Product Review: Sally Hansen Salon Insta Gel Strips

I like having my nails painted but I don't like 1. waiting for nail polish to dry; 2. how my right hand always looks worse than my left hand; 3. how quickly nail polish chips, which ruins a manicure. One day at Target I saw the Sally Hansen Salon Insta Gel Strips kit and decided to give it a try. Rather than using regular nail polish, there are gel strips that you adhere to your nails. You then secure the gel strips with a curing agent, hold your nail under an LED light for 30 seconds, and voila, salon-style manicure for cheap at home. According to the box, the polish lasts for up to two weeks and is chip-free. 

The starter kit comes with everything you need.

Here's a step-by-step process:

1. Push your cuticles back with the enclosed orange stick. File your nails to the desired shape and buff the surface of your nails. Swipe clean with the alcohol wipe to remove any oil and residue. 

2. Peel off the front and back of the gel strip and adhere to your nail. Press down carefully to remove air pockets. Bend over the top of the nail and file away excess gel with the nail file. 

3. Once you've applied the strips to all of your nails, coat them with the clear curing agent one at a time. Place the nail under the LED light for 30 seconds to set the manicure. Repeat until all nails have been cured under the light.

4. Swipe the nails with an alcohol pad to remove excess residue. You're done!

The entire process took about 45 minutes. I expect it goes faster as you do it more often. The only thing I didn't like was that my nails were really sticky for the rest of the day; cat hair and lint kept getting stuck on them. I woke up this morning though and there is no more stickiness, so that's nice. I'll see how well the strips last compared to regular nail polish. If this manicure lasts two weeks with no chips, I'm going to be a very happy customer!