That sold me. Right there. The ability to apply a nail shield and not worry about drying time sold me. Too often have I created the perfect manicure, a little late in the day, waited for it to "dry", and slept in it, waking up the next morning with indents left from tossing and turning. 


Closing Thoughts

Some people will complain about the ridges the nail shields leave in their nails, some people will argue that the heat is too hot for application, others will complain about the crooked and jagged nail tips from filing - to all of the complainers out there, are you really applying them correctly? Do you care enough to try to master a few techniques so that your application process will be flawless in future applications?

I've been convinced that this is a product that is worth investing in, and no one else convinced me of this except for myself. It took a little push to get me to finally use the product, but through my own trial and error, I can see this product being very useful to me, a mother of a toddler, who loves to do my own nails.

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Please let me know your thoughts - comment below. Let me know your experience with Jamberry Nail Shields. :)