Review of Avon's AvonColor Instant Manicure
Stickers for your fingernails!
The new AvonColor Instant Manicure dry nail enamel strips are a runaway bestseller for Avon! Unless you've been living off the media grid (or you're a guy and genetically immune to fembot marketing), you've seen the television and print ads sporting lithe, sexy fingers with tips of the finest rubies.
The Avon brochure blares the product's exclusivity. "Only at Avon" "The World's first real nail enamel that goes on dry!" The literature continues with Instant Manicure's alleged amazing properties. "Get a complete manicure without smudges in minutes," "stays shiny, smooth and lasts up to 14 days," "base, color, and top coat all-in-one." Once again, another Avon product solves world hunger, develops a cure for cancer, and promises eternal beauty bliss in one Avon brochure page.
I have to be honest - Avon's no doubt right about one point - I've never seen any product like this other than the old school Lee Press-On Nails my sisters and I sported back in the early '80s. Instant Manicure isn't a set of fake nails, however, it's actual individual slices of polish you stick on your nails for immediate glamour.
Instant Manicure comes in an assortment of warm, neutral, and cool colors like any other Avon nail polish. You can choose reds, purples, blues, clears, earths, and shimmer tones. I decided to try the advance pack samples that came in my Avon delivery, a set of glossy nail-covers in a space-age cream shimmer.
Now, even though I sell Avon, I rarely wear nail polish. With two young boys at home, a cactus garden to tend, a pot-bellied pig, dog, iguanas and three parrots as companions, having fancy fingers is a bit out of my reach. I keep my nails ultra short and pray no customers notice my ragged cuticles. Here's a photo of my sorry fingers before application:
Yeah, I know, they are warped and wrinkled. Pass the Skin So Soft hand cream, please.
The polish comes in a strip of fingernail-shaped pods covered in a glossy film. You peel off the protection (yes, ladies, this is a sexy operation!) and find the pod that best fits your fingernail. Finding the proper size is easy:
I was laughing so hard while imagining my nails so sleek and shiny that the camera shook.
You peel off the little silver tab attaching the nails to the film and remove your chosen pod, then place the rounded edge close to your cuticle. It's a sticker! Press from base to tip, smoothing out the air bubbles as you go. To be honest, this process takes a bit of practice, as you are essentially one-handed as you size, stick, and smooth. More coordinated fellows than myself will do a better job. The pod hangs off the top edge of your nail. You simply rub the polish film gently across your nail edge and it just falls to the floor. Voila! Instant Manicure!
As you can see, not a perfect job, but my nails are covered, smooth, and shiny!
The Instant Manicure strips allow for mistakes. Several extra pods are included in each packette. (This would be helpful for those with more than ten fingers, too!) I ended up sticking the extras on my toes for a good laugh. It works!
A full thirty days later, the dang polish is STILL on my nails, and looks nearly identical to when I applied it! No chips, just a small edge at the cuticle where my nails have grown. I can't believe it. Avon met and exceeded its promises. I expect them to cure world hunger any day.
Thirty-six days later. Nail Polish intact. Space Age fingers, indeed!
Technorati Tags: manicure, Avon, beauty
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