Hi Goddesses
A few weeks back, I was contacted by smART Nails to see if I would like to review their nail art stencils. By coincidence, I'd just bought (but not yet used) some off eBay, so I jumped at the chance to try some more.
Now, this is not the most positive review I've ever written, so I want to say upfront - I REALLY like the idea of the product, the reality of it just needs tweaking.
These stencils are slightly different to other nail vinyls in that they sit over the whole nail. For some patterns, this is a real bonus - like lining up the zig zags or chevrons. They are also super sticky, but in the right way. They adhere well, and are still sticky enough to reuse the next day.
For me, the product has 2 problems. The first is that they are super thin. This means that delicate or hole-y designs struggle against the weight of the polish when you start to pull it off, causing distortion of the pattern.
Secondly, this problem only gets worse when you try to reuse the product, and you will want to reuse it, given the price (USD1.99 for 10). You won't want to use a new one on each finger and spend $1.99 per mani.
As you can see on each of the manis I did, the pattern gets more distorted as I reuse the sticker. The thumb is always the first nail I do, and is therefore the crispest. Some of them deteroriate quite badly.
I know other bloggers have had more success with these - maybe they didn't reuse them, I don't know. I think you'd probably get better results sponging your polish on top of the stencil (less weight), but I am not sure whether this would give you the colour density you need.
So, sad to say, I'll use my remaining stencils but won't be buying anymore. If they can fix the weight issue, they have a potentially great product, but at the moment, these stencils don't give guaranteed results.
You can check smART Nails out HERE. These products were provided for an honest review.
