This post is a long time coming :P I was waiting until I was rocking more than just nubbins before I tested out the Incoco Dry Nail Appliques for myself. I received this awesome gift bag with Bling Bling, 24 Karats (that went in my 500+ Readers Giveaway), Jazz Blue (frost) and Lemon Fizz (neon!) This has been the year of the dry nail polish. I remember a few years ago when Avon came out with some dry polish, but I heard it was hard to apply, dry and brittle. Then we had Minx come out and that was all the rage. CND launched Shellac which is actual polish that is specially cured under a UV lamp to be just like dry polish. Claires has some nail type stickers out. Essence is launching nail stickers this month (I think, I can never find Essence products). And then we have Incoco. The biggest upside for me, is that you can purchase this in your local Walgreens... the others - not so much. (Maybe Claire's, but their nearest store is an hour away from me.) In addition, you can purchase Incoco strips online as well.
Because I was going on a small trip (YAY), I chose Bling Bling to apply. I waited until right before bed, because one thing I hate is not being able to move after nail polish application (even with Seche Vite!) so I don't smudge, dent or somehow else ruin my nails. Bling Bling is a silver base with almost a VNL with lots of multicolored glitter. This isn't a sticker, this is actual dry nail polish and contains a base and top coat in it. You're provided with 16 Double-Ended color strips but if your nails are short enough, you can use each strip twice (which is what I did). Incoco is big-3 free (no DBP, Formaldehyde or Toluene).
Incoco does have a nail polish scent to it, but it's not terrible by any means. The directions say for best results clean and buff nails, push back cuticles, start with your pinkie first and apply thumbs last. Let's just say I'm horrible with instructions as in - I didn't read them. I didn't even wash my hands first so I'm sure there are some oils left over, I did have half my nails buffed from last week, I didn't mess with my cuticles, and I applied my thumbs first.
First you need to choose a strip that fits the width of your nail. You can bend the dry strip before removing the plastic films, it's not going to break. Next, remove the plastic film and then remove the actual polish strip. Break off the tip that has the squared edge, then apply to your nail and smooth into place. I received a nail file and cuticle pusher with Bling Bling but I didn't find the nail file to be "sharp" enough so I actually used my nail from my other hand to remove the excess nail (also shown to be acceptable in the directions), and then filed off any corners with my crystal file. I did have some rookie mistakes - didn't pick a wide enough strip for one nail, didn't get all the way to my cuticle in another, but overall the process took less than 10 minutes and then I was done. No waiting for a top coat to dry, and I could immediately start writing this post.
Despite being a glitter, Bling Bling did not have a grit to it (uh, yay!) but shined like a mirrored disco ball. It was very similar to China Glaze Nova in terms of bling, although I'd say Nova is a chunkier polish of course. Another awesome feature of Incoco is that the strips are thin, so there isn't any bulk to your nails. Picture time! Sun first:
Now some blur for a bling!
I'd consider myself to be pretty impatient and horrible with most things the first time around, but this was extremely an easy process. The strips were forgiving and even long after the strip was attached, I was still able to "pinch" off any excess that I had around my cuticles and remove it without peeling off the whole strip from my nail.
I was also super excited to see that in their trifold brochure, they had pictures of upcoming series - Nail Art, Chrome series, Matte series and Gold & Silver. I'm jumping out of my skin for the Nail Art... I'm horrible at nail art especially the wait time in drying.
Incoco ranges from $7.99-$8.99 online and I've seen it for up to $10 in stores. If you haven't tried it yet and want to now, for the next month, Incoco will offer PolishGalore readers 10% off their online purchase of Incoco at their Online Shop by adding the coupon code galore10 at check out. Additionally they are having an ongoing promotion of free shipping* for orders of $50 or more (*US only). For more Incoco videos, FAQs, product pictures and much more, you can visit their website. They also have a Twitter page available.
Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration. For more information, please read this post.
