Review - Nailene French Tip Kit w/ Pen

In just 2 simple steps, achieve that perfect salon French Manicure with our easy-to-use pen. Also great for pedicures and perfect for retouching! Mistake proof, precision application with fabulous results.

Movie Maven says: I gave this French tip kit a try while enjoying a movie on HBO at my aunt's swanky Upper East Side pad, pretending to be fancy for the evening. It seemed fitting, doing my nails in the most preppy, semi-outdated way possible, in the most preppy, unhip neighborhood in NYC. I'm pleased to report that I sort of enjoyed the kit, though I doubt I'll be using it with the white-on-white look the kit comes with again (in Brooklyn we like our nails colorful, so I'm planning a blue-on-blue or possibly red-on-pink thing next time). The kit comes with white base color, acrylic top coat, 42 nail guides, and, best of all, a white tip pen. This pen is super awesome! The color goes on easily and makes it difficult (though not impossible, as I discovered) to make mistakes. The main recommendation I would make if you're planning on using this kit is to press the guides down well, because I wasn't as diligent as I should have been in that arena and ended up with a couple wonky-looking nails that I then had to fix. The top coat is great, though - I used it with some other polish as well and it held up admirably. And the whole kit only runs about $8-10 bucks and will easily get you through 4 manicures with the guides, or more if you don't use the guides! Nice!

CitySlicker Says: As mentioned by Movie Maven, please the guides down.. I too ended up having uneven application, the white got under my nails and made for ! lets say much less than a straight ended tip. When I did get it right the white look bright crisp and clean looking. I added the overlay which is a nice sheer micro mica polish. It is really nice in the sun. It too me a long time to get this on perfectly.. The biggest disappointment is the next day at work the chipping began. This started out strong for me but didn't make it to the finish line. Maybe I am to rough with my hands at work.. I am an in administration so I don't think so but it was a heck of a lot of work.. I will continue to use the finish polish but not sure I will invest the time in the white tips.

Amanda S. Says: When I saw this kit I let out a little giggle. Mostly because I'm such a spazz, the idea of me evenly distributing anything in a straight line is almost ridiculous. But frankly, if there is any french manicure kit that you could feasibly deem 'easy' this would be it. Believe it in my life, I have never used a french tip kit, or had one done professionally, assuming that my messy lifestyle would destroy its pristine look in about 14 minutes. But this lasted a solid 4 days with me, which is a mystery because part of those days was spent cleaning and painting, doing all sorts of un-Amanda things and so on. I'm not sure how many times I'll have the patience to do it, but I will most certainly be using the rest of this kit. Let's face it though, if you normally go for this look, in THIS economy, a do it yourself at home kit is the best possible solution to paying wayyyyyy more for a professional job.

Hillary says: As a person who gives herself regular manicures, I found this kit to be a breeze. I do my nails so often that my husband actually asked me if I do my nails every day. I do do them often and I was off and running with this kit. I'm not even sure if I'll use the guides next time. The guides are good, but you have to get them on "just so" to make your application look professional. I got the hang of the guides using the 4 bottle Nailene French Manicure Kit, so this time it was easy. And the pen that this kit comes with makes the whole thing so much easier than doing your French manicure with a bottle of polish free-hand (been there, done that). It's true that the white from the pen may go under your nails a bit, but honestly, who's looking? I often get nail polish under my nails and I've never had anyone notice. As far as the chipping that Cityslicker experienced, I had no problems with chipping. Plus once it did start chipping in the normal 3-4 days (that's about my no-chip limit), I found it abundantly easy to fill in the chips with the pen. If I had to recommend only one French Manicure set, I would recommend this one. Novices can quickly learn how to use it and old hands like myself will be able to do it in only slightly longer time than it takes to do a regular manicure.