OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Apps

Hi everyone! Long time no see, though this time I have a really good excuse: I've been doing a long wear test on a new product from OPI, the Pure Lacquer Nail Apps. 

The OPI Pure Lacquer Nail Apps are like a lot of the other nail appliques on the market now, they are made out of real nail polish and come with 16 pre-cut strips of different shapes and sizes to best suit your nails. There are two different collections, the cremes and the shimmers. I received one set from each collection for review and the first one I used was Reptile from the cremes. 

 

These images are from the official press release and show the fourteen different patterns available.

Keep reading for a full review on my first ever experience using a product like this, complete with tonnes of photos!

There are quite a few similar products on the market right now, but this was my very first experience with nail appliques.  In my opinion, these don't seem like they're aimed towards first time users, but it's really not that hard to figure out, and with sixteen strips you have room to make a few mistakes. This is what the back of the package looks like, a bit of information about the product, some concise directions, and the ingredients. My only question is why is there no uniformity with the different languages, haha!

 

Unlike some other nail strips, the OPI Pure Lacquer ones don't come with an orange stick to trim them with, so it would be handy to have one of those available. These strips do not require you to use basecoat or topcoat, they are all full manicure in one strip. I tried to follow the directions given as closely as I could, and this is where it got a little bit confusing for a beginner, I recommend looking up some tutorials online if you're curious as to some hints on how to apply these without fail. One thing I would recommend is to trim the strips down before sticking them to your nail, because these things wear like IRON and are not easy to get off once they're stuck to you.

The strips will dry out once you've broken the seal on the package.

Hopefully you can find a size to fit your nails from these! They're rather long, if you have short nails you might be able to get away with using one strip for two nails if you cut it beforehand.

 This is what my fingers looked like right after application, I ended up redoing my thumbnail because I had a wrinkle in the nail app. This is where trimming the strips before would've helped, look how much was on my skin and my cuticles.

 I couldn't figure out what to do with these parts that wanted to wrap around the sides of my tips. 

 Here's a photo of the process of applying the strips.

 

This is as much clean up as I could get done at first - I figured that (like most nail polish) a hot shower and some manual labour doing the dishes would rid my skin and cuticle of extra polish. Not quite.

 

Can we talk about how hot this pattern is for a minute? So sassy!

 I didn't follow directions and I put Seche Vite on one hand which did cause minor shrinkage. I was skeptical at how well a sticker would be able to stay on my nails, and I had no reason at all to worry as you'll see soon..

 

Here we go - this is EIGHT DAYS LATER. 

Yes, you read that right. Eight days later and it doesn't look any different except for tipwear and growth. No chips.

 

Here is my right hand, the middle finger is from me actively picking at the polish.

 

I can't believe how well these held up! I go to class, to the gym, shower, and do dishes daily so  you can be rest assured I was not taking it easy on this product, these really do stand up to almost anything. 

Overall I am really happy with this product! My main complaint would be that the directions are a little vague for a first time user, but if you're savvy enough to google a tutorial you'll be fine. If I could make a recommendation I would say to apply these a day or two before your event if you're thinking of wearing them to a party - they honestly don't chip away easily and the clean up is a little challenging at first. 

OPI says you can remove these using only nail polish remover, but I struggled with that. Maybe it's my cheap drugstore brand polish remover, but these did NOT want to come off my nails and left a strange sticky residue behind, but if that's the price to pay for eight days of a nearly perfect mani I'm smitten.

What do you think of this product? Do any of the patterns outlined above catch your eye? Have you had experience with nail apps, what do you think?

The products in this post were kindly provided for review.