Guest Post - What do Sephora for OPI Chic Prints for Nails and Vampires have in common? They Both SUCK!

Hi everyone.  Lisamarie has asked that I write a review for you all.  You might know me from Pinksith.com blog.  Yep. I’m Elvira, the taupe eyeshadow obsessed woman.  If you have never heard of me, that’s OK too. I love getting new readers and anyone that enjoys Beauty Crazed might enjoy my blog as well.  So why am I writing for Beauty Crazed?

Well I’ll tell you why.

Lisamarie Woo’d me.

Several weeks ago I said I had a desire to try out the New Sephora for OPI Chic Prints for Nails.  Lisamarie, being the generous Canadian that she is, told me she had received a set of these nail patches in a promotional package and was wondering if I would like to have them.  You see when it comes to nail stuff I am easily swayed.  The siren song of faux Minx type nails was wooing me.  At $15 (USD) a set I wasn’t wooed all that much, but when Lisamarie said she would send them free…well…let the wooing begin!  Woo!

In a few weeks I received a envelope from Canada and inside was the Sephora for OPI Chic Prints for Nails in the pink and blue checker pattern.  Still in awe that a) I got these gratis and b) they arrived in just a few days from CANADA, I immediately began to remove my nail polish and get started using these suckers.  Note. Sucker is a key word to this review.  Keep it in mind for later.

I read the directions carefully.
I started with clean dry nails
I pre matched the sizes of the Chic Prints patches to the appropriate fingers.
I used friction (i.e. rubbing my finger on the decal prior to lifting off the plastic sheet) to heat up the Chic Print nail patch and then I applied it carefully to my fingernail.

I think to myself, “Humm.  It’s not exactly the size of my nail bed.  There is a little gap on one side.  Meh. That’s OK.  No one will notice.” (Famous last words)

I clip with scissors and file the excess nail decal off and try to get the edge as close to the end of my nail as possible.

I say out loud, “Humm.  These don’t “file off” as easily, as promised in the directions.  Hey is that corner where that gap is, starting to lift?  Grrr.”

I apply more of the Chic Prints "decals" to my nails and each one is a challenge. One has a fold, another has a bubble underneath the decal, some just don’t want to file down others just don’t fit my nail no matter how much I trim them.  My nails are starting to look like a bored 5th grade girl’s classroom experiment.  I basically have stickers on my nails and it shows.  I mean it really shows.

My 3 year old son takes one look at my fingers and says. “What’s that Mommy?” as he closely inspects my hands.  I tell him it’s my new nails.  He, upon closer inspection, says, "Why is this one not working?" Pointing to the nail with the gap and the edge that is starting to lift.  I shoo him away and inspect my sad manicure.

I start to get annoyed that the "stickers" (I won’t even call them “Chic Prints patches” anymore) are looking so sorry. The edges aren’t smoothed down by using a nail file, there are folds and lifting and ...well….I hate it. 

Not to mention that the color for the blue in the pink & blue checker looks like it was done on a dot matrix printer because it’s streaky. Yuk. 

I last 6 hours with the stupid "stickers" on my nails.  After I get out of the shower they are all lifting off in various places and look downright tacky.

Whilst blow-drying my hair I put my nails in the direction of the hot air to loosen up the demonic "stickers" and take them off my nails.  I was too rushed on one nail and took a good millimeter of actual nail with the sticker.  Note to readers. If you are foolish enough to even try these PLEASE make sure that you heat them up enough to get them off. You don’t want to damage your nails like I did.

All in all these Sephora for OPI Chic Prints for nails were NOTHING like a Minx manicure.  What puzzles me is that they are getting rave reviews on the Sephora.com website.  Who are these women that are having success with them?  I know I’m not a manicurist but I’m pretty decent with nail stuff.  I have no idea why these women love these "crap on a plastic sheet" so much.  Am I not as dexterous with nail applications as I once thought?  Are my standards too high? Do I scrutinize too much?

Was I distracted by watching Alexander Skarsgård play Eric Northman on HBO’s “True Blood” while applying these “things” to my nails? (OK maybe a little. He is so freakin HOT) but that’s beside the point.  If anything, these should be easier to apply.  Make them mistake proof so a ham handed fool like me can enjoy them.  They should conform to your nail so an obsessive compulsive perfectionist like me won’t keep looking at the edges trying to file them down…just a little more to make them “perfect”.

Do you NEED these?  Heck no!  Thank you to Lisamarie for sending them to me. Because I would be pretty mad if I spent actual money on these things.  If I had, I would have been a real sucker.

- Elvira -