There’s been a lot of hype lately about different press-on nail brands that are supposed to make self-care a breeze. I tried 5 of the most popular brands of glue and press-on nails, and now I’m finally ready to share my favorite!

The contenders? Red Aspen, imPRESS, Kiss, Color Street, and Dashing Diva. Each of them is a little unique.

Red Aspen, imPRESS, and Kiss are all more of an acrylic style. They are hard and curved. The Red Aspen glues on, the imPRESS comes with little stickers on the back to press on, and Kiss has both options.

Color Street and Dashing Diva are more like stickers. They are designed to look like traditional nail polish rather than acrylic.

This probably goes without saying, but this is all simply my opinion. If you use one of these and it’s working well for you, that’s fantastic! I know everyone has different lifestyles and activity levels as well as different kinds of nail beds.

Red Aspen

The Red Aspen Nail Dashes are extremely popular right now, so you’ve probably seen them plastered all over social media. With a price tag that’s much lower than a salon and a variety of colors, it’s easy to see why everyone’s talking about them.

The process of applying them is straight-forward and simple. You put a dab of glue on your nail, another dab on the dash, and then press them on.

Unfortunately, my natural nails are fairly flat and the nail dashes are very curved which meant that these pulled up were rather uncomfortable to wear and kept popping off periodically. As they would pop off, I could see that it was causing damage to my natural nails underneath.

They do have a nice, streamlined look.

To remove, you are simply supposed to soak in warm soapy water. I did this for about 10-15 minutes but still needed to pop them off to remove which definitely damaged my nail beds. At the end of the week, it was pretty easy to see that Red Aspen was just not for me.

imPRESS

These are acrylic nails that come with an adhesive already on the back of the nail, so the application could not be any easier! You simply peel off the backing and press the nail onto your own.

One downside of this application technique is that if the nail pops off, you will have to re-apply it with glue (that isn’t included).

I was very “imPRESSed” with imPRESS. The application was so easy, the nails were flexible and adapted to my flat nail beds, and they stayed on for 10 days without popping off at all.

Kiss

Next up was Kiss. There are two application options that are included in the box: glue and sticker. I tested both – one on each hand.

In this set, I actually preferred the glue. The stickers were a little bulky so the acrylic nail didn’t sit flush against my own.

Color Street

Color Street nail strips are actually made with real nail polish. They are comprised of a base coat, polish, and top coat. You can easily press them onto your nail and remove the excess with a fingernail on your opposite hand. The excess from one fingernail can also be applied to another.

After 8 days, they still looked pristine. After 14 days, a few of them cracked and some started to peel but over all still looked pretty good.

At the end of their lifespan, you can simply remove them with acetone nail polish remover without prying them off.

Dashing Diva

Lastly, I tried Dashing Diva. These are similar to Color Street, but they come on as stickers that are fully cured. They aren’t quite as flexible as Color Street so they didn’t sit as flush, the excess did need to be filed off, and they didn’t last quite as long.

The Results

When I started this experiment, I honestly had no clue which press-on nail brand was going to win. I had never tried any of them before and bought all of them with my own money so I could be completely unbiased.

At the end of the day, I I realized that I’m just not a fan of acrylic nails. I felt like they were a little less friendly for my lifestyle and got in the way of everyday tasks. Even when I clipped them down to the length of my regular nails, which did help a lot, I didn’t love the added thickness or that they had the potential to pop off.

I loved that the nail polish strips don’t feel like you’re wearing anything. They feel like traditional polish so they contour to your nail shape and looked amazing for up to 2 weeks!

I thought Dashing Diva and Color Street would be identical, but ultimately Color Street came out the winner for a few reasons: they are flexible, easy to trim, and the longest lasting. Additionally, the removal was very friendly and didn’t cause any damage.

I hope you found this helpful! If you love Color Street press-on nail polish, tell me which colors are your favorite so I can add to my collection!

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