Liz sent me a lovely sheet of chevron- in white and mint green. There were also instructions included with the nails for application, although Liz did pass along this video which was really helpful with putting the nails on as well. The process of actually applying the nails did take a bit longer than I thought, about 45 minutes for me, but I tend to be somewhat of a perfectionist, so that doesn't surprise me- I will say that the process was reminiscent of the Lee press on nails my sister and I used to apply when we were like 10, sitting on my mom's bed! :) Basically what I did was file and buff my nails, clean them off, cut the shield to a close approximation of size, heat my nail and the shield, and then heat again while wrapping a little plastic baggy over the nail. (See the video link for the reasoning behind the baggy- it did help!) After that I clipped off the end of the nail, and there was really little if any filing needed.
As you'll see from my pictures below, there are a few bumps and pulls in the nails, which I'll know how to correct next time. I've figured out that I need to pre-trim the bottom of the shields as well. My nails tend to be much wider at the top than at the bottom, so angling the shields in at the bottom with my nail scissors would have been a great help to getting a better fit. I was able to do this with a few at the end, but not all of my nails, hence the imperfections. Take a peek for yourself below.
Here is a picture against my dark walls for comparison.
Also, one close up on a nail. This was one that I slightly trimmed down around the base of my finger nail, which I think worked pretty well.
I was EXTREMELY impressed at just how quickly I could go about my business. Pretty much immediately after I finished putting on the nails, I had to change a diaper and then wash my hands. About 10 minutes after that, we were out of the house and on our way to pick up dinner and head over to a friend's house. Once we got home from dinner, it was bath night for little man, and my hands were submerged in tub water and washing him up for a good period of time.
Throughout all of that above, there were absolutely no changes in the shields. If I would have attempted to do all of that immediately after putting a coat or two of nail polish on my fingers, there would be chips, dings, and random streaks of polish all over my and little man's clothes from carrying him around, if any would have stayed on through the diaper change and hand washing initially after application. In my book, that is a HUGE win.
One other thing that I absolutely loved about Jamberry is that there were no awful nail polish smells. I've told you all before that I'm pretty obsessed with painting my toenails, and to do that, I will pick a breezy day and actually sit out on our back porch to avoid the fumes. I was able to apply the Jamberry nails with no concerns for fumes right in my kitchen. Being pregnant, not having to smell all those chemical fumes that typically accompany nail polish was a huge plus for me.
