OrlyHalf Moon Guides, 78 Count

I was sick and tired of trying to use the thin stickers most manufacturers provide for French Manicures. Half the time the stickers refused to stay in place, so I gave up and was trying to master plain "painting" on the French part. Then, I saw these. They looked wider, so I took a chance and ordered them. They were delivered the next day and sure enough, the width of these stickers made all the difference in the world and I was able to get near perfect French tip nails on my dominant hand. I have yet to try my other hand because up to now I've been too busy admiring my "finally!!" left hand outcome. I am so pleased! And I will definitely use these from now on and recommend them to all.

These suck. I did these twice. It came out better the second time around but I still dealt with paint bleed. I shake too much when trying to paint my own nails. Don’t want to use salons because they file my nails down so thin.

Gave me the perfect French tips

Received package - it was damaged. Contents were okay.

The trick (for me) is removing these immediately after painting tips..and don’t wait for polish to dry/cure. I use on gel nails. Clear gel base coat, cure, white tips, cure, top coat, cure. Another helpful tip is to use a tool like I have in the picture to use immediately after removing sticker to fill in or create a solid edge before curing/drying. There are NO stickers that will give you a clean edge without using some type of tool when you remove the sticker. That’s why they need to be removed when polish is still wet.

I can finally give myself a French manicure!! The first trick is to make certain the guides are smooth and tight! I keep smoothing them out before painting. I find the guides work best with the Sally Hansen French manicure pen as opposed to using a cream or white polish. The pen gives me more control and less "bleeding" under the guides. I ordered one pen on line and found them cheaper at CVS. Use the "pen" carefully and hold your hand down to prevent any color from leaking under the guides for a minute or two. Simple! I also do NOT use a "base coat" first on my nails. I simply apply the guides to clean nail, use the pen to apply the white color, wait a couple of minutes for the second pen coat to dry, and then go over the nail with two coats of "Shell We Dance" by Sally Hansen. Looks fabulous! You can use any clear, pink or nude polish over the white tips, but I've also read other reviewers using SWD by SH and loving it, too. The secret to keeping this manicure looking fresh for over one week (seriously, not a single chip - and as a piano teacher, I am hard on my nails!) is to wait until the last coat (Shell We Dance) is dry. Then go over the entire nail with one coat of Sally Hansen "Gel Coat #100 or #101". It's the stuff in the black bottle that SH sells for their Gel Coat polishes. You can pick it up at any Walgreens or CVS. Your classy manicure will last MORE than a week. I finally gave away all my "color" polishes which I hated on my hands. I also read a review that said the 78 count in the box was not accurate. I have ordered three boxes and all three have a 78 count in the box. Good Luck and have fun!!

The nail polish bleeds through, under the sticker

I’m far from being an expert at painting nails, but these worked for me! I put on a clear base coat first then let that dry — I think this helped create smoother lines, since the lines did not appear as crisp when I did not apply a base coat first. After the base coat dried I made sure to firmly press the stickers onto my nails (making sure that there were no gaps or bubbles for the polish to seep under). Then one by one painted the tips. After painting the each tip I would IMMEDIATELY remove the guide sticker. I learned that peeling the sticker immediately after applying the polish makes for the most crisp lines. I noticed that when I left the guide stickers on while the polish was drying, it would sometimes seep under the sticker making the lines look blotchy. I hope this helps!