Little Girls and their manicures

I have one real, and much loved, vice. Well, I have a few. Caramel, Tyrrell’s chips, IsaDelights……..okay, I have more than one “vice,” sue me. However, the one that makes me feel “girly” is the manicure and pedicure ritual I often partake in. Up until last month, I would go once a month, for an hour, to get my manicures done. I’m a big lover of Shellac. Well, I was, until I found SensatioNail, that is. If you haven’t checked out the new DIY manicures, you’re missing out! Truly in love, even though I’m stuck doing them myself, it’s still one of my favorite things to do for myself.

My daughter is just as into manicures and pedicures as her Mommy. However, I’m not using my new toy on her. It requires a lot of effort, and even though she’s patient, it’s just not going to happen. Getting the polish off of her would take FOREVER and a day, so I had to find something super fun for her, so she wouldn’t feel left out of the ritual!

Style Me Up Nail Salon is the answer we’ve been looking for. It’s a complete manicure set, mostly for girls 8 years and older. However, since I do her nails, it works for us! Six nail polish bottles, nail dryer (batteries not included,) stickers for her nails, sparkles, shimmer powder, nail files, nail polish remover pads (which do not have a strong odor,) and FUN. All you need is a little girl, a mom, and an hour! Or more, if you have time, go wild and do a pedicure, too. Toes fit in the nail dryer, no problem.

Our favorite part? The shimmer powder can go into the different colored nail polishes. It really looks cool. A definite winner!

The product has issues, but there are ways around “the issues.”

PROBLEM 1:

The files are a bit coarse, and if not used properly, will tear up the nails.

My Solution: I rubbed them together to get some of the coarser material off of them, it worked a lot better.

PROBLEM 2:

The bottles are tiny, with tiny little necks. Why is this a problem? Well, the kit comes with three clear polishes that you can put glittery shapes into. Well, the funnel they supply doesn’t work well with the bottles, because the funnel is just too big for the necks of the bottles. Honestly, for the glittery shapes to work best, they should make the bottles larger, so when you dump the glittery pieces into the funnel, they go right in AND when you put the brush into the bottle and pull it back out, with a wider neck on the bottle, the glittery pieces will actually come out ON THE BRUSH.

My Solution:Use a larger container. We just found something larger to use, put the clear polish in the container (little glass jar works well,) and put the glittery shapes into the clear polish. Use the brush that comes with the bottle of polish. Worked a lot better, and we got the shapes onto my daughters tiny fingers. I had to limit one glittery shape per nail on her. Itty bitty nails!

Problem 3:

Strong Nail Polish Odor.

My Solution: Unfortunately I don’t have a solution for this one…..but if someone else does, let me know!

Originally I had seen this item in the Young Explorers catalog. It was in there for $32.95. I would not pay $32.95 for this. Not with the issues I had to find solutions to. However, I figured I could find it for less someplace else. And I did. You can get it for $29.99 at Sears!

If you’re thinking about this for the holidays, I would recommend:

Go to your favorite CASH REBATE site (you know the ones I love, if not, check them all out and sign up for the rebate sites you like.)
Choose to purchase this product at Sears.com (or if you found it someplace cheaper, let me know, and of course, buy it there.)
Earn your cash back, PLUS find a few other items that you want to purchase at Sears.com, so you can earn the FREE SHIPPING.
REMEMBER, if this is all you want to purchase, look at a few coupon sites, like RetailMeNot.com, or FreeShipping.org. Sometimes the FREE SHIPPING is a better deal than getting the cash back earnings.
REMEMBER, if you can’t find a great coupon for free, or cheaper, shipping, you can have things shipped to your local store for a cheaper shipping fee.

My final thoughts on Style Me Up Nail Salon: My daughter loved it. She felt very grown up getting her nails done, especially with the nail dryer, and toe separators, and filing her own nails. Totally worth the money, but I definitely would NOT pay the higher $32.95 for this item. If you’re daughter is doing a sleepover party for her birthday, and she’s 8 or older, the girls can totally do this on their own. Just supply them with the larger bottles for the mixing portion of the fun! The girls will have a blast.

My kids – as you can see – loved it. And the nails, and toes, came out beautiful.