Nail Wraps, What are They? Are Nail Wraps any Good?

I like having pretty nails, but I don’t have time or money for a trip to the salon. Polish takes too much time to dry and even more if attempting a fancy design. I mean, seriously, who has the patience and time to spend all day doing their nails just to get a chip in them within 24 hours!? Enter the nail wrap!

Nail wraps have made it so easy to have good looking nails. Modern nail wraps are usually easy, fast, and cheap! They are a thin, flexible strip that is applied directly to the nail without the need for glue, however some require a uv cure lamp and some require a heat source. Each package comes with a variety of sized strips. Some nail prep is recommended, then peel and stick the wrap onto the nail, finally file off the end.

The history of nail wraps can be traced back somewhere in the 1980s, however, they didn’t really start becoming popular until the 2000s, and popularity has grown exponentially since 2019.

What are nail wraps made of? Well that depends entirely on the brand and variety. Most modern nail wraps are composed of a sticky layer that sits on the nail (the base coat), followed with a vinyl, regular polish, or gel polish layer, then a shiny top layer. Historically, nail wraps have also been made from paper, silk, linen, fiberglass, mesh, or other fabrics and embedded within acrylics or gels.

Are Nail Wraps any Good? Well, for the most part yes. There are several varieties of nail wraps: nail stickers also called vinyl nail wraps (I do not recommend these), nail polish strips (probably the most popular), slightly cured gel nail strips (require a uv lamp to finish curing), and (my current favorite) a gel nail strip – found here – make sure you get the gloss (glaze requires uv cure lamp, they also have press on variety).