3D Nail Strips : Product Review

(photo property of J. Cat Beauty)

Nail wraps. In theory, so easy and the perfect way to do nail art without actually having to do nail art. However, if you're anything like me, you've run into some hiccups along the way with nail strips. For me, I've found that I can't ever get them to stick to my nails, which upon further investigation might be my own fault, but I still find them alluring. In fact, I have several boxes of nail strips sitting in my room waiting to be used. When I received these nail strips from J. Cat beauty, I proceeded with caution. Keep reading to find out what I thought of them.


First and foremost, when I said that it might have been my own fault that nail strips never worked on me, I should have said it is my own fault. But here's the deal; other nail strips come with this booklet of instructions and honestly, I just ignored it. The key to getting any type of nail strip is this: Rub fingernail polish remover over your nails FIRST. I think I've always skipped this step in the past because it's inside the "instruction manual" for other brands and with J. Cat's nail strips, it's printed right on the box.

These strips are also different than your typical nail strips because these aren't nail polish, they're more like stickers with a really grippy adhesive on the back. I find them slightly easier to apply and if you mess up a little bit and work quickly, you can move them around a bit. The downfall of these not being actual nail polish is that they are a bit bulky. Not horribly bulky, but I could feel that I was wearing something on my fingernails. If you're used to fake nails, then these won't bother you at all.

They say that these are meant to last 10 days and I had every intention of wearing them for 10 days... but I couldn't. This is a very personal preference and it has to do with my little ticks so if you don't suffer from this, then ignore the rest of this paragraph; I'm a picker. These are 3D nail stickers, which means that they have a texture to them, which means that I want to pick at them all day. I fought with myself for three days not to pick at them, but eventually I caved and just removed the stickers. This is why I don't get professional manicures; I pick at them if I get a chip. So, if you're a picker, these might be difficult for you to wear because they are just great picking material. :)

On to the next topic: removal. Again, these are not nail polish strips, so they are easier to remove; all you have to do is peel the sticker off. Some of my nails looked very dry when I took the stickers off, so I just applied some hand cream and it seemed ok.

As I said above, I wore them for three days, not the ten that they advertise. However, I could easily see these lasting ten days. They might be a little bit ragged at the end of those ten days, but that depends, of course, on how much you use your hands. I have a dog that I play with every day and I use my hands at work styling products and taking photos. I use my hands a lot every day, so I wasn't surprised to see a bit of wear and tear at the end of three days.

(excuse the dry cuticles)

You can see that there is a little chip on the left side of the nail, but nothing too bad.

And a little tiny chip on my index finger. I have weird nails and misjudged some of the nail strip sizes. I could have fixed that, but I said "Eh, what the hell?".

Gross cuticles again, sorry, and a few chips in the middle.

And one chip on my middle finger on this hand.

Again, this was after three days, but I use my hands a lot and I have to open a lot of containers day to day, which is why most of those nails "chipped".

Overall, I would probably not buy these on my own for the simple fact that they have texture to them. I know myself and I know that I would pick them off, but if that isn't an issue for you, I would definitely recommend them! They come in a lot of really fun designs on www.jcatbeauty.com and they are cheaper than most other brands strips. There are a few designs that I really really want to pick up, but I think I'll just have to wait to see if they come out with non-3D strips. Remember, J. Cat Beauty is having a sale until 3/15 for 15% of your order with the code Spring15!

(all photos unless otherwise marked are copyright Allison Richardson Photography and not available for use without permission)

Nail strips provided to me courtesy of J. Cat Beauty. I received no compensation for this review and opinions are my own.