There was once a time when I would get semi-regular acrylic manicures. Then I decided it wasn’t worth the money.
Since that day I have longed for clean, fresh looking nails that don’t chip when I look at water.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes painting my nails every few days feels so refreshing.
Then other times I end up waiting 2 weeks (gasp!) before removing some old, chipped, half scraped off polish.
But then there was a light at the end of the tunnel… that didn’t cost a fortune.

In my Walmart Beauty Box Spring 2021 box I got the cutest gel nail polish strips! These nail strips are light pink with a few animal prints and I couldn’t wait to try them out.
From what I could tell, they’re like stickers for your nails. Which means that I don’t have to be an artist to have a gorgeous looking manicure! Total win right there.
But my nails are far from ready for something so adorable. My natural nail is flimsy, easily torn and typically I’m sporting at least 3 different lengths, per hand.
To solve this little problem, I snagged some KISS fake nails that would be worthy of these manicure strips.

Walmart Beauty Box
By the way, have you tried a Walmart Beauty Box? It’s a quarterly box that comes at the start of each season. The box is filled with samples and some full size products to get your season started. And for $7, you can’t really go wrong.
I find I really like that it gives me a handful of drugstore products to try out at the start of each season. Here is the link if you want to grab this seasonal beauty box for yourself.
Review of Dashing Diva Ultra Shine Gel Manicure

What’s in the box?
In the gel strip package, you get the gel nail strips and a small nail file. The instructions are on the back of the package.
Applying the Nail Strips
Now that my nails are worthy of this cuteness (thanks fake nails!), let’s get these babies on.
With freshly washed hands, I used nail polish remover to give my nails a quick wipe down to remove any oils. Then you apply the gel strips to each finger, starting at the cuticle and holding it down for 3-5 seconds.
The gel strips are differently sized and I found that you can put either end of the strip at the cuticle depending on the size of your nail.
Once the strip is attached, you use the white side of the file to fold down and file off the excess using up and down motions (NOT SIDE TO SIDE!) starting from the middle of the nail.
I did find that i had to do a bit of tearing once the strip was torn by the nail file. But I may have gone a little overboard with the filing to “cut” the strip as well. I noticed that the strip looks chipped at the end of the nail due to the filing. More practice may be needed.

Longevity
The strips are supposed to last up to 14 days on your nails, as I applied them to fake nails, I am not sure if the same time frame still stands.
Final Thoughts
Overall I am quite impressed with how quick and easy these strip were to apply. This makes having cute nails totally doable all the time.
No excuses!
If you want to try these babies out, you can grab them on Amazon (link) or your local drugstore or Walmart (link). Psst.. they’re cheaper at Walmart 😀