Reviewing Jamberry Wraps

Am I the only one who has suddenly been swamped in Facebook posts and ads about Jamberry wraps? It seems like EVERYONE is having a Jamberry party and even though I’m not really a fingernail polish kind of girl, I started to get curious.

Although I’m totally cool with keeping my toenails all prettied up with nail polish year-round, I’ve never been very good at painting my fingernails. If I do it myself, it looks pretty terrible and if I go to a salon, it gets chipped within a day. I tried a gel manicure last year for a friend’s wedding and I really liked how the gel polish kept from chipping for a long time. Unfortunately, I just can’t commit the time or money to getting that done on a regular basis.

So, I decided to try Jamberry.

I put a call out on my Facebook page to see if I had any blog readers who sold Jamberry and Ginny commented right away and offered to send me a pack to try. The color I tried out is called Sparkling Marsala.  I was surprised that they had “normal” colors, because I had only seen the wild and crazy patterns… which are totally not my thing. I checked out the website and they have a pretty good selection of the more subtle designs/colors too. I especially like Grapefruit, Diamond Dust Sparkle and Rose Gold Sparkle.

Most styles are $15.00 for a pack, which are typically good for 2 manicures, 1 – 2 pedicures and some leftover accents (if you want to do just an accent nail or two with a different wrap). The packs are always buy three, get one free. Also, they are made in the US and Big 5 Free, so they are safe for pregnant women and kids (they have smaller sizes available for kiddie fingers and toes).

Ginny suggested that I watch a YouTube video of the application process, so that is exactly what I did. She also said that the most important things are to find a size so that no skin is touching the wrap and use alcohol on your nail before you put the wrap on.

With all this in mind, I went for it. Here’s the video I watched before I started:

 

 

Based on the instructions and video, here are my supplies:

I pretty much followed the instructions from the video exactly. I made sure not to touch the adhesive part of the wrap and picked it up with my little stick. Then, I turned my hairdryer on the wrap for a few seconds and smooshed it directly onto my fingernail.

Once the wrap was in place, I trimmed the excess with my pocketknife scissors. Then, instead of filing it down, I just used my nail clippers to clip the whole fingernail (and wrap) a teensy bit shorter, giving me a nice sealed edge.

I timed myself and it took me right about 20 minutes from start to finish for my first time. I feel like I can definitely get quicker with a little practice. I have spoken to friends who haven’t had as much luck getting the nails on though, so I don’t know if I just have extra flat nails that make it easy or if I did an exceptional job following the directions.

Here’s what my nails looked like after I put them all on:

I was really impressed with how well I did, especially on my non-dominant hand. I’ve heard a bunch of feedback that it’s really hard to get the tips smooth, but by clipping the ends with my nail they turned out really great. I highly recommend that method!

Even with the neat application, I still fully expected the wraps to start chipping or peeling up within a day or so. I’m pretty hard on my nails and I didn’t hold back with the Jamberry wraps at all. Within the first 24 hours I had ripped apart my vacuum cleaner to clean it out, hung some pictures on a wall, typed a ton, showered, bathed a kid, emptied the dishwasher, dug around in my purse, etc.

Then, on Day #6 I had swim practice with Jack and figured that there was no way the wraps would last through 45 – 60 minutes in a pool… but they totally did. In fact, they looked pretty much the same for the first 8 days of wearing them.

Here is a picture I took on Day #8 right before I took them off:

I totally could have kept them on for a few more days, because they weren’t showing much wear at all. The problem was that when I was bored I’d started working my fingernails under any bit of loose edge I could find and was dying to rip the suckers off.

So I did.

DON’T do what I did though. Follow the instructions and take the nails off by soaking them in nail polish remover to break the adhesive bond. If you rip them off, you also kind of rip off some of the top layer of your fingernail… which is totally not cool. Luckily, my nails were back to normal within a day or so!

So the question is: would I try them again?
Absolutely! They are much cheaper than going to get a gel manicure done at the salon and I like that I can apply them in the comfort of my own home. I think that they looked natural and my friends were shocked when I told them that they were actually Jamberry. I’m not really an ‘everyday’ nail polish girl, but I’d totally break these out for my next fancy event.

Do you want to try them?
I just want you all to know that I don’t make a dime if you decide to buy anything from Jamberry. I’m not having a party or earning products off your orders. I was just really curious about the company and thought you might want to read an honest review.

If you do decide to try them on your own, I’d love it if you’d check out Ginny’s Jamberry website. She’s just starting out her Jamberry business and I love to be able to support my readers whenever I have a chance!

Have you tried Jamberry before? Do you like the ‘plain’ designs that look like nail polish or the funky patterns?

 

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored review. I was not compensated in any way and all opinions are my own. Ginny was nice enough to provide me with a pack of Sparkling Marsala Jamberry strips to try out. So, thank you Ginny!