Vegan Cuts Nail Art Box Review

The beauty industry is heavily saturated with beauty boxes. Whether you're a makeup, product, or nail junkie, there's a box for everyone. A new box caters to an even more specific crowd - introducing the Vegan Cuts Nail Box.

The products in the Vegan Cuts Nail Box are all vegan - meaning they do not contain any animal products (which may include silk from silk worms, guanine from fish scales, or carmine from scale insects). While I personally don't get squeamish from these products, I understand that others do, and for those people, Vegan Cuts may be just the right subscription.

This little box has a pretty steep price point at $24.95. Here's what the website states is included for the August 4th shipment:

• Adorn Nails in L'Age d'Or or Vive Le Coquette  - .5 oz.
• James Robert John in Just This Once  - .4 oz.
• So Gloss Silver Arrowhead Nail Wraps - 24 individual wraps
• LipGlosserie Cuticle Balm - .25 oz.
• Black Sheep Lacquer in Cloudy Skies - .2 oz.
• Elysian Nail Lacquer in a summer shade - .2 oz.
• Vegan Cuts Special Edition Nail File
• La Fresh Acetone-Free Nail Polish Remover - 1 wipe

As you can see, the box is a mix of sizes, brands, and effects. Here's a look at some of the products in the box on their own.

Incoco Nail Polish Strips Review and 'Swatches'

Wraps and nail strips are absolutely everywhere. I first saw them from Sally Hansen, and now I can't go into a drugstore without seeing them from everyone.

Some are plastic, some feel more papery, and some are thin pieces of film.

What I didn't realize about nail polish strips is that some companies, like Incoco, are actually using real polish to create theirs.

Seriously! Initially opening the package, that's sealed up air-tight, expels a poof of air that carries that distinctive polish smell. Mind. Blown.

When you use real polish to create nail strips, your result is much more legit. I can attest to that after reviewing three sets of strips from Incoco on one mani.

Two of the strips I used were created to cover your full nail (Amped Up and NY Lights). Amped Up comes from their designs collection, and NY Lights comes from the line of colors.

In addition to these full nail sets (each of which contains 32 individual pieces), I was sent a French design set, called Maxed Out Tips. This includes an absurd amount of tips, with double-ended designs. I don't think I'll run out of these if I try.

My experience with these three sets of polish strips was greatly professional. Once cut to the shape of my slender nail plates (I'll never come close to needing the gigantic thumb sizes they include), I peeled off the strip according to the instructions. (Visit their website for a complete How-To.) Apply was easy, and they were much less bumpy than I expected. I guess that's the real polish working in your favor there.

Because there's no dry-time, once you get them on and filed down to match your nail shape, you're done and can be on your way. I rushed my application for a brunch date, but they still came out pretty flawless. I did rip my thumb piece too close, exposing my nail underneath, so I reapplied that, but beyond that, they were quite cooperative.

When using the French tip designs, you are required to place a nail strip of clear over the French tip. This will help prevent peeling, but does make those nails thicker and a little bubbly in my experience. I didn't like the way the clear looked over my natural nail.

I'm also curious how well the strips will maintain their longevity after I've opened the package. The instructions say that once opened, you should use the strips because as they are exposed to air, they become brittle and less flexible. I'm hoping placing them in a sandwich bag will prevent that, but without an airtight seal, that may not hold true. Only time will tell there.

Removing the strips is easy and safe for your nail plate. Damaging the nail plate will hurt it until it grows out. You'll have less protein on your nails, which means less structure and more peeling. The less damage you can do to it, the better. Incoco realizes that, and tells its wearers that removing should be done just like regular nail polish. Use polish remover on a cotton ball or pad and remove just like polish from a bottle. Simple and clean.

Incoco's selection of designs is impressive. They have holiday selections (Jack-o-Lanterns anyone?), and year-round designs, and plenty of solid colors. In addition to the nails, they also offer toe patterns too! (I would personally not try these, because my insanely tiny toes are hard to paint, let alone lay stickers on.)

The full-nail designs are $8.09 each (both for manis and pedis), solid colors are $7.19 (manis and pedis), and French tips (regular and designs) are $8.99.

These products were sent to me by Incoco. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

NCLA & Glamour Nail Wraps Review

Wraps are making a big name for themselves in nail art nowadays. I've gotten my hands on a few, including Jamberry and Scratch. I have another brand to show you today.

NCLA nail wraps offer in my opinion the widest variety of colors and choices of nail wraps. I'd also have to say that so far, the wraps have been the best in my experience with the three brands I've tried. But more on that in a bit.

In December, NCLA and Glamour partnered together with four designers to create awesome artistic nail wraps. The four designers were 10 Crosby Derek Lam, Bibhu Mohapatra, L'Wren Scott, and Peter Som. The four designers and the dynamic duo worked together to create truly unique nail wraps for a purpose: Fashion Gives Back.

Fashion Gives Back is a project that gives designers the chance to create special bags, shoes, tees, or in this case, nail wraps, to support causes they care about every year. The chosen cause was Girls Who Code. This nonprofity helps young women in high school pursue careers in technology and engineering. This organization has helped to develop a new model for computer science edcation, pairing intensive instruction in robotics, web design, and mobile development with high-touch mentorship led by the industry's top female developers and entrepreneurs.

How does NCLA tie into this? Well, five dollars from every $16 kit sold goes directly to Girls Who Code, and these kits are all still available at Barneys Co-op stores and shopncla.com.

It's a wonderful cause, and I think you'll agree that the designs are all stunning as well.

10 Crosby Derek Lam is the first design. I liked the design a bunch, but unfortunately, filing the edge of any dark pattern shows the white adhesive underneath, which makes it look like it's been on longer than it has. You can watch a video on exactly how to apply the wraps here.

The next design is a colorful collaboration from L'Wren Scott. If you haven't already, click the link to each designer's name to see the fashions the nail wraps were all inspired by.

The Peter Som designs were different than the first two, in that the sheets each came with two different but complementary patterns. Here you can see there's a dark and light version of a very similar floral print.

My personal favorite is Bibhu Mohapatra's designs. Like Peter Som's there were two patterns in one kit. I had a hard time deciding which one was my favorite of the two, and ultimately, I think it was a tie.

All the wraps behaved similarly, so there's no difference in the quality of application between the four. They adhere surprisingly well, which may be due to the fact that they first ask you to apply a base coat (though it could just be a clear top coat if you'd like). Once the base layer of clear polish dries, you simply pick the closest match to your size nail, and then stick it on, working from the cuticle to the tip of your nail removing air bubbles. To remove excess, fold the extra paper over your finger, so the excess is facing your palm. Then, file down if you're holding your fingers straight (from your fingers to your wrist). You'll see a little fold developing as you file, and then ripping at the seam is simple. File down the rest for evenness, and you're ready to go!

All the wraps had the same issue of a frayed edge. Though you can smooth it with a file, you can't get rid of the white edge. That's got to be a downside to all wraps though I imagine.

Besides that, the sizing was good, the designs were amazing, and the price isn't unheard of. Each set comes with two sheets, and each sheet has 22 wraps. So a complete set comes with 44 wraps and a nice sturdy cardboard nail file. That means you could do about 4 manicures with the sheets, but you'd have to eventually start cutting the wraps to size your finger. The mondo-huge thumb wraps crack me up, and I can just picture myself trying to trim that to pinky-size.

Of course, you could just rock the Bugle fingernails look and leave them untrimmed.

Kidding.

Which of the designs is your favorite? I definitely recommend picking up at least one of these limited edition sets before they're gone. You can really stretch the length of the life of your wraps if you just use one or two as accents, and rock polish on the rest of your fingers (a la Sarah and her Jamberries).

Remember that part of your purchase goes to an awesome cause!

These products were sent to me by NCLA. The review is based entirely on my experience with the products and was in no way influenced by anyone.

Scratch Nail Wraps Review

A while ago I tried out my first set of wraps from Jamberry. It didn't go well, and I haven't been interested in buying any wraps since then. (You can read about that experience here.)

Then, in November, Scratch contacted me about their new wraps. I posted their announcement and a great video of their idea here. The video did a great job of convincing me to give wraps another try, so I was sent a set of 16 wraps to try.

Here's how my experience went this time.

Please note, I've only ever tried Jamberry shields and Scratch wraps, so unfortunately I can't really compare any other products besides the two.

Scratch wraps are a lot different than Jamberry shields in a few ways, particularly:

1. There's no heat involved to apply Scratch wraps.
2. The Scratch wrap are much thinner and more pliable.

These two reasons alone make them more ideal for me, and made my experience much more enjoyable. The idea behind wraps is that you can slap them on and run out the door with some great looking nails. Jamberry didn't allow that as you had to sit down, get out a hair dryer or a rice bag, and spend a lot of time filing and shaping the thick wraps to conform to your nails correctly. Their thickness also make them difficult to adhere to the curved shape of the nail.

What Scratch offers yields a much better experience. Thin wraps can be pulled easily over your nail to fit as closely as possible, and the excess either ripped (as they show in their video) or cut off (as I chose to do.) 

Their more delicate nature does make them more prone to unwanted ripping though, as I accidentally found out on my ring finger.

Read more about my index finger's issues below.

No heat is involved either. The adhesive side of the Scratch wraps sticks very nicely to your nail, and stays down with less creases and lips forming.

You simply peel back the plastic sheets on either side of the wraps and adhere them to your nail. Simple as that.

Each size of the wraps can be placed over your nail individually to see how closely it fits. I like this better than trying to eyeball the size fit when the shields all come on one card.

Picking the right size wrap is important to getting the best results. My index finger is using a shield that's slightly too large for it (see the image earlier), and trimming off the sides along the edge of my nail isn't super easy. To combat this, I lift the edge slightly to cut it down, and then restick it to the nail. It doesn't seem to lose any of its adhesion when I do that either, which is nice.

Now for the stress tests.

I painted a layer of Seche Vite topcoat on two of my nails (index and ring), and left the other three without. I was curious to see how this changed the nail wraps and their durability.

I tried a few things for my stress tests. First, I dug into my purse, and spent some time juggling my keys around at the bottom, along with the shuffle of unknown objects that eternally live at the bottom of any girl's purse. Pulling my hand out, the middle finger (no topcoat) took a little bit of a beating. The edge on the tip was a little peeled. Overall though, everything is still holding up well.

Next, I took my other hand's nail and scratched the surface of the wraps. It's no surprise that the scratched wraps with topcoat didn't suffer much damage. Those that didn't have a topcoat did rip if I dug hard enough. Hard enough is harder than you'd normally scratch any part of your body though, so I'd say these are quite durable.

Finally I tried removing the wraps. If you have a corner of the wrap to lift and you start to pull it, the wrap protects itself nicely by ripping into smaller pieces, rather than in one solid chunk, just as nail polish usually chips off gradually. I like that quality of the wraps! Obviously, they're not invincible, and obviously, you're going to find them losing their quality on your nail eventually. Seeing that it mimics nail polish in that way is nice, and a clever detail to add. A company that thinks about not only how great the product is at its best, but also how it performs as it begins to fail is a smarter company than one who doesn't, in my humble opinion.

Now for the bad part of these. Don't worry, it's minimal, but I have to give an honest review if I'm going to give one at all.

The shapes of the wraps don't accommodate the majority of my nails. They're all really too big. That's a personal gripe I have, but obviously that won't translate across everyone's experiences. They did fit my cuticles nicely though, so I had no issue with that.

Another sad part of Scratch wraps is their current limited inventory of designs. The design I was sent was called Evil Eye, and since then, that design and two others have been retired. They're only offering a few designs at a time (currently three). I also realize that this is still an infant company and wouldn't expect them to have many more than that right now. It sounds like they're really focusing on improving the product first, then expanding their inventory of designs.

So what's my overall opinion of these?

Not bad at all!

Though they're not the perfect substitute for nail polish, they come pretty damn close! Their ease of use and lack of any tools needed to apply takes them far above Jamberry. They stay on pretty well, and you can bolster that by slapping on a topcoat if you'd like. I haven't tested their longevity, because let's face it, I never keep anything on long enough to properly test, but I see these lasting longer than Jamberry would. (Again, not a tested theory, but a guess.)

I am really proud of Kim and her cohort at Scratch for thoughtfully creating this product. They clearly put a lot of thought into it, and I fully support Scratch for that!

You can pick up the wraps from the Scratch website for $12 each, currently offered in the following three designs:

Photo courtesy of Scratch

Rococo Gold

Photo courtesy of Scratch

Ruby Honeycomb

Photo courtesy of Scratch

Sublime Sapphire

The designs were created for Scratch by the UK brand, NailedIt UK. (I feel like I should somehow know of this brand, right?!) I love the designs she came up with, particularly Sublime Sapphire.

Included in each set is 2 sets of 8 different size wraps (for a total of 16 wraps), a cuticle stick, and a file.

I hope this review has been helpful to you all! I'd love to hear about your experiences with the wraps as well if you do decide to get some. I recommend it!

This product was sent to me by Scratch. The review is based entirely on my experience with the product and was in no way influenced by anyone.

Scratch Nail Wraps

Supporting everyone involved in the nail art community is what makes it so strong and cooperative.

I'd like to show my support for Scratch, a new brand of nail wraps focused on good design. I personally haven't tried the wraps, seen the wraps, or heard anything about them besides the email Kim sent me asking for my help in getting the word out about the new company, but I see this being a promising endeavor for everyone involved.

The wraps look much easier to apply than Jamberry. Peel, stick, go. What could be simpler?

The creators of Scratch need help and funds to get their project off the ground and to your tables. Pledge some money and back this project through their Kickstarter page. Pledges will not only help them, but also get you some sets of wraps. $6 enters you into a random drawing for a set, $11 guarantees you one set, and everything beyond that just gets bigger and better for everyone.

I appreciated the hard work and design idea behind this little company, so that's why I chose to share them with you guys. Just check out their video below. It's so quirky and put together so well, I couldn't say no.



So lend your support to these design-savy ladies. I can't wait to see what this has in store if it gets off the ground.

You can learn more about Scratch at their Facebook page, by following them on Twitter, or by browsing some of their inspirational pictures on Pinterest.

Definitely stop by their Kickstarter project and offer any pledges you have, whether that be $6 or $10,000!