Nailene Fake Artificial Drugstore French Nails

A few weeks ago I wore a couple of French manicures and was obsessing over smile lines.  Well I was standing in Rite Aid and found myself looking at fake nails.  The last time I wore fake drugstore nails was 18 years ago to my senior prom... I've never have been interested in wearing acrylic or gel nails (the real artificial nails) due to the expensive upkeep and having to frequently visit a nail salon.  Well, I decided to try these out because the smile lines are perfect, and maybe it would make for some interesting blogging material.

Well, I have to say fake drugstore nails have come a long way in almost two decades.  The glue is a lot stronger, the nails are thicker, tapered for a smoother fit, and come in many more designs and sizes then ever before. 

My real nails are longer than the nails the kit came with, especially the ring and pinky fingers. 
The cuticle end is nicely tapered, which provided a smooth fit.

After three days of wear.  Not too bad.

I thought these would be eaiser to apply than painting my own nails, but actually this took me a total of 50 minutes to do, longer than I expected.  Well, this was my first time, so I was new to selecting the right size, lining them all up, applying glue and setting the nails.  Well a plain natural nail manicure is eaiser for me to do than putting these on, but putting on fake nails is easier and faster for me to do than nail art. 

It is recommended that you trim your nails down before you start.  I did not, so some of the nails did not fit as intended.  Also, it is recommened that these should not be worn for more than 7 days.  I did not think these would last 7 days, because 18 years ago, fake drugstore nails would last for me a maximum of two days, if even.  They used to pop off by themselves and the remaining glue was easily chipped off.  I used to pry the remaining nails off without much effort or pain.  Well, today this is not possible.  I wore these Nailene fake nails for a full three days and they were not going to come off.  The glue was solid and there was no way I could pry them off without doing some serious damage.  I had a little bit of tip wear at the end of three days.  Otherwise these nails were durable and strong.

Cell phone picture, actually came out better than my regular pictures.

I decided to take them off after three days because they felt really thick and heavy and I started to get worried about fungal growth underneath because the I did not have a full water tight seal.  Water did get trapped under the fake nails and would just sit there.  Also as a precaution I did not cook or eat any finger foods with my hands while I was wearing these nails.  Fork, spoon, knife for everything!  I did not want any food particles trapped under the nail either.  So gross!

See the gap?  Water and debis can get caught in here.  My left had a better fit and looked more like my pinky finger.

I removed my fake drugstore nails with Kiss artifical nail remover kit.  The kit comes with a useless wooden pick, a file and remover.  The package instructs you to cut down the fake nail, but I did not because my real nails were underneath.  Removal is kind of a pain, it is done by mechanical and chemical means. So I buffed the tops of the nails with the coarse grit side to break down the top coat, and then soak the nails in the remover.  The sides of the container have teeth so you can brush your nails against them to help speed the removal process.  The fake nails started to break down right away.  After two minutes of soaking, I started to scrub for three and then I got tired.  So I did the other hand, and alternated hands until the fake nails were all gone.  I still had some residual glue and small pieces of nails that I scrapped off with the wooden pick and used the fine grit side of the file to file away left over glue.  The total process took me a total of 20 minutes, 10 minutes per hand.


  

See the little teeth/brushes?  Great to remove glitter!

TIP:  I have to add, I used the Kiss kit to remove some glitter polish on my natural nails and it worked really well.  

Lastly, since there was some lemon extract and orange oil, (I could smell the citrus) so the Kiss kit's acetone is not drying.  I'm really glad I got this kit to remove my fake nails or else I would have had to use pure acetone without a brushy container, and that would have been really drying and taken much much longer. 

Thoughts?  Has anyone tried this?