While at the mall a week or so ago something cought my eye. Seeing a crowd of people huddled together made me curious so I went to see what was so interesting. It was the Incoco Nail Bar. I was excited because I saw this product at Walgreens and wondered if it worked. Incoco is a company that makes dry nail appliqués. They are kind of like nail stickers that are made out of nail polish. There is no drying time and they supposedly last for 2 weeks.
I stood there for a while and watched a few demos. The application seemed so easy and the finish was so professional looking that I was skeptical. One shopper was buying a kit of 6 so I asked her how she liked the product. She said that she loved the product and came back to stock up. She had been wearing the same kit for 3 weeks; she used rubber gloves when washing dishes. This astonished me because manicures on my nails are only good for 1.5 days before the chipping begins. There was some wear on her polish but it looked great to be 3 weeks old. Hearing her testimony was convincing but it seemed too convenient. I came up with a conspiracy theory that maybe the company hired her as an agent of propaganda. I decided to go home and research it on my own.
When I got home I Googled the product reviews and they were all stellar. There were some negative blog commenters but they were few and far between …you can’t please everyone. I also went to Incoco.com to watch the videos and see other products. On the website they have gift sets for nails and appliqués for toes. The gift sets are cool because you can create your own kit by essentially choose any of the polish colors they sell instead of being stuck with predetermined colors you don’t want. Of course buying in bulk is always cheaper too.
Not wanting to wait to order the product and not wanting to go all the way to the mall, I checked online to see if a Walgreens in my area had the product. One did so I immediately went and bought almost all the stock they had. What great Christmas gifts! Although the company makes a wide array of colors, Walgreens seems to only carry shades in the pink and red family and well and French sets.
When I got home I tried the French set. Each kit comes with 2 practice strips. In the case of the French kit, you apply the white tips separate from the sheer allover color. The sheer shade was a little too pronounced for me so after finishing the first hand I removed all the strips with polish remover. The beige that came in that particular kit was a great color but it was too light for my skin tone. Next time I will use the white tips with my favorite sheer French pink. Then I can use the sheer beige alone in a separate manicure for a polished nude look.
After removing the French I decided to try the pink color. Like the website says, the strips are very temperature sensitive. I ripped 2 strips trying to stretch them over my nail. The strips can be stretched to create a perfect fit but if the environment is not warm enough the strips can tear. For the second hand I made sure the room was warm and it made a big difference. The website has application tips, in addition to those that come with the packaging. The best tip I found was to attach the strip on one side of the nail and stretch it over to the other side. When I did my mom's nails the next day I applied this tip and it made a big difference.
Day 3- they are still looking new! On day 2 I applied a coat of clear polish, after getting a tip from another blog. There is some minor, barely noticeable wear at the ends but I am still super satisfied with the product. For the Do-it-yourselfer, this is perfect. There is no drying time so no smudging and the results are long lasting. This is the longest I have ever had a fresh looking manicure. I am going to do a 14 day test. This is day three. Stay tuned for the results of this experiment.
