For some reason I don’t at all understand, a LOWER dose of a med I need to take caused my lifelong strong, snap-off nails to become thin and bendy. This feels SO awful that I needed to do something about it ASAP. Sally Hansen products didn’t begin to address the problem, but I’d read that mineral powder colors were non-toxic and strengthening. And, the colors! “I deserve a treat that will help make my nails stronger,” I reasoned. So, an absolute novice, I looked at the colors and prices and discounts and decided Fairy Glamor [sic] was my jam.
The shopping experience was a bit lacking. With about 250 colors (about half sold out at any given moment), it would have been nice if the IMAGES for each of my choices showed up in my shopping cart along with the name, so I could see if I was buying two very similar shades. I managed not to by snapping screenshots, but that was time-consuming, clunky, and unnecessary. I bought a “kit” that did not include a (sold-out) UV lamp that I didn’t want, but inexplicably did include a worthless-without-the-light bottle of gel coat and a cute but nonfunctional unicorn-colored brush better suited for blush than nail powder.
My “kit” was disappointing when it finally arrived after about a week and a half. All of the components were loosely thrown into a box with almost no padding to protect the glass bottles. While the color jars were nice and large, there were no instructions, just a link to the site, where I had to hunt around. Excited to try them, I chose a fun shade with large pieces of glitter and a color-change base and tried to follow the very minimal use tips. Reader, it did not go well the first, second, or third time. The color-change was pretty much a bust, with the pink base virtually transparent when warm and unevenly hot pink when cold. (I won’t buy those colors again).
After chipping off my failed efforts, I found a series of useful videos on YouTube. At this point I realized my color choice was far too advanced for my lack of skills, and I needed some additional components I didn’t have. I ordered organic cuticle oil, a cuticle pusher, a real nIl brush, alcohol prep pads, and foam buffing blocks so I could follow the much better directions, and switched to a simpler color with small, uniformly sized glitter.
This went much better! I used the cuticle oil, pushed back my cuticles, cleaned off my nails with alcohol, and applied a thin layer of Base/Top Coat to one nail, carefully AVOIDING getting any on the skin around my nails, so it wouldn’t lift up. I dipped each nail in the color powder for 5 seconds and moved on to the next one. When all 10 were dipped, I brushed off the extra and did a second base coat, dip, and brush—then a Cure and Dry coat. After 2 minutes, I buffed each nail to remove the glitter texture and any uneven spots, brushed the dust off again, and did a final Top Coat.
My nails looked beautiful—and they are STRONG! So, this was a plus. But, nothing I have been able to do gets them to last longer than about 1-3 days without chipping just like any other polish. I suspect that the gel coat would last longer.
The colors DO NOT match the ones in the online catalog images—they are much lighter. I really wanted a hot pink, and tried twice and ended up with a pastel both times. When I emailed customer service about the discrepancy between the colors shown and real life, asking if I could exchange or return some UNOPENED colors, I was told they had a 50% restocking fee, because “We can’t resell them.” (Um, SEALED packages?!)
So, overall, I would give this “kit” an A for color selection and nail strengthening; a C for color matching, packaging, and customer service; and a D for instructions and durability.
