Fing'rs EDGE Hardcore Nail Addict Pink Houndstooth Artificial Nails

Fing'rs Edge is one of my favorite nail art lines. They make all of my favorite decals and nail art stickers- you know, the little skulls, bats, cupcakes and hearts that I'm always using? I recently discovered that Fing'rs Edge also does artificial nails and they have some pretty awesome designs.

I've really been getting into artificial ('press-on') nails lately. It seems like every set of press-ons I've encountered, with the exception of three or four designs, are a variation on a french manicure. I'm not wild about the plain french manicure ones, but I love the ones with fun or funky designs instead of plain white tips.

And that's where Fing'rs Edge comes in.

This is the 31270 style. It doesn't seem to have a name on the tag other than the number 31270, but they are a neutral nude base with a hot pink and black houndstooth 'funky french' tip design.

Here's what they look like on me:



As you can see from the pictures, the base of the nail is a milky semi-sheer nude shade. I don't think this shade works with my skintone, but I can see it blending better on someone warmer than me.

These nails are very easy to apply. Just a little glue and they're done. This particular set of nails comes with stick on adhesive tabs in addition to a small tube of nail glue. Adhesive tabs are especially great for younger girls because it makes the nails more temporary and removal is much more gentle. I can see a pre-teen girl wanting to experiment with fake nails for a day, and these would be perfect for that. If you use the adhesive tabs instead of the glue, the nails will come off with warm water instead of having to dissolve them in pure acetone. This also makes the nail reusable, which is a bonus in my book. The set comes with enough adhesive tabs to do two or three full manicures.

I have covered application technique for press on fake nails in my previous posts about them, but it's worth mentioning again that if you choose to use the glue instead of the adhesive tabs you will need to be mindful of preventing air bubbles. Since the base of these nails is somewhat sheer, if you have an air bubble underneath it will be very noticeable. To avoid air bubbles forming under the nail, simply hold the nail on with firm pressure for a good 20-30 seconds when you apply it. If you release the nail before the glue is dried, it will lift up in the center and an air bubble will form.

I really love the design of these nails. This would be a pretty difficult design to do on your own, unless you're really good with the Konad. It's unique and fun and not your run of the mill plain french manicure. The tips do not chip, so you don't have to worry about having to touch up every other day like a traditional painted french. They do get a little tipwear like polish does, but I kept these nails on for five days without significant wear or outgrowth.

The one thing I really don't like about these nails is the length. They are extremely short, as you can see from the pictures. I had to file my natural nail down as far as it would go to wear these nails. At least the package mentions that these are short length so you have some warning ahead of time. The short length of these nails is probably because this style is likely marketed to a younger crowd who are probably not accustomed to long nails or fake nails. Personally, I prefer a much longer length.

I think the designs from Fing'rs Edge are really cool and I've been playing around with a bunch of them. I'm pretty happy that there's a good variety of artificial nails out there now. I was beginning to think that I was the only one who didn't want a plain, overdone, mundane french manicure. Long live the funky french!

Revlon Runway Collection 'Stella' Artificial Nails

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but I'm sure you're all aware that french manicures and I do not mix. I feel very... strongly about french manicures. Indeed.

However, there are some exceptions. I have seen or worn french manicures that I actually liked. For example, french manicures with glitter for tips instead of chalky white.

So, when I received these artificial nails from Revlon, I was quite pleased. Finally, a french manicure I actually like!

Sorry, guys!  These are actually Stella nails.  Mine were mislabeled- sorry if I have confused anyone!  :)

These are the Starlet nails from Revlon's Runway Collection series of artificial nails. There are two styles of nails named Starlet- this is the first version. I'll post the second version soon- I just wanted to clear up any confusion caused by having two different styles with the same name.

Anyway, this is a set of false nails, also known as press-on nails. It comes with 24 nails that come in 12 different sizes, a bottle of nail glue and an orange stick.

The interesting thing about this set of fakes is that it has half sizes. Woohoo!! I am often complaining about sets of press-on nails that I would like to wear but can't because all the sizes are too large for my nails. These ones fit much better than any nails I've tried so far. I do have one complaint though- there aren't enough of the small sizes! I only do one hand for my pictures, but I used all but one of the smaller sized nails. I wouldn't be able to do both hands. They need to include more of the smaller sizes and less of the huge toenail sized ones.

But then again, maybe my nails are just freakishly petite and regular people have nails the size of the ones in the kit.

To apply them, you simply drip some glue onto your natural nail and press the artificial nail onto it. The glue bonds instantly. The application process is very fast and straightforward.

I do have a few tips on applying them, though- it can be very messy if you haven't done it before. The directions say to put glue on the fake nail and on you natural nail- DON'T!! You will have glue everywhere if you do this.

What I recommend is to put a very modest amount of glue onto your natural nail- don't cover your entire nail. The glue spreads out when you press the fake nail onto your natural nail, and even with a tiny amount of glue on your natural nail it can make a bit of a mess. The glue is a very thin texture and it oozes out from under the nail onto your cuticles. So, go easy on the glue.

Since these are a transparent french-style nail, you need to be careful of air bubbles under the nail because they will be very obvious. To prevent air bubbles, press the nail down firmly, making sure to provide firm, even pressure across the entire nail. Do not release the nail until the glue is completely dry- it should only take about 20 seconds. If you don't apply pressure until the glue is dry, the nail will lift from the natural nail and cause an air pocket.


Now that that's out of the way, here's what they look like on me!

Pretend that you can't see my pinkie nail sticking up over the top of the fake nail. I filed my nails down as short as they will go without bleeding and they're still a little too long to be covered completely by these nails.

Here's what I like about this particular french manicure design.

As you can see, instead of a thick bright white tip, these have a subtle semi-sheer natural looking tip with a fishnet/lattice design. I love the design on the tip- it has personality!

The shape of the tip has a subtle and natural smile line that perfectly mimics the line of my naked nails. The shape of the nails themselves is also very flattering- soft square. This shape looks good on everyone and it gives the nails a very groomed and professional look.

The colors of the nail are completely natural and clean looking. The base matches the color of my natural nail but provides just a hint of sheer milkiness. The tip is also very natural and has just a hint of pink to it. If you can see from the pictures, it's not a solid color. It's made of teeny-tiny dots of sheer color!

The best part about this nail for me is that from a distance these don't look french. They look like clean, shiny natural nails. Only when you look at the nails up close can you see that there's a french manicure with a fishnet design on the tips.

One more thing I love about these particular nails is the thickness of them. They aren't thick at all- they are perfectly thin and not obviously fake looking. I know I've used the word 'natural' about a million times already, but these are so natural looking, no one would be able to tell the difference!

There are a couple things I don't like about the nails. For one, they're very short. Like I mentioned above, my nails are filed down as short as they can go, yet my natural nail is still longer than the artificial nail. I have long nail beds, so my nails are long even when they're short. A slightly longer length would be perfect.

The other thing I don't like about the nails is the size. Again, like I mentioned above, there aren't enough of the small sized nails in the kit to do both hands. I think I used the same size nails on all but my pinkie- 7 or 6.5 and then an 8 for my pinkie. I think there was one leftover 7 in the box when I was done.

So, overall, this is a really great nail. It's not something I would normally wear, but the fun design and the natural, non-tacky look of this french manicure are really appealing to me.

They're fast and easy to apply, and they're inexpensive to purchase and maintain. Think about it this way- a fill on a set of enhancements will set you back around $50-$70 a month (not including tip!) depending on where you go... Four boxes of these press on nails will cost you around $20 tops per month, and you can do them yourself. You might be able to get two full manicures per box if you have larger nails than I do. No damage, no unhygienic conditions, no appointment, no tip!

These can be purchased at any drugstore (though they're with the nail art section and not the regular Revlon section) and they're around $4.50 a box.

Revlon Artificial Nails

Thank you all for your kind words- I'm feeling much better today!

As I'm sure you read from my blue post, I was feeling very sad last week. It's amazing how everything in your life can just pile up and hit you all at once! I was having such a horrible day, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, my credit card company raised my interest rate, I got sick, the cucumber I wanted to eat was in the back of my fridge frozen, I burned my arm making dinner and I broke two nails all the way down! It's days like these when I wonder why I got out of bed....



Ouch! I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but both the middle and ring finger were bleeding profusely. That's farther down than my nails can go! Any shorter than the length of my pinkie nail and they start to bleed and hurt until they grow back out.


Like I mentioned, the broken nails hurt. A lot. It was hard for me to do things like cook, wash my hands, bathe- every time I touched something, my fingertips hurt and sometimes would start to bleed again.

Life gave me lemons- I decided to make some lemonade.

This gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a product that I never really use- artificial nails, aka Press On Nails. I usually do acrylics to cover my broken nails until they grow out enough not to hurt, but I was sick and didn't feel like stinking up the house with acrylic or doing anything that involved moving or effort.

The nails I used were Revlon Color Allure nails, medium length in Vintage Velvet.




What it is is a set of 24 individual pre-polished nails, some glue, a nail buffer and an orange stick. The nails come in one length, but two sizes- they follow traditional nail tip sizing and includes sizes 0 to 9.


The application of these is extremely simple. You clean your nails, gently buff them for better adhesion, apply the glue to the entire surface of the natural nail, and press the artificial nail onto the glue until it sticks. Very easy.

The removal is also extremely simple. You soak the nails in acetone and they dissolve almost immediately. Similar to removing acrylics, but it seems a lot faster.

These types of nails are great for people who want a temporary nail look for an event- they come in tons of designs and there's no commitment and no damage from visiting a cheap nail salon for a set of carelessly applied acrylics. These nails will last for over a week, but they will start to grow out like any other nail enhancement and they will need to be replaced.

That's the basic idea behind this product, and here's my experience with it.

Applying the nails was easy- finding a match for my nail size was the hard part. I never really thought of myself as having petite nails, but apparently I do. I was only able to find a good match for two of my nails- 9 on my pinkie, 8 on my ring finger. The other nails were closest to size 7, but not a perfect match.

Not only were most of the nails too big, but the length of the nails is much, much too short for me. The artificial nails just barely covered the broken nails on my hand, but I had to file down my natural nail on my index and pinkie all the way just to get the artificial nail to cover them. My nails are now much shorter than I am comfortable with.

I would be a lot happier and more comfortable if these nails came in a longer length- at least twice as long as these medium length nails.

The entire hand took me about five minutes to apply. The glue bonds quickly. The most important part of applying these is making sure that there are no air bubbles or pockets, and that the glue covers the entire nail. You don't want any lifted areas where water and bacteria can get trapped.

Here's how they turned out:












What do you think? Do you like them?


The color of these nails is called Vintage Velvet. I love this color. It's extremely sexy. It's a vampy burgundy-brown with a very soft shimmer. One of those 'lit-from-within' vampy colors that I love so much.

My husband loves the color of these. He didn't notice that I was wearing fake nails! He looked at my nails and said, "Wow, that's a cool color." How about that!

The color is awesome- I wonder if Revlon makes this color as a polish? I'll have to look for it!

I have other likes and dislikes about this product.

I like the easy application, I like the sturdiness of the nails and the included glue is perfect. I like how long these nails last and how shiny they are. I also like that they are not damaging to my natural nail and also that they are not difficult to remove. The nails themselves are very thin and from a front view are not noticeably fake.

I LOVE the shape of these nails. They are, in my humble opinion, the perfect nail shape. Slightly rounded square, more commonly known as 'Squoval'. This shape looks good on just about everyone, and I find it to be the most flattering nail shape for people.

There are a few things I don't like about this product. The nails are too big for me- only two of the sizes fit my small nails and very curved nail plates. I am not very comfortable with how my middle and index nails look- they look too wide and unnatural compared to my natural nail. I now have a box full of artificial nails that are too big for me and I won't be able to use. I know that these nails are standard tip sizes, but I would love if the sets came in a 'petite' version which only had the smaller sizes, and maybe a new half size.

I'm also not comfortable with the length of these nails. The box states that they are medium length, and if this is medium, I can't imagine how short the short length must be! I understand that this length is perfect for most people- barely any free edge but enough to cover bitten nails. But for me? I prefer long nails. My natural nail plates somewhat long, which causes these artificial nails to be even shorter on me. This is just my personal preference. Longer is better to me.

Another minor imperfection in these nails is that they are perfectly straight and a little flat. I have a naturally strong C-curve and also nails that curve down slightly as they get longer. It is difficult to get the artificial nail to conform to my natural nail shape. If I get the tip of the nail to fit, the cuticle end pops up and leaves a gap and vice versa. This is remedied by applying extra pressure to the entire artificial nail, but you may end up with a little glue on your fingers by doing this.

One interesting observation about these nails: They make your cuticles look perfect! I think it's because they partially cover mine, to they appear smooth and invisible. Bonus.

These nails also get tipwear just like natural polished nails. I've been wearing them on my right hand for about three or four days now, and they're starting to show moderate tipwear. These nails can be re-polished, so that's not an issue. I just wish I had the same polish that's on these nails!

The polish on these nails does wear at the tips, but it does not chip. I can't imagine it being able to chip. It's like the polish is part of the plastic and is holding on for dear life. That's a good thing.

Overall, I really like these nails for situations that require a quick fix. I am definitely going to try out and review more styles of press-on artificial nails.

People who need to temporarily cover their nails to fix a broken nail or a breaking nail, but who don't know how to do their own acrylic nails will love these. I do prefer acrylic in this situation because it is more customizable and natural looking, but I know not everyone does.

They are perfect for protecting damaged nails that need to grow out, but are weak or painful.

People who also want their nails to look good for a special occasion but don't have the time (or patience or money, et cetera) to get a manicure or a set of acrylics should also try these. They are extremely inexpensive, there are a very wide variety of styles and colors and they're practically foolproof to apply at home.

What do you think? Would you ever try them?

Let's Talk About Acrylics

I have seen a lot of nail enhancement "bashing" (maybe not quite bashing, but definitely no love) lately, and I think it's a little unfair.

Acrylics and gels and other forms of nail enhancements seem to have such a bad reputation for ruining your nails, and that's understandable, as your average nail tech usually does ruin your nails. It's not the enhancement's fault- it's the lazy nail tech.

Acrylics can actually be very good for your nails. It keeps them protected and helps them grow without fear of breakage or staining.

I don't know if any of you saw my post on Makeup Alley a couple weeks ago about making finger soup, but I had a little accident with my left index fingernail.


I was using one of these handy utensils to cut vegetables over a giant pot of vegetable soup. It was a wedding gift and I recently fell in love with it. It was so handy! You didn't need a cutting board at all, just like food scissors! Anyway, I was cutting carrots when all of a sudden something caused my hand to slip and SNIP!! I take a giant chunk out of my nail, nearly cutting off my finger. It cut down so far that the nail bed was exposed with only a thin layer of nail to keep me from bleeding all over. It was terrifying! And no, the nail didn't go into the soup- it flew across the kitchen and oddly enough, landed in the sink.

So, now I had a nail that was so short I couldn't file it down to even it out, it hurt and was on the verge of bleeding. What was I to do? Have a sharp, jagged, painful monster nail until it grew out? No way!

This is where acrylics save the day.



(Check out the wicked burn on my ring finger- I blame YOU, roasted asparagus!!!)

I used some clear acrylic and a tip to make myself a new fingernail until my real nail grew out enough to file. It was clear in real life, for some reason it looks really cloudy in these pictures. It was only a tiny bit thicker than my natural nail, and you would never know it was fake unless I told you. Not huge and thick, but thin, clear and natural looking.

And remember how I said a few posts back that I was having trouble with China Glaze? I'm wearing Passion In The Pacific on my nails in this picture. It's only about, say, 14 hours old in these pictures and look how damaged it is! It never fully dried, and I was chipping and denting it despite being very careful.

Back on topic. I don't do acrylics often (I really hate the way they feel- you can't scratch with them!! I really don't need them, my natural nails are very nice!) but sometimes I find myself needing one to repair a broken-down-too-far-to-file nail. I know that when I remove the acrylic nail, my natural nail will be in the same good condition as it was before I applied the acrylic. In fact, it may be in even better condition because it won't be stained by polish, it won't chip or break and it may even be a little stronger from the weight of the acrylic.

My natural nail had finally grown out enough to file down the jagged edges without making myself bleed, so I removed the acrylic yesterday. It came right off with a little acetone- about 30 seconds and it was gone! And underneath? My nail was smooth, strong, shiny and not one bit stained like my other nails.

The myth is that acrylics will severely damage your natural nail. What really damages your natural nail is a nail tech filing and drilling the hell out of it with an e-file, or YOU damage your natural nail by biting or peeling off the acrylic instead of removing it the right way (soaking).

Acrylics aren't evil- they're really not! They're great for repairs, or just to wear. If you can't get any length on your natural nails but want long nails, acrylics can do that. Or, maybe you want a french manicure that never chips? Acrylics. Maybe you want some really wacky, over-the-top nail art? Acrylics!

Hopefully I've helped to remove some of the stigma surrounding acrylic nails.

As a bonus, here's China Glaze Passion In The Pacific for lovely reader Sigrun:

Debunking the Myth: Acrylics are Bad For Your Nails

Ok, I am so tired of hearing "Acrylics are bad! They will ruin your nails!!"

Seriously people. Enough already.

Even I might have said this in the past, but it's just not true.

Want to know what really ruins your nails?

Going to a cheap salon to get acrylics, and then removing them yourself.

Why does going to a cheap salon ruin your nails? Because they use that damn e-file (like a dremel) and completely destroy your nail plate. They practically grind it down to the bone, not to mention cut the skin around it. I know some nail techs can probably use one correctly, but come on. You won't find one going to a place called BEAUTY NAIL. I won't even get into how they lie about what products they use. But hey, if you want a full set for $30, go ahead, be my guest, better your nails than mine.

Why does removing them yourself ruin your nails? Tell me, have you ever had acrylic or gel nails and one of them broke or lifted or you didn't like them or whatever? Did you pick or chew it off? I'll bet you did. You somehow pried off that nail and it took half of your natural nail with it. Then you had thin, sore, peeling ruined nails for a month and you blamed it on the enhancements.

Don't get me wrong, I love my long, strong, beautiful natural nails. I have nice nails, and it's just easier this way. I have nothing against acrylic nails at all. I just don't need them.

To prove a point, I did a few liquid and powder on myself. After soaking them off properly, surprise, my natural nail looks exactly the same as it did before. No damage. If anything, it was more protected while I had the enhancements on.

In conclusion: STFU, n00b.