My Latest Nail Obsession: Colorstreet!

Well as with a few things in 2020, my nail salon routine quickly went from a trip every 2-3 weeks to ....nothing at all. However, there was a silver lining to that! A few months prior to the world changing, a friend of mine introduced me to Colorstreet, , a fairly new way of doing at-home manicures and cool nail art.

One difference with Colorstreet compared to similar products that I’d dabbled with in the past, was that the color and art is made with 100% nail polish — not “stickers”, artificial tips, or anything like that. I admit— I was still a little skeptical at first because as you know, nail polish is often prone to fast chipping, which is definitely one of my pet peeves as an Image Professional! ;)

However, I was assured by my amazing Nail Stylist that it wouldn’t have the same reaction as regular bottled nail color.. I also learned that they have a base coat and top coat built- in , which sounded like a plus for saving time and wear-and-tear over time.

So as I mentioned, a month or so after the pandemic shutdowns, I had to figure out how to remove the acrylic overlay I’d been wearing from my salon and trusted manicurist of about 4 years. Like many others, I Googled and scoured YouTube, looking for the safest way to take it all away, without causing major damage. After a few long days of soaking in pure acetone (which did eventually cause severe peeling to my fingertips!!), I was acrylic free!

To make a long story short, I delayed my first time with Colorstreet for about a month or so, due to a minor nail bed infection that I wanted to keep an eye on. That wait was very painful because I was so NOT used to my nails being bare!!

Needless to say, I was really excited to do my first application although it took me a looong time — 1) because I’m such a perfectionist and 2) I was applying a solid color vs glitter polish or art, which can be easier to do, especially the first few times...

Nowadays, after removing the previous application, it usually takes me only about 30 minutes to reapply from start to finish.

Think you might be interested in trying Colorstreet? Here are a few of my personal tips and discoveries:

• ​For at least your first time, try a glitter or nail art design vs a solid color, until you get the hang of the best ways to apply. I found that solids require little more smoothing, especially at the tips, which was really important for me to get right. Don’t get me wrong, mine are not 100% perfect, but I’ve gotten a lot better over time!
• Allow enough time to remove the previous application. It just takes regular polish remover, but because of the way the strips really adhere to my nails I’ve found that the removal has been taking the same time or a little longer than the actual application lately.
• A trick I learned from my Nail Stylist: You can freeze any access strips in a ziplock bag to use later. Since each nail packet comes with 16 strips, for different nail / fingertip sizes, I find that I have leftovers for either a pedicure— yes ,they’re awesome for that too— or to mix with complementing colors or designs later if you wish.
• For the freshest looking manicures, I try to remove and reapply a new color or design about every 10 days or so. Beyond that time, I’ll notice slight cracking in polish and they’ll also continue to grow out, similar to having acrylic nails and needing a fill-in. They also may began to peel a little at the edges. My pedicures usually last a little longer though, for obvious reasons.
• Lastly, take your time! I’ve found that applying the night before gives them time to “cure” and then I can finish any additional filing or whatever I need to do to really clean them up, the next day.

So that’s it for now! Although I do miss my routine nail salon visits a little, I love the time and money-saving convenience of my DIY manicures. Since I’m very picky about my nails, Colorstreet has really fit the bill for beautiful salon-like options, for solids, art... even French manicures.

Drop any questions below! And to shop with my Personal Nail Stylist and order online go to www.colorstreet.com/luckypennynails