Inni Nail Strips

UPDATE: Inni Nails is now on Kickstarter! Try out these fabulous and unique nail strips and help this new company reach their funding goal!

Today I'm excited to share my review of a relatively new product on the nail scene. Before I really started to get into nail art and swatching, I went through a phase where I loved incorporating nail strips into my manicures as an accent nail. Since I hadn't ever tried to create designs on my own, but I was interested in mixing things up, this was an excellent option for me. However, I quickly found that there weren't as many designs available as I had ideas in my head, and that some brands of nail strips were just difficult to work with, and didn't create the desired effect.

Enter Inni Nail Strips! Through their website, you can design your very own nail strips, or browse the many designs uploaded by other users. I was intrigued by the concept, but wondered, how would the quality stand up? Read ahead to learn more!

Product provided for review.

On the Inni website, you can access the studio, (shown above) which allows you to create your own design using a variety of tools, or to even upload an image saved on your computer. The studio was very user friendly, and I played around with a bunch of different designs before eventually choosing a pretty lavender brocade pattern that had been uploaded by a previous user.

 Soon after making my selection (much sooner than I anticipated, as they travel all the way from Finland!) my strips arrived. Here's what you get: 30 strips printed with your chosen design in varying sizes, a file for shaping the strips to your nail, and a brief set of instructions printed at the top. Very simple and sleek, and I was really pleased with the number of strips and variety of sizes provided.

Here's a close up shot of the instructions. Straightforward and easy to follow. I definitely recommend following step 1 and swiping your nails with remover before application, even if they're already clean. Doing so made the strips adhere to the nail much better. Also, I love the measurement feature that allows you to select the right size for each nail.

By matching the nail to the strip, you get a precise measurement for the width of your nail, and can choose the appropriate strip for your size (each strip is labeled by size this way). This is a feature I haven't seen with any other nail strip kits, and found it to be very helpful! They also have a Youtube video that introduces the product and walks you through the steps.

Following the included instructions, I applied a strip to each nail, and shaped using the included file. The strips were very sticky, and adhered to the nail immediately. In this picture, you can see some slight lifting at the cuticle, which I addressed by applying a coat of top coat. That worked well, and the lifting wasn't apparent in real life, just in the super zoomed in photos. I also ran finer grit nail file over my tips to remove some of the "jagged" look from shaping the strips.

Here's the finished product. Notice how the lifting is less pronounced here.

This macro shot was taken after three days of wear! They really held up great, with only slight puckering on the left side of the nail. The website states they can last up to two weeks, which I don't doubt, but we all know I can't keep the same thing on my nails for that long.  :)

As I said before, my favorite way to utilize nail design strips is as an accent nail incorporated into a more dynamic mani, so I decided to include an example here! I paired the Inni Nail Strip with white studded nails (Snow Me White - Sinful Colors, studs from the Born Pretty Store) and Love.Angel.Music.Baby from the OPI Gwen Stefani collection.

Detailed nail art in seconds, what's not to love?! I would definitely put these strips in the same category as Sally Hansen strips, which are the most user friendly brand I've used in the past. (For reference sake, the worst brand I've used is Essie -- avoid those!) Though I'd say they're similar in quality to the SH strips, these are a very different material, and were a little tricky to work with at first just because they weren't what I was used to. By following the instructions and working slowly and carefully, I was able to get the hang of it, and was very pleased with the final result. Also, unlike the SH strips, they can simply be peeled off when you're ready to remove!

Inni Nail Strips are available with free international shipping through their website for $8.90/set. There are endless possibilities for designs, and you get a lot of strips for the price! Try incorporating one or two strips into a skitlette mani, or you can cut the strips into different shapes for a whole other look. I also think this is a great marketing option for organizations or fundraisers, especially if you have a logo that would be really difficult to create using freehand techniques. Enjoy, and let me know if you try them out!

Follow Inni Nail Design on Facebook and Pinterest!