I did all of the prep, according to the box, and made the nails fit my natural nails. Some had to be filed before they would fit me exactly. The gluing was a bit of a mess, but I got through it and I got the nails on me. Once I got the nails on, I had to file almost all of them so that I could actually function in life. I type a lot at work, so I needed to make sure I could still do my job, and do regular things like pick up small objects, open jars, etc. And these were the ‘real short’ version, according to the box. I gave it two days, and then had to remove them. Here are my thoughts:
Pros:
- Strong nails. My natural nails get really weak when they get much longer than the tips of my fingers and I break and bend them a lot.
- Pretty nails. I stink at painting my own nails (A LOT), so this was refreshing.
- No maintenance. Since they’re not painted on, there is no chipping!
Cons:
- It took a lot of work and then getting used to. I usually keep my nails so short, that an extra length gets in my way. I had to file these ‘real short’ nails A LOT just to get them to a manageable length, and still had to adjust my regular life activities.
- It takes practice. I had never used nails like these at all before, so I just sort of took a swing at it.I didn’t do a great job of putting them on and had a lot of air bubbles under the nails, so they didn’t look great. Now, I think I could do a better job of getting them on more neatly.
- Getting them off was pretty messy - and glue-y. I couldn’t find the remover mentioned on the box, so I just used acetone. The acetone just ate away at the whole nail and sort of...melted, instead of coming off as a single piece like I had expected.
Overall, I didn’t hate the Everlasting French nails. I think I would use them for special occasions (all the weddings I have in my life, for example) and just leave them on for a day or two. They’re really affordable in comparison to a professional manicure and they do look really nice.