So my friend Lori invited me to a Facebook Jamberry party, where I spent a ton of money on nail wraps. I got several really lovely designs that I’m excited to use in nail art and as accents.

First, the color on my nails is ILNP Princeton, which is a gorgeous minty green with linear holo that really comes out in direct light. I bought this color on a whim, since I don’t usually wear greens, but I’m so in love with it for spring. I wore it this week hoping to persuade the snow to disappear. The snow is still here. Bummer.

flash photo so you can see the linear holo goodness

I added an accent nail of a Jamberry nail wrap in Everything Nice. I really love the colors of this wrap and how well it coordinates with this polish. My students have been giving me complements, and since they wouldn’t necessarily notice if I wore my underwear on my head, that’s saying something.

Jamberries are hella expensive at $15 USD a sheet, but each sheet comes with enough deals for two full manicures and a full pedicure. They are advertised as lasting a couple of weeks on fingers and longer on toes. The application process is kind of involved, but not too onerous: you have to heat the nail wrap (I used my hair dryer, but they recommend a personal heater), apply the wrap, heat it on your finger and apply pressure to the wrap to set the adhesive. Apparently the first release of the product had crappy adhesive, but Jamberries 2.0 have a redesigned adhesive formula. It is still heat and pressure activated, though, so you can’t just slap them on and go. It can be a little difficult to adhere them first time around with no bubbles, and with the wraps as expensive as they are, you don’t want to mess them up.

My first time with these wraps I think I didn’t apply enough heat or pressure, because they fell off the next day. My nails were wet with polish when I tried to apply them, so I think I babied the process and didn’t get a good bond. I tried again and got some bubbling (not pictured), which I’ve tried to fix with a toothpick dipped in top coat. Let’s see how long they last: so far, so good. I may need to invest in a heater (Jamberry sells one for $20), or just practice some more. It helped to wipe my polished nail with alcohol before I tried the second time to apply them, and I reheated my nails several times while putting extra pressure along the sides. I’m fairly pain-intolerant, so holding my hand in front of the hot blow dryer didn’t bother me. I also fixed one of the bubbles by reheating the wrap later (by holding my finger under my oven vent while I was baking dinner) and smoothing it out. It’s been a day and a half since the second application and they’re holding on, but there’s some lifting at the tip of my left hand nail. It’s easy enough to fix with some heat and pressure, though, and doesn’t really bother me.

These are shipped in a flat sealed envelope, sent without tracking. I placed my order on Feb. 13, and it didn’t ship until Feb. 18. I finally received it Feb. 23, which seems a really long time to get a simple flat envelope. I paid $4.50 USD shipping, so I did expect it to ship quickly. That’s way too much money for the cheapest possible shipping speed; I could have sent a letter to Utah with a stamp and it would have gotten there in two days. I’m also not happy that they don’t take PayPal, considering how easily identity theft can occur. So while I do like the product, those two things make me uneasy.

Jamberry has an extensive range of designs and styles, including wraps for young kids. If you’re interested in checking them out you can purchase them at this link, or contact my consultant at lori.jamspa@gmail.com.

Have you tried nail wraps? What do you think?

All products in this post purchased at full price by me. Link to Jamberry is through my friend’s consultant link, and she will earn commission for purchases made through it. I will earn nothing.