Jamberry Nail Wraps {Review & Giveaway}

By Contributor Allison Baltzersen

I think the last time I painted my nails was for New Year’s Eve 2012. And I’m pretty sure I had all of the polish picked off by noon the next day. Nail polish and I just don’t get along. It nicks and chips and then I obsess over it and peel it all off. And so, I usually have bare nails.

But over the past couple of months I’ve started noticing women on the street with really fun patterned nails, making mine look so boring in comparison. I asked one woman with striped nails how she got them to look so perfect and she said, “Jamberry.”

Jamberry nail wraps are little adhesive wraps that super ultra stick to your clean, unpolished nails when heated and are the answer to my I-want-cute-nails-but-hate-chipped-polish prayers. Once they cool, they stay perfectly in place for up to two weeks on fingernails and up to six weeks on toenails. Jamberry nail wraps are sold in $15US/$17CDN sheets of various sizes that are enough for two sets of hands and two sets of toes. You apply them yourself with a few basic tools and they last for weeks, so the price is really quite reasonable compared to the price of a salon mani/pedi.

Jamberry wraps are made out of a material called Acrylates Copolymer which is a non-toxic, vegan, gluten-free, latex-free material deemed completely safe for cosmetic use on adults and kids. I checked the Environmental Working Group page and even they had nothing bad to say about this material. When the temporary adhesive on the backside of these polymer wraps is warmed, it creates a solid, waterproof bond with the nails that makes them incredibly durable.

I received a sample of the Jamberry nail wraps from a Jamberry consultant to review last month. As an experiment, I applied the Jamberry wraps to my pinky and ring fingernails and painted the rest with a neutral polish with the goal to keep them all on for a full week to see how the wraps compare to polish.

My Jamberry sample included an instruction sheet for applying the wraps. I highlighted the items I needed in yellow and fished them out of my vanity drawer: an orange cuticle stick, clippers, scissors, alcohol wipes (or polish remover), nail file, tweezers and a hair dryer. I woke up early one morning before the hubs or kids were awake so I could fiddle with these wrap in peace. To save you the selfies of me sans makeup attempting to apply the wraps myself for the first time, here’s the official video from Jamberry pros explaining how to apply the nail wraps correctly:

Overall, these wraps are pretty easy to apply, and I’m sure it gets easier with practice. I did feel a little clumsy applying them to my writing hand, handling the tweezers with my weak hand. I think it would be easier to apply the wraps with a friend so no one has to use their goofball hand to work the tools. But after a little trial and error, I got my cuticles pushed back, the Jamberry wraps on and the rest of my nails polished in just under an hour. As I was painting my last two fingernails, my youngest daughter wandered out to “help” me and I ended up nicking two of the nails right off the bat. Sigh…

I noticed right away that I could feel the Jamberry wraps on my fingernails. The wraps don’t really weigh anything, but I could sense they were hugging my nails. But after a few hours, that sensation left and I couldn’t feel a difference between the wrapped nails and the polished ones.

I had low expectations for the test week. I fully anticipated the wraps falling off in the shower. But, after taking seven showers, shampooing both girls’ hair during seven baths, doing the dishes all seven nights and doing other toddler-mom activities like picking Bubble Guppy stickers off the side of the coffee table and scratching the dried banana off my yoga pants, the Jamberry wraps held on strong. Here’s how my nails looked on the seventh day:

As you can see, the polish is a wreck. But the wraps look slightly grown out, but otherwise great. When I was ready to remove the wraps, I warmed them with my hair dryer for a few seconds and slowly peeled them off. The removal didn’t hurt and my nails looked and felt perfectly healthy under there – no damage, residue or discoloration.

Visit the Jamberry website or get a copy of their catalog to see the hundreds of fun designs available. The wraps are organized by design, color and finish. There are seasonal designs like pumpkins and turkeys. There are Jamberry Junior wraps sized and patterned for children’s nails. There are Mommy & Me matching sets for moms and daughters to share. And there is even a way to design your own wraps by uploading images to the Nail Art Studio. The options are overwhelming and I can see how easy it is to get excited about the company and its products.

Jamberry Nails is a direct sales company. If you have the time and charisma for selling, this is the hot new company to get involved with. You can choose to be a hobbyist or pro consultant to sell nail wraps and recruit others to sell under you. Pros commit to a greater volume of sales and chip in $10 a month to maintain a personalized website through which customers can place orders for their wraps. You can, of course, shop directly through the Jamberry Nails website, but if you have a friend who is a Jamberry consultant, do her a solid and order the wraps through her. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but does give her some business.

BUY THEM: You can purchase Jamberry nail wraps and take advantage of the Buy 3 Get 1 FREE promotions going on right now HERE. Or request a sample HERE.

THE GIVEAWAY

WIN IT: One lucky US/CAN reader will win three Jamberry Nail wraps sheets of their choice ($50 value!). Enter to WIN via Rafflecopter below. Also, stay tuned as two of our other contributors had a chance to try Jamberry Nails and they will be posting a review/giveaway as well!

Disclosure: I received a sample of a product to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided and all views and opinions stated on this post are 100% my own.