Review | imPRESS Press-On Manicure

When it comes to nail art, not everyone has the time, tools, patience or steady hands to create some of the masterpieces we see out there. Nail art is incredibly trendy right now as evidenced by the sudden influx of quick ways to have perfect nail designs with nail strips, wraps, gel nail strips and of course, press-on nails. The press-on nails I’m used to seeing are the ones that destroy your real nails once you’re done with them so when I started seeing imPRESS Press-On manicure kits in drugstores, I wondered if they were both safe for my nails and easy to use. They are also intended to last for one whole week as well which is pretty impressive for something that won’t harm your actual nails!

There are quite a number of different press-on manicure designs with everything from a plain colour to the wild and crazy which is what I chose to go with today. Go big or go home, right?! I chose “Punch Bowl” as my pattern to try as I love leopard print and bright colours in a medium nail length. Right away, I loved the packaging as the nails come in a plastic container shaped just like a nail polish bottle!

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Instructions on the back. Pretty straightforward right?

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Inside the box is a prep pad which I believe is rubbing alcohol to clean your nails with and a mini pink nail file. Hehe, it’s so small! And no glue required!

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Unscrew the cap and find your nail size! There are 24 nail covers in total and 12 different sizes so this should cover most  of the population…I say most because like the nail wraps I once again am an exception…

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It’s hard to tell in photos, but I have freakishly small hands. To give everyone some reference, my ring finger is a size 2.25! The average woman’s finger size is anywhere from a 5-7. My actual hands rarely fits any adult gloves and when it comes to bracelets and rings I have worn baby jewellery. With that in mind, you can see that the nails cover too much of my nail bed so it makes my hand look a little weird. I am using the smallest nail covers available and it turns out that having a little bit of skin showing on the sides makes a huge difference!

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My index finger nail is quite curved so I couldn’t get the imPRESS nail to stick to the tip of the nail, but it stayed on firmly anyway. I have fairly long nails so you can see how much longer the imPRESS nails were. What’s nice about these imPRESS nails is that you can file or even CUT them to make them work for your nails. I was too afraid to cut them because I didn’t want to ruin the overall shape of the nail, but I did file them down slightly with ease.

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I included a whole hand shot just to show you guys what these imPRESS nails look like relative to the rest of my hand. Despite the fact that I felt like I was “floating” in these nails, they stay on strong! I was able to shower in them and go about my day without losing one. I wash my hands a lot during the day when I’m puttering around the house and running errands, so I was afraid the water would dissolve the glue, but I didn’t lose a nail!

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Even though these imPRESS nails didn’t work for me, I have seen how these nails fit on other sets of hands and they look perfectly normal, so I think my experience with them is a bit of an outlier. What I can attest to is how easy they were to apply, the glossy finish of the nails and the relative lasting power.

I’ll be honest, when it comes to nail wraps, I easily can take up to 25 minutes for ONE hand. With these press-on nails, it’s more like 5 minutes! Just peel of the plastic coating revealing the sticky underside, line up the edge of the nail with your cuticle and press down! Make sure to press on the sides too!

You can see from the photos that these nails have a wonderful glossy finish that is fairly resistant. I didn’t wear these nails for a full week so I’m not sure how they will look by that point, but my guess is that if you’re not digging in a garden or doing something particularly hands-on, the shine will last.

As for the relative lasting power, I only wore them for two days as they weren’t particularly comfortable since they were too big, but even with a shower, these guys did not budge. I think for the average woman, I could see these lasting about 5 days. I’ve never had any manicure last 7 and I don’t think press-on nails would be too much of an exception. When it comes to peeling them off, I would suggest using a little bit of acetone to dissolve the glue as the nails are VERY sticky. However, you can peel them off, which is what I chose to do, but do it very slowly and try to work as close the glue as possible. I rushed two nails and ended up ripping up some actual nail with it Sad smile.

Overall, I do think this is a good product if you need a quick, beautiful looking manicure and have normal sized human hands! I was really quite sad that I couldn’t truly put them to the test, but from the 48 hours I got out of them, they were durable, lightweight and so easy to apply! Anyone can do it and you don’t need a steady hand at all! And who can say no to the number of fun designs!

imPRESS Press-On Manicure sets can be found at your local drugstore such as London Drugs and Wal-Mart ranging in price from $4.99 – $8.99.

PR sample sent to me for review. You can see that all opinion are my own!

24 comments

  1. And I thought I had small fingers... wow, yours are so tiny! Pity these were too big... I love how the packaging looks like a giant polish bottle.

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    1. Yeah, I have child size hands! That's why I only have two rings because it's just too much of a hassle to have things made. I had Birks make my engagement ring because, well, it's my engagement ring, but thank goodness my ears and neck are normal sizes! ;-)

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  2. Lol they look giant on you. Size 2.5? WOW! But the Impress nails look pretty good though.

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    1. haha, I know right! I put the first one on and I was like...something looks off...they are a good product though despite them not working out on me.

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  3. I've been so curious about these, but never pick them up! omg I remember you talking about your hand size before, and I've seen these in person and omg, Jayne!! Your hands are so small lol. They're cute!! It's so funny how big the im-press nails are on you. Sorry they didn't work out, but glad to hear they're pretty fast to put on!

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    1. LOL, I know I have midget hands! They really are a great product though. I'd totally recommend them!

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  4. oh i despise press on nails, I think they are fine when you were 7 or 8, but once you reach a certain age, they should be left for only costume parties :p

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    1. I agree with you, but I guess I never got to use press-on nails at that age so I'm living the dream now!

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  5. Never tried this kind of nails, I think I would feel weird with them, I'm not used to such long nails : / Thanks for the review though Jayne, very thorough and informative ^^ I'm sticking to good ol' nail lacquer I guess : ) xx

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    1. I think I will have to stick with nail lacquer as well!

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  6. One of my gf's had these on for over a week. A couple of them popped off but she glued them back on. The only thing she complained about was the pattern starting to peel away at the corners.

    I still can't believe how tiny your fingers are. Everyone comments on how tiny MY ring is at 4.25 lol.

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    1. I THOUGHT they would last a week! That's amazing!

      4.25 IS small! I'm the kind of small that makes it hard to find ANY rings!

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  7. These are cute! Too bad they're huge on your nails lol.. After looking at them for a while, they seem to look worse... lol, this design though would look really nice on your natural nails.

    xo Maddy | spilledpolish
    ps. check out my handmade nail polish - Beyond the Nail :)

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    1. LOL, I was thinking of re-creating this design on my natural nails as well! The design is quite cute and I'm hoping that I can find the rest of the nails a home!

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    1. Thank you Chantel! I'm glad you enjoyed my write-up!

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  9. Thanks for the review!! I have very small hands as well (my ring finger is 3 a tad bigger than yours)so now I know they won't work for me either ;/ oh well I'll stick with my normal nail polishes. :D

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    1. Oh, 3 is very small! I think I will have to stick with painting my nails as well!

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  10. Great review :) Too bad they were too big, they have a neat pattern.

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    1. They really do! I thought the pattern was so cute!

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  11. I got a set of the long black nails from their halloween line a while back, and I found a couple nails were too wide for my nails as well, but seemed to fit a little better than yours. Mine definitely lasted me the full week, if not a little longer, and I waited for one to come off on its own before removing the rest.

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    1. I really do think these nails have incredible longevity so I'm glad to hear that they live up to their claims!

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  12. I had the same problem with these nails. They didn't fit I'm glad they made a short length. I will eventually try those and do a review on those on my blog. I love the pattern you chose.

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    1. Gotta love leopard print! I will review the short length later on to see how it goes...

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