I bought press-on nails during the pandemic, they lasted 1 day, tore up my nails and didn't look real. A month ago somehow I managed to break my big toe nail in half horizontally, no clue how the injury happened, maybe I hit my foot on something at home. One day I looked down and had a split straight across the middle. I googled solutions and some people online said to glue it and get dip powder on top. But then podiatrists online said no way! So I kept nail polish on the broken nail and hoped for the best. It hung in there for 10 weeks until it would no longer stay flush with the rest of my nail. I thought uh-oh it's going to break off, what am I going to do, I'm going to have half a toe nail in the middle sandal season! Don't worry there will be no photos of my toe in this post! lol Then I remembered I still had that pack of press-on nails I bought during the pandemic, I bought a mani and pedi set.

I saw a tiktok with a manicurist who said she worked on JLo many years ago and that she wanted nail polish changes to go with each of her outfit changes during an awards show! I googled and found many articles with photos that said that JLo now wears press-on nails, makes sense! Kim Kardashian who likes to keep her nails short has worn press-on nails when they are super long, she posted them in her stories when she took them off. Chrissy Teigen shared her DIY press on manicure during the pandemic on IG. Even OPI now has a press on nail line! Chillhouse makes beautiful designed tips. It's a lot cheaper than spending $100 at the nail salon. 

I educated myself on press-on nails and learned that you can file them with a regular nail file so that the shape fits perfectly to your nail. I think a press-on toe nail looks better than a press-on finger nail because people see it from a distance and can't tell it's fake. You can also just use the big toe press on nail and paint the other toes which I did in the beginning before I went all in. The benefit of a press-on nail is that you get this glossy, mirror like finish that you would only get from a chrome gel-x nail.

Application is easy because it has a glue sticker on the back that you just peel off. But it's recommended to still use regular glue if you want it to last longer. Sometimes I find the corner needs extra glue. I use this Foot Rest for easy application so you're not hurting your back bending over. 

To remove you will see they start to feel a little loose after a couple weeks and you can just pop them off as the glue used is gummy and doesn't damage your nails, the residue that is left over and can filed off.  You can also get a Magic Off product to help you remove it if necessary.

I leave my nails bare for one day to breathe. This was a tip my podiatrist gave me a long time ago, between polish changes your nails need to breath. I said but my nails are dead, and he said well your hair is dead too but you do all kinds of conditioning treatments to it don't you? lol I put this Jojoba Oil on my cuticles twice a day. 

I tried nails from Dashing Diva from which I bought all the fun designs pictured below but I don't see them on their website anymore. Whenever I wore them I showed my toes to friends and everyone said they thought it looked real.  Impress manicure also sells them in  neon, French, and lemon. So you don't have to worry about having a short toenail to have a pretty pedicure. You can find both brands at Target. I was surprised, they lasted through showers, sleeping and workouts in sneakers. They retail for $7-10 and last a couple weeks! 

I will say though that the Impress website is wonky to load, sometimes the reviews don't show at all which is a shame because customers upload their own photos to the reviews and that was really helpful to me picking out the ones to get, but now those photos don't show. And they have so many pop ups for multiple coupons. Dashing Diva on the other hand has an easy to navigate website and they score their IG hashtag and find anyone who posts a photo of their nails and posts it to their site so it's good quality photos, not your typical dark image, review photos. I want to see what they look like on real feet, not just the model with perfect application. All the reviews say they had a positive experience.