California Nails Fake Nails

I am a lover of glue-on nails. No long-term commitment, no wear and tear on your own nails, little maintenance and instant long nails for a week? I'm all over that. Thankfully, The Dollar Tree usually has fake nails, though different stores seems to carry different brands and they are all not an equal bargain.

Today I noticed that a lot of new California Nails designs had come in. They had very nice looking subtle french nails, a few so-so designs, and a new collection of animal prints. Normally I would snatch up all of my favorites. But I had to limit myself to two styles, and put back the others that I wanted. Why? Not only because I am on a limited budget, but because you need two packs of each to get a symmetrical manicure. No joke.

When I apply fake nails, I have a system. First you get all the nails out of the package and line them up from biggest to smallest. Then you separate the pairs of two in the line and try different nails on to see what size fits what fingers. If a size matches, I pull those two out and lay them out the way my hands are laid out: thumbs in the middle with pinkies on the furthest left and right.

You can not do this with a single pack of California Nails. There appears to be some symmetry in some of the smaller sizes, but none with the medium or large. So two packs it is.

Another thing to watch out for with California Nails are scratches/flaws in the designs on the nails. Look very carefully at the nails before you buy them- you don't know which sizes you'll use and you don't want one wonky nail in the mix. You can't see the smallest nails in the bottom of the package, but that is a risk you take.

California Nails are also thin as false nails go, which is good for scratching and picking things up, but they are more susceptible to bending.

Another feature that makes California Nails appealing is that if you do not like the design, you can wear it off with a nail buffer (which you can also buy at The Dollar Tree! Review later). That's handy in a pinch if they only have two designs you don't like and no other brands. At $2 for a manicure, it's still cheaper than fake nails at Dollar General.