Jamberry Shield Review

I have an unfortunate review to give to you today. I'll say right off the bat, I'm not happy with this product, and I wouldn't buy it again. There are several factors that brought me to this decision, which you should read on to learn about.

I'm showing you some Jamberry Nail Shields today. Similar to the Sally Hansen Salon Strips, these are decals that adhere to your nails. You then shape and file them to match your nail shape.

What's great about them is the huge array of designs, colors and finishes you can buy. I can see anyone interested in fantastic nail art, without the time or practice to create their own, really go nuts with these. You can get the true mirror finish of a chrome with these, as well as glitter, without the mess.

When finished, they look great. They're creative without as much effort.

 Getting to this point was not and easy task though.

Maybe I'm more bothered by the shields because I thought it would be an easy, slap-on before running out the door technique that anyone could do. In the end, it took me about an hour to get it to the point it's at in these pictures. It's unfortunate, because I was really rooting for these.

The first major pain point is the way they adhere.

Heat.

The instructions tell you to use a blow dryer to warm up the adhesive backing, making the shield pliable and more sticky. You are instructed to warm up each shield for 15-20 seconds before applying to your nail. My consultant for Jamberry, Jamie (her website can be found here), offered some great tips to make this easier, including holding the adhesive against a table with tweezers to get even heat coverage. I'm glad she mentioned the tweezer part, because holding your fingers near a blow dryer for 20 seconds is almost unbearable. Even on a lower heat setting, it get's unbearable hot. Later, after applying the shield to my nail and noticing corners peeling up, I needed to use more heat to get the stickers firmly onto my nail. That was just too much, and really burned. I felt like a cat with tape on their paws, flicking my hand around to cool it down.

The creasing and buckling of the shields also proved to be terribly annoying. There are plenty of suggestions for getting rid of the creases and ensuring they adhere properly, but the techniques I tried didn't seem to work. This is my first time using anything like this, so maybe it takes practice, but it's a steep learning curve...or I just have a case of the Fridays already. You can see in the two pictures below that there's a strong crease on my thumb I can't get out, as well as lifting at my nail's edge. I'll take part of the blame for that though. I misread the instructions and filed the shield side to side instead of down. Oops.

On that note though, these come with a lot of instructions. Call me old fashioned, but isn't a manicure supposed to be relatively easy? Of course these have to be more complex because there's more to them than pigment and polish, but that's not something I personally like. I'd rather pay $30 (after tip) to go to a salon, get a massage and a warm feeling, not a burning lava hot feeling on my fingers and hands. These shields are $15/sheet, and one sheet is advertised as being able to do 2-3 sets of fingers or toes.

So there you have it. Take it or leave it, that's my experience with Jamberry Shields.

I personally do not like these. But that's also coming from someone who thinks about the challenge of a design all day at work, and gets excited when she lays out all her tools to start a manicure. I prefer to relish over my own nail designs that took work to perfect, but it would be crazy to assume that most people feel the same way. Sometimes you just want cute nails for a special event, in which case these might be for you. They still require a lot of work though, just not the same amount of detail as a homemade nail art manicure might.

If you are interested in trying them out, I can highly recommend a consultant to visit. Jamie was very responsive and professional when she contacted me, and offered some alternatives to the blow dryer when I mentioned I didn't have one. Looking back, I wish I'd listened, because the experience may have been more enjoyable. You can visit her site here, or email her at hollywoodglam.jamberry@gmail.com.

I hope that my review will help you make an informed decision about buying these. Weigh your options and my personal experience, and have fun with them if you decide to purchase.

This product was sent to me by Jamie Holt, an Independent Consultant for Jamberry Nail Shields. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.