East vs West - False/3D Nails

Hey!

So I discovered a love for 3D nails a few years ago but I never thought I could pull them off. That was until I went wandering into Claire's in Paris (random, I know) and saw a cute set of false 3D nails so I bought them. I have short-ish fingers and longer nails give the illusion of longer, more elegant fingers. Also Bom of 2NE1 is a fan of 3D nails and I love Bom so...

These are pictures I took summer of last year.

I loved these nails because of the cute colour and length and the best part was that they matched my phone case. Obviously.. The length of each nail was about the same from my nail bed to the tip which is great because I have really uneven nail beds. The glue that comes with it is so strong. I am a complete clutz and drop all sorts of things onto the ends of the nail and they didn't come off at all. The obvious downside is the removal. I soaked my fingers in nail polish remover which was acetone free. It's recommended that you use a remover with acetone but it strips your nails so I decided not to. This ruined the false nails so I couldn't re-use them which is annoying and I had to practically rip the false nail off which messed up my own nail a bit. To be honest it was worth it I still love these nails and I wish Claire's still made them.

WEST

With summer now here and no need to pick up a pencil I can wear my false nails again! This pink and blue set I bought a couple weeks ago from Claire's and somehow managed to lose two nails even though they've just been on my shelf. These are pre glued on the back which makes for easy application and removal. These were about £6, I can't remember.

EAST

The first set I got were from a Hong Kong seller on eBay which you can find here and they cost £1.89 for each set with free delivery. I bought two packs as you can see because they are quite cheeky in the way they sell these nails. Usually there are 24 nails in one pack whereas these are sold in a pack of 12. You would think 12 is enough but the sizing of the nails is really awkward and if you want more than one of the same size/type you need to have 24 nails. These didn't come with a glue but a gummy adhesive which I have yet to try out.

I love the crown and diamond design on these with the subtle pink glitter. The only thing that I'm worried   about is whether the clear plastic will look odd on my nail bed but we shall see.

I bought two more sets from the same seller here at £2.99 each, free delivery. Both came in a set of 24, with glue and in a case shaped like a mobile phone. Only 8 have 3D designs so they act as accents rather than an overall look. I would say the downside to these is that the glitter is the top coat of the nail and there is no other protective layer so the glitter sheds so the surface isn't as smooth.

I tried on the pink and blue set from Claire's first. I was so disappointed with these compared to the set I bought last year. As I said before my nail beds are different sizes so that probably affects the length but these were so uneven. The false nail covered my pinkie, ring finger and thumb nail completely but the middle and index had obviously increased in length. Admittedly my nail beds on those two fingers are shorter but this didn't seem to matter when I bought the Claire's nails last year. Also, I thought there would have been more plain pink nails but they were mostly striped and flowery. Finally, the thumb nail makes my thumb look really wide. On a positive note the colours are really cute and the adhesive is really strong but don't really make up for the fact that they look uneven.

I then tried the strawberry set from Hong Kong which I prefer. The length and width is better and also the overall look. However the glue is nowhere near as strong as Claire's at all. All of the nails fell off and I had to reapply with more glue, consequentially I've run out of glue. Also the thumb nail is so long and so wide. I admit my fingers are really small compared to most but in comparison to the sizing of the other nails it's really off.

My overall verdict would be that the nails from the 'East' have a better design, sizing and are cheaper. However the glue is not strong at all and if I were to go out with them on I would definitely bring extra glue with me.

The nails from the 'West' are slightly better quality and the gummy adhesive is very useful and less messy than glue.

But the clear winner for me are the nails from the 'East' which I shall be buying many more of!

Choom xoxo

ps. I typed this whole post with the false nails on and it's taken me all day.