Nail Product Stress Test: Essie Sleek Sticks

Essie Sleek Sticks are supposed to be made of already UV cured long lasting gel polish. How long? Let’s find out!

I picked this up at Dollar tree for...wait for it......$1! The idea is to apply them like stickers to your bare nails, then file off the excess. I found they were a bit tricky to apply. They really wanted to wrinkle, although I was able to reposition them a few times. I still had a couple wrinkles, but on this particular design, they didn’t show. I found applying the strip at the cuticle line, then stretching it over the edge of my nail worked best. I suspect lacqueristas with shorter nails might be able to cut them in half and possibly get two manicures out of one set.

The other problem I had was that in some cases, there wasn’t a stick that was quite the right size for my nail. Again, not a problem with this particular design, but I could see that being annoying with others.

There’s no denying they sure looked good! It’d be nigh impossible to replicate with traditional nail polish.

But what about that all important durability? 

There isn’t any. You see, this product is meant to be peeled off when you’re done. It’s as if I painted my nails with white glue. As I unpacked boxes, this product rubbed off or peeled off. What you see here is literally all that survived.

Verdict: Party Polish

For $1, it would be great to wear for a party. In an office setting, I’m sure it would hold up way better than it did for me. If I’d paid the regular price of $10, I would have been super ticked off. Of course if I’d paid that much, I’d never wear it to my job!