Product Review: Sally Hansen 14 Day Nail Shield

The 14 Day Nail Shield by Sally Hansen claims to strengthen nails against chipping and cracking for 14 days.  It also "gives a hint of color".  It retails for $7.49 at drug stores and grocery stores.  

I have used the nail polish decals for quite some time now.  I often use the Sephora Nail Patches, but going to Sephora isn't something I do often.  When I saw these at my local Stop and Shop I thought they would work the same way.  Well, they are supposed to work the same way and should be easy to apply.  Were they?

There were a few things that I had complaints about:

• They were too thin and ripped easily when I tried to apply them.
• They were too sticky, and that caused them to rip.
• The "light hint of color" looked more like yellowing nails than what they claim.
• The sizes are too big for anyone's natural nails.  It takes a lot of work to actually get them to fit.
• The shine is very strong.  If you don't like incredibly shiny nails, these aren't for you.
• They only have the "hint of color" and don't have any other colors.

Let me start with the first complaint.  I have used the nail polish decals before in a different brand.  From my experience, they should be sticky enough to stick to your natural nail and should harden like regular polish with time.  The 14 Day Nail Shield was very thin and very sticky.  Therefore, when I tried to apply them to my nails and had to reposition them, they would stick too much, stretch or rip.  That caused a problem when I wasn't given enough to remedy that.  

If you have regular normal sized nails (like 98% of the population! ha!) these aren't for you because the sizes are way too big.  It takes a lot of work to get them to actually fit, and that is only given that you have long nails and can perforate around the nail bed.  I do have longer nails and I had a difficult time getting these to size.

The hint of color comes in 3 shades.  Sheer Nude, Sheer Buff and Shell.  Honestly, the hint of color looks like yellowing nails.  The Shell is the ONLY color that actually seems like it may look natural.  However, I just wouldn't use these again.  

Being strapped on time for doing your nails when you're a mom is so common.  However, we still want to make ourselves feel good and dress up our nails sometimes.  Even though I wouldn't go with the Sally Hansen brand, I definitely would recommend the Sephora Nail Patches. They retail for about $10 and are excellent.  The colors they have are just so eye catching.  It does prove that drug store/supermarket brands aren't always the best.