*press Sample.
Hi there everyone!!!
OK so before you all shout " OMG YOU HAVE GONE TO THE DARK SIDE!!!!" I am NOT here to sell you Jamberry. Nor have I become a sales person for them. What I have done is unbiasedly tried the Wraps that they sell and as someone who has never used them before videoed myself try them for the first time to give a good and accurate representation on how they work and ease of use.
So what is Jamberry? Well if your in the nail world, you have heard about them and the bad press they get. If your not a nail person then you may have been offered to try them by a family friend these past few months as they were released here in Oz in October.I myself was even on the fence about giving the product a go as the whole pushy way they seem to be rammed down your throat turned me off them totally. Ive seen the "reps" try to tell you that they will pretty much do anything ,that you will get 4 sets of nails from one pack and even that they are Gluten Free. I know crazy right?!?
But after speaking to one of the ladies who is helping with the launch in Australia, she was really lovely, not pushy at all and a pleasure to chat too. So I decided to try them out.
I was sent the following.....
A manicure set.
A heat fan.
2 packs of Jamberry wraps.
Firstly the Heat fan looked great but it had an american plug so I asked the rep what to use as an alternative and I was recommended to try a Hair dryer. So I grabbed my Remington Hair Dryer.
The premise with the Jamberry wraps are you heat them and place on your nail and stretch them in place.
I followed the instructions that came with the parcel. In the below video you can see me trying the product for the very first time. It was a learning curve for me as Id never used these type of heap wraps before and I also have hard gel overlays on my nails which I did not know would or would not affect the application.
As you can see the application did not go as smoothly as I would have hoped or as they claim on their site. Here are a few pics of the wraps.
As you can see when I applied the wraps with the hair dryer they did not wrap on my nail well and I ended up with a bunch of creases. they were sharp and scratchy on the free edge and personally looked like my 5 yr old had put them on.
I was really disappointed. These were suppose to be easy to use and I found them awkward.
As a person who has done nails for many years I really do not see how other people will be able to use them with ease.
Saying this, most of the promo pictures I've seen are of people with really short nails. And when you think about it they would be better for short nails.
After speaking to Cathy from More Nail Polish she tried her Jamberry wraps with the toaster to heat them and had a better result. So I decided to I've the wraps another go but this time I brought a adapter for the heat fan provided and used this. The heat fan worked a million times better than the hair dryer, so if you do decided to buy any Jamberry wraps I would recommend the heat fan. This of course puts the cost to you up tho.
The second attempt I also tried over coloured polish to see if I could get a different effect.
This time the wraps moulded better to my nails and I think for 2 reasons.
Firstly I trimmed my nails shorter. I think that made a difference with the application and there was less surface area to crease. Secondly the heat fan made them more flexible to stretch on my nails so I could get most of the creases out.
Even tho I got a better finish this time I still found the tips to be rough and scratchy.
So Jamberry Wraps...are they for you?? well lets think about the pros and cons.
Pros-
* They come in a variety of colours and designs.
* They are non toxic and are a good alternative to regular polish.
* If you are not great at nail art they will be great for a feature nail.
Cons-
* They are expensive. $22 per set. You do get 22 wraps per set so you can do 2 full manicures or pedicures. -I have seen some advertised that you can get 4 full manis or pedis from a set, but honestly unless you can get them to fit your nails exactly you will not get 4 manis from them.
* You require a heat source to warm the wraps. -Ideally you require a Jamberry heat fan but a toaster or other heat source could work.
* They do not always fit your nails - I found that with my longer nails and C curve they did not fit perfectly and I had wrinkles on my nails which were rough and scratchy.
All in all I'm kind of on the fence with them. I like the designs but i'm not a fan of the faff to put them on. I have used OPI nail wraps and Sally Hansen ones and they seemed to take less effort.
If you do decided to i've them a go, check out Facebook as many people are selling them,
They retail for $22 per set plus postage.
Until next time......
