Broadway Nails imPress Press-on Manicure Review

A couple days ago, I showed you that I won these press-on nails in a contest, and I wanted to do a separate post to tell you more about my thoughts on those.

The back of the package, and also the instructions:

Pretty straightforward. One great thing about these is that they already have the adhesive on them, and so you just have to figure out what sizes fit your nails, pull off the plastic backings, and stick them on! Also included in the box is:

This is basically just a little pad with alcohol to get any extra dirt or oil off your nails to make sure that the nail sticks properly. Just make sure to let your nails dry before you try to apply the press-ons, otherwise it’s not going to work.

They also include this mini nail file, maybe for shaping either your nails or the false ones, or for smoothing out the top of your nails. I’m not sure, since it doesn’t say. I didn’t really use this, but I’m sure it could be useful for some people.

And here is the adorable packaging inside:

I think it’s so cute that it looks like a big nail polish bottle!

And here’s what the nails look like:

If you look really closely, you can see the plastic tab coming out from under one side of the nail. This is to show you which end points towards your cuticle, and also to make it easier to get the plastic off the adhesive.

And, here they are on:

If you look too close, you’ll see a couple of my nails are a little crooked. This is something to watch out for, since, once they’re pressed in place it isn’t easy (read: next to impossible) to get them off again. The one that I did peel back off to set straighter never re-adhered properly, and ultimately was the first one to come off.

And here’s a look at the length compared to the length of my nails at the time:

These were pretty long, but definitely still functional. My biggest issue with false nails is that my nails are very curved, and often falsies pinch or pull on my nail bed. For some reason—even though these weren’t the same shape, and often were either too wide or not wide enough for my nails—these didn’t do that. They were actually perfectly comfortable, and did last almost a whole week for me. The only irritating thing about these was that when I ran my fingers through my hair for any reason, hair would get caught under the edges close to the cuticles. This makes hair washing pretty annoying! It’s possible I didn’t get them close enough to the cuticle, but for the most part, I think they are, so I think it’s a fault in the nails, not in my application.

Overall, I would like to be able to say I would purchase these for another time. Before I realised they were usually very short, I thought they’d be great for nail-meltdowns, when I just seem to be breaking everywhere and need pretty nails. However, while sometimes I get some bad splits and breaks, I rarely loose so much of my nail that the regular imPress nails would cover my natural ones. Very disappointing! They need to make a longer version!

And, finally, I wanted to show off how I dressed up these simple black nails for New Year’s Eve:

I did a holographic glitter gradient. A quarter of the way down, I did a coat of my holographic topcoat. Then I used my LA Colours holographic glitter for one coat from half-way down the nail, and then at three-quarters. I love the outcome; it’s like I dipped my nails in crystals or diamonds! I know I’ve done glitter gradients before, but somehow I’m always so astonished at how easy it is to do something so stunning!

Also, while I’m annoyed at the shortness of the regular nails from imPress, and will likely never repurchase them, I can see how they could be great for people who just can’t grow their nails long. If you wanted just a little extra length without it being so long that it’s hard to deal with, these would be great, and (if I remember correctly) they come in simple colours, French tips, and crazy patterns, so there are lots of options!

Let me know if you’ve tried these nails out, and what you thought of them. Thanks for reading!