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With the pandemic still going on, you may or may not feel comfortable going to a salon for a professional manicure, if salons are open where you live. Many have had to learn to do their nails at home. I want to tell you about something new I tried recently for an at-home manicure, and it’s called ManiMe.

ManiMe nails are non-toxic, cruelty free, custom created stick on gel nails for at-home manicures that claim to last 10-14 days.

I used to get weekly professional manicures back in the day, but haven’t done so in a long time. I’ve done at-home manicures for years. I do just regular polish manicures, gel manicures, and dip manicures.

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I’m always on a quest for the perfect at-home manicure. 🙂 So these ManiMe stick on gel nails intrigued me.

I do love a gel manicure because they are super shiny and last a long time. But the removal process involves soaking them off and this process can leave your natural nails a bit weak if you have gels on all the time.

So the idea of stick on gel nails seemed like an interesting alternative. I ordered a few sets to try from the website. Most sets cost between $15 and $25. Less than a salon gel manicure, for sure.

Here’s where it got interesting. As part of the ordering process, the website will walk you through taking 5 different photos of your nails, to show them at different angles. Then you upload these photos with your order, and they will scan the photos to custom make your nails.

The site says it will take 2-4 days to receive your order, but mine took much longer than that.

They have many styles to choose from, and also offer pedicure kits. I chose a variety of styles. I picked a couple of solids:

And some patterns:

Each set comes in a compact little package, with a cleansing pad, the nails, and a nail file.

The sheet with the nails indicates which ones are for your right hand, and which ones are for your left. The bottom row is for correcting mistakes, or you can use them as accent nails, since the pattern is reversed.

You can get a better look at the nails up against a darker background.

There is also an instructional card included that tells you what to do.

So basically you wipe your nails with the cleansing pad, then apply the stickers to each nail, leaving a tiny gap at the cuticle.

You fold any excess sticker over the tip of your nail, then use the little file to remove the excess.

Then you are good to go, or you can apply a top coat of polish, which is sold separately. I chose to apply a top coat.

So the first thing I noticed is that these stickers are very sturdy. If you’ve ever applied nail stickers before, you may have noticed that some of them can be flimsy and tear, even when you’re peeling them off of the backing to put them on your nail.

So I like the thickness and sturdiness of them. They were quite sticky, and adhered well to the nail. You do want to take care to apply them carefully, as you can get a bubble here and there if you don’t.

Once you have it on your nail, you just use your fingers to smooth it all down. There is a tutorial on the ManiMe website.

I would say it took me about 10 minutes to put all of the nails on and apply a top coat. MUCH less time than a traditional gel manicure takes with a curing light.

Even though the nails were customized for me, there were a few that didn’t quite fit the shape of my nail, but not enough to return them. They do promise to redo them and send a replacement if the nails don’t fit properly.

I think my main issue was that since it took a while to receive the nails, my nails had grown and probably were filed a bit differently since I sent in the pictures. So I won’t bother to return them for a replacement.

Since the nail stickers are thick, they do take a bit of effort to file off of the edge of the nail. On a few of them, I used a nail clipper to remove the excess, then filed the edges smooth.

It is recommended to not get the nails wet for an hour after application to give the adhesive time to properly adhere to your nails. Once you’ve waited the hour, you can shower, swim, and do whatever you like.

To remove the nails, you simply find a spot to lift on the sticker, and peel them off. No damage to your nails, no soaking required. If they don’t want to come off, the website recommends soaking your hands in warm water and applying lotion around the edges of the nails to loosen them.

I’ve had them on for four days now, and no signs of chipping or lifting. I’ll be curious to see if they do last a full 10-14 days, as claimed.

I will say the nails aren’t as glassy shiny as a traditional gel manicure, but they are also far less damaging to natural nails. So I’m going to live with them for a bit and see what my final verdict is.

If you are doing at-home manicures and want to try something different and fun, give these ManiMe gel nail stickers a try. Since the nails are custom created, you can even get the kids in on the fun with their own at-home manicure! Let me know what you think!

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