I am Samson (and I'm imPress'ed)

...and my nails are my hair. Lost? OK I am also lost without my nails. Every three weeks for as long as I can remember I have been preened to cuticle perfection and cannot stand being without them. (You know Samson was the guy who had all his strength in his hair and couldn't function without it, that's generally how I am without perfectly pointed pinkies.)

I've had gel nails for years, so recently decided to try other means and give my nails a bit of a break. This included a gel like paint which while giving the desired effect was thicker than my normal. After attending London Fashion Weekend one of the 'goodies' in the goodie bag were imPress press on manicure nails. As I was firmly in my cycle of going to the fab Vietnamese place on Kingsland Road (East London) I tossed them into a draw and basically forgot about them.

After having the thick gel paint I felt bad going back to my normal 'woman', so I elected to soak off the nails. This is the first time in I don't know how long I had seen my own. Not all that pretty. I also hate nail varnish. It chips, last about 5 minutes and takes forever to get on properly, not to mention off without staining your nails. It was then I remembered about the ones I had discarded months ago. It was a Monday (bank holiday) and I was going to a party followed by a fairly relaxed week outside of work, so I figured to hell with it I could do without being perfectly manicured for a week.

Day 1, before I was convinced

I hoped they would last the party at least then I could go back to my regular place in a few days time and admit defeat plumping for a brand new set. Then Tuesday came and they were firmly gleaming in place. Then Wednesday...Thursday....SUNDAY. They were amazing.

Hour 2, still not convinced, but pretty imPress'ed

There is nothing harmful to your nails here, even the gel I regularly use while better than acrylic is pretty harsh on your little hands. These feel like a really sensible alternative to give my nails a little R&R. I only intended to use one pack THEN go back to my normal...but I am curious as they come in a multitude of nice colours and pattens, I found myself buying another box. They cost upwards from £7.99 depending on the patten. For a week's worth of nails this is pretty good. More expensive than having them professionally done in East London (don't even start me on places like Nails Inc, they are ridiculously expensive and the Vietnamese/Chinese places do a much better job for a fraction of the cost.) This is only because you have to re-do them more frequently.

The upside? If you lose one, chances are there is another in the pack that can patch up that finger! Hurrah! The packs come with 24 nails in 12 sizes, definitely one size fits all in terms of a pack. The only problem is that the magic 'prep pad' that comes with must make your nails susceptible to the sticky adhesive on the back of the nail, as when I tried to stick one on it wasn't so firmly on as before. I haven't seen if you can buy the prep pads separately, but this would definitely be a good idea.

Different packaging to a few months ago (Above)

Choose your sizes

Start with the pinky, finish with thumbs

Ta-dah! Manicure in minutes

So I scoffed at the adverts...PAH as if Nicole Scherzinger has stick on nails...
I discarded them into a draw when they were free and now I've coughed up my own dough for them

imPress Nails are available in Boots in the UK, my local one which isn't huge had 12 colour varieties. Not too shabby. They don't seem to name the colours, but the free ones we re a dark maroony red, and I've gone for a brighter more corally red to top up.

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