I was raving about the latest from Kiss a few weeks ago on Instagram when I was given the opportunity to try out the Gel Dress Nails with peel-off removal! That’s right. You heard me. PEEL-OFF REMOVAL. I have not had a chance to try gel polish yet as I dread the removal process at home even though I know all I need is a good acetone bath.
Gel Dress Nails are the only gel strips currently on the market with instant peel-off removal. They can last up to 2 weeks when used in conjunction with the Kiss Double Up Top Gel and cured with an LED lamp.
So many pretty patterns! I should add that you can still use the Gel Dress strips as regular nail strips without having to cure them with a gel top coat.
If you already own a curable gel top coat, feel free to use it. If you don’t, Kiss can provide you with one!
I chose this beautiful floral pattern called “Sugar & Spice” which still wrinkled on me as most nail strips tend to do.
Price: KISS Gel Dress: $6.97
*KISS Double Up Top Gel: $9.97
*KISS LED Lamp: $34.97
Packaging: Includes 40 gel strips – 20 full size strips and 20 French tips
Results/Discussion:
1. Long Lasting Wear
I won’t lie, I didn’t wear them for 2 weeks as one of the strips on the edge of my thumb starting to lift and bothered me every time I looked at it so I lasted 4 days with these gel strips. With a regular top coat, the gel strips should last about a week, but I noticed that as soon as I applied the gel top coat, A LOT Of the creasing I had was smoothed out and once cured, there was a lot less lifting of the strips. The creasing you see in the above pictures was far worse before I applied the gel top coat. The fact that I had quite a number of creases on my nails did shorten their lifespan as the strips did not lie flat, but none of them ripped or peeled off on their own in the 4 days I had them on.
2. Easy Peel-Off Removal
So easy! I experienced a little bit of nail peeling that I was able to eliminate with some light buffing, but other than that these cured gel strips came off smooth like butt-ah!
3. Healthy Nail PSA (Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive)
This is a patent-pending type of strip meant for optimal surface adhesion and custom fit. It wasn’t the stickiest adhesive I have used and it certainly got less sticky the more I handled it to better fit the strip over my nails. I would make sure that your nail beds are absolutely clean of debris and dirt to optimize adhesion.
4. Patented Top Coat
This is the first gel top coat I have used that I had to actually cure with an LED lamp so I don’t really have a frame of reference as to what is a “good gel top coat”, but all I can say is that it smoothed out some of the existing creases I had and prevented any lifting of the strips from my nails. I was convinced that I would have peeling strips once I got them wet, but there was something about the gel top coat that “set everything in place”. Make sure you don’t get any top coat on your skin because it will burn slightly when you cure your nails under the LED light!
Conclusion: I am going to give the French tips a try to see if I can reduce the amount of creasing. I feel like I am the most horrible example when it comes to nail strips of any kind at this point. Either I’m completely inept at using them or my nails are just the wrong curvature. I’d like to think it’s the latter, but I’m not discounting the other reason! You do need an LED lamp to cure the gel top coat, but there are plenty of little portable ones that don’t have to cost you a pretty penny. I honestly think that if I hadn’t had the creases, I would have easily gotten a solid week out of these strips. 2 weeks is a long time for most women and we tend to be quite rough on our hands so I don’t know whether the Gel Dress strips will really last that long. As long as there is full adhesion between strip and nail bed, your manicure stands a VERY good chance of lasting especially once cured with the gel top coat.
KISS Gel Dress Strips can be found at Wal-Mart.
PR sample sent for review purposes, but as always, all opinions are MINE!
.JPG)
No comments