My first impression of imPRESS were that they joined the ever growing list of pre-painted ‘easy to apply’ false nails. However, when I received some through the post several days ago and saw that they were in fact LEOPARD PRINTED, I simply had to give them a go! I have tried to recreate leopard print nail art that I have seen on other blogs countless times, without much luck – so I hoped that by wearing them out people might think my nail art skills were far better than they actually are.
The nails claim to last up to a week (when applied properly) and sell themselves on the fact that they are easy to apply and take up no drying time. You simply peel back the sticky pad and apply with pressure to your nail. It sounds simple, but after several nails have been applied it becomes quite hard to peel back the sticky pads and before you know it your ‘quick and easy’ nails are pinging off in all directions. So, after gathering up all my nails from the floor I decided to outsmart them by applying my very own glue (nail glue don’t worry) to the back of the false nails in order to make them extra sticky (and hopefully enable them to withstand the night ahead). In hindsight this was a bad idea as the adhesive that the nails come with then peel off onto your nail after use and you are left with a sticky nail which even countless nail polish remover will not help.
The little drying time needed for these nails is handy, especially when you have left doing your nails until the last minute and want something quick and easy. I’m sure if you were to apply them as directed and apply firm pressure once on the nail, you wouldn’t have the same disaster as I did. Looking back at the small print (which if I’m honest, I never read) it does say for best results apply thumb nails last, which I didn’t do – hence why the rest came pinging off. Despite the tricky application process, I did love the nails once they were on and they didn’t look overly artificial. I personally love the leopard print nails but the impress website has plenty more designs to suit all nail lovers.
The imPRESS nails retail for around £8.99, which I think is fair dependent on what you want from a nail product. If you chose design, pattern and ease over how long it lasts – then this is the product for you. The range of designs available is impressive and they are easy to use (if your name isn’t Scarlett). They don’t last as long as regular false nails or nail art designs, but they don’t require any drying time and therefore are great if you want nice nails without lots of effort.
I believe you can buy them from Boots stores nationwide at the moment, as they are relatively new products to the UK market and mainly are sold in the US. Despite my struggle, they are worth a try if you have the money to spend and enjoy quirky nail art designs. It is much more stress-free then trying to fiddle around with nail art pens and can be applied instantaneously without the hassle of smudging them.