So I hadn’t gotten my nails done since I left Trinidad.

This is what I was dealing with.

So clearly I had to go to a manicurist to get the gel polish removed and get a fresh mani. But I’ve been spoiled by Trinidad and China’s reasonable nail salon prices. Gel manicures in Europe can cost upward of €35 (USD $45/ TTD $287). As another point of reference a Brazilian bikini wax here is €25. So more or less I have to forego my beloved long lasting gel manicures while I’m here. It’s probably for the best, because it was just discovered, that there is a risk for skin cancer from the UV light used for gel manicures, so ladies (especially those with lighter skin) please apply sunscreen to those hands before you go a-gellin!

So I decided to opt for a regular manicure which cost me €15 and lasted me all of two and a half days. Conclusion: traditional manicures are a complete waste of money and drying time. Never again. I wish I had taken a pic of the state of it before I took it off. Oh and too boot the girl didn’t soak off my gel – she filed it off. So now my nails are a very intriguing texture that I will need to grow out. Anyhoo…

I didn’t trust myself to paint my own nails. First of all, I haven’t done it in over two and a half years thanks to my amazing nail tech in Trinidad, Solange, who I recommend to ANYONE. Second of all I have NEVER perfected applying nail polish to my right hand nails with my left hand. Its ALWAYS an awful mess.

So I rolled up to Sephora and decided to try their Sephora Nail Patch Art, self adhesive strips which come in packs of 18, require zero drying time and cost a cool €10.50 ($12.00 USD) for what one of my friends assures me is weeks of wear. I, of course, completely ignored the traditional French Manicure sets and made a beeline to the two loudest glittery colourful options: Upper East Side (royal blue, silver and purple honeycomb pattern) and Hippie Chic which is a candy colored, glitter Missoni-esque chevron print.

The results were AMAZING. Super cute and full of personality. I have a coupon for Sephora now so I may go back and get others.

Sephora’s collection is a quite limiting, however and I wanted to know what nail appliqué options there were out there for the truly nail art adventurous.

Enter NCLA Nail Wraps. They one-up Sephora in a variety of ways. First of all many of their avant garde print designs are in collaboration with amazing designers like Peter Som and Melody Ehsani. Most of their packs contain multiple designs in the same colour family for those (like me) who like to vary their nail art on different nails. And they come in a pack of 44 for USD $16.00 which can guarantee you multiple applications in one pack. (And if you sign up on the mailing list you get 15% off your first order!) Fashion forward and full of value! I’m sold.

So until I can reunite with my beloved Solange here’s what my nails will be rocking. The hardest part is making the decision of which to buy. Which do you suggest?