Life is a Sandcastle: Sweepstakes Jamberry Nails

This February Wife.Mother.Teacher is bringing you a review & giveaway of Jamberry Nails, provided by Julia at Jamberry Nails. Julia is an independent consultant & got ahold of us last month to see if we could partner on an upcoming giveaway and we were thrilled to say yes.

I had heard of Jamberry Nails prior to her message but had never tried them personally. Julia sent me the Love Spell design (pictured below) just in time for Valentine's Day. (Psst... if you're dying to try these out right away, you can click over to Julia's site to see Love Spell plus hundreds of other great designs.)

Aren't they adorable?! I fell in love as soon as I saw the design and knew these were the ones for me. :)

To get started, lets answer a few basic questions you might have about Jamberry, starting with...

What Are Jamberry Nail Wraps?

Jamberry nail wraps are the latest way to accessorize your fingers and toes. Say goodbye to polish mess and dry times with this new nail treatment that can be applied at home in about fifteen minutes.

I'm A Little Picky About My Nail Designs, Will There Be Something To Fit Me?

Jamberry has over 300 designs from French Tips to Sparkles, Collegiate to Sorority, even Solid Colors to Animal Instinct. Trust me - there will be a design for you!

How Long Do They Last?

Jamberry says their wraps will last up to two weeks on fingers & a month on toes.

But Aren't They Super Expensive?

Actually, no. For those of you that get professional manicures or fake nails applied, you're probably spending more than Jamberry nails would cost you to do yourself. Plus they are Buy 3, Get 1 FREE, so that makes it super affordable!

How Will I Know That I'll Like Them?

You're in luck - unlike so many other beauty companies, Julia offers a FREE sample of their product so that you can give it a try before investing in a full set. :)

Wife.Mother.Teacher's Review

What can I say y'all, I'm thrilled with my Jamberry Nails! In my pre-Total Money Makeover days I enjoyed pampering myself regularly - which included getting my nails done - but in recent years that has been an expense I gave up as we work on getting out of debt. So here's my great news... even someone in the midst of paying off debt could afford to splurge on Jamberry Nails every so often - they're only $15 dollars and that will get you 2 manicures, 2 pedicures plus a few extra to have as accent nails. Worst case scenario, that's a maximum of $3.25 for a full manicure or pedicure that would cost you closer to $40 at the salon when you get the B3G1 offer. :)

Aside from cost, I'm totally pleased with the product itself. My nail wraps came packaged in a little envelope for easy storage between manicures and included very clear (and short - thank you!) directions. Julia knew I was a Jamberry virgin so she also directed me to a wonderful video tutorial that I found very helpful. (The video has GREAT ideas, that the directions on the nail wraps didn't include - if you're a Jamberry Virgin too, I would totally check it out.)

In total, it took me 1 hour and 7 minutes from start to finish. I know what you're thinking, "But Tiffany, I don't have that much time to do my nails, are you crazy?!" Well here's the deal, the first 20 minutes was spent just filing my nails, buffing, taking off old nail polish, etc. (Meanwhile I kept playing that tutorial video on repeat, so I'm pretty sure my distraction with the video slowed me down a bit, LOL.) I knew that I was applying these as a part of a review. It's really important to me that I give my full honest opinion on a product so I knew that I needed to give my all to this application and that takes time. And lastly, I was a Jamberry virgin - I didn't know what I was doing and ended up being super meticulous because of it. Now that I've put on Jamberry nails once, I'm certain I would apply them much faster and honestly when you consider drying time of normal nail polish its really not that much different.

My nail wraps have been on for 5 days and they still look fantastic. I did notice that 2 or 3 had a little bit of lifting at the tips, but I think that's because this was my first application and I struggled a bit with my right hand. I just used the nail file to smooth them out and it hasn't been a problem. At the rate they're going I expect them to last at least 10 days. Lord knows that if I was wearing nail polish it would totally be chipped by now so this is a win in my book!

What do you think? I *LOVE* them! That being said there were a few issues I ran into that I will try to avoid in round two...

1) Use a heater instead of a blow dryer if at all possible.

Jamberry sells a cute little heater, but you could use just about any heater you already own. The blow dryer was a pain because it took both hands and even on low the nail wrap would get blown around and get stuck to my tweezers. Super annoying. Next time I'll be using a heater instead. :)

2) Cut apart your Jamberry Nail Sheet ahead of time.

This will help you pick the right size for each of your finger nails a little easier - I didn't do this and as you can see from this totally blurry picture (sorry!) on a few nails I picked the wrong size nail wrap and ended up with a tiny gap at the very edge of my nail. (Honestly my husband couldn't even see them until I pointed them out so you'd be fine without being super picky about it, but I wanted to make sure I gave full disclosure on this review. Keep in mind that I'm pulling down my skin with my thumb in this picture.)

3) Before applying my second set of Jamberry nails for Valentine's I'll be investing in a cheap pair of manicure scissors.

I used kitchen scissors & nail clippers and it was a bit of a nightmare trying to do my right hand since you can't actually use right handed scissors very well with your left hand. (Jamberry includes them in their optional application kit, FYI, but you don't need an application kit to apply the nails. That being said, the winner of this giveaway will not only get the nail wrap of their choice, but an application kit as well!)

Overall, I give Jamberry Nail Wraps an A. They are fun, beautiful, easy to apply, long lasting & budget friendly - not to mention that Julia from Jamberry Nails is an absolute peach!

It's Giveaway Time...

One lucky winner will receive a Jamberry Application Kit & the Nail Wrap design of their choice. This giveaway is open to anyone with a US or Canada mailing address ages 18 and over. To enter just fill out the rafflecopter form below & while you wait to find out the results, make sure you request your FREE sample from Julia!

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