Pyramid schemes.
They used to be the domain of the lonely, bored housewife who hosted Avon, Mary Kay or Tupperware parties to make some money while raising the kids. Amway made a big splash in the 90s and early 2000s.
And then social media happened.
All of a sudden it was easy to build a pyramid based business. People no longer needed to go door to door or host real life parties. It could all be done online. Nearly overnight dozens of such “direct sales” businesses appeared: Beach Body, Jamberry, Arbonne, Roden and Fields, Plexus etc…
You all have seen them flooding your Facebook news feed on the daily as another friend hops on the bus.
I’ve seen so many companies and turned down so many pleas to join and sell I can’t even remember them all.
Until now. I caved. I joined.
This is likely one of the only times I’ll mention it on here. I may announce a few things from time to time but this blog will be mostly clean of it. Except this post. This post I’m holding you hostage.
I joined Color Street Nails this past weekend. Why? Mostly because I want to earn some extra cash to spend on lessons without feeling guilty pulling from the family stash. Even if I only make $100 a month extra that’s still a couple of lessons locally or one lesson in Aiken.
Plus I actually really do love the product and have been using it for half a year now. I’m an open, honest person so no BS from me here on this. No sales pitch. Just honest facts about why I like it and think you may too.
Color Street nails are 100% real nail polish dried 95% of the way. The strips are flexible and are the base, color and top coat all in one. The designs are adorable and way beyond anything I’d be able to do with a bottle or want to pay for in a salon. They also sell solids, glitter and French tips as well.
You open the package, choose the right size, peel off the backing and press to your nail. I like to hold it for about 30 sec and rub gently to make sure they adhere. Then you either fold and break the tip off or trim with scissors and file. The strip is long enough to do two fingers with, one should cover both thumb nails for example.
Once on you are done. They will take 30 minutes or so to fully dry but you can’t smudge them or ruin them. I’ve put them on and then got up to finish dinner or did them between patients and immediately put gloves on. Probably not recommended, but I don’t have time to wait.
They last well too. Bottle polish may last me 3 days. If I don’t ruin it before it dries fully which never happens. I’m busy. I don’t have time to baby my hands for an hour. Generally speaking I’ll get 5-7 days with them looking really good and then the tips will start to wear off at which point I grab my file and file down my nail and they look brand new again for another 5-7 days. Generally by that point I either have to remove for surgery or I’m tired of the color and want to put something new on anyway.
This isn’t gel, vinyl or powder so they do wear more than those products but they also don’t require anything special to apply and you remove with regular polish remover.
Simple, quick, gorgeous.
I get compliments every time I put a new color on.
The other thing I love?
Remember, I’m pretty cheap at heart. No way am I spending a fortune on my nails. These cost $13 for the design ones (my favorites), $14 for French tips, $12 for glitter and $11 for solids.
Each pack gives you two full manicures or a mani and pedi so in reality every time I make my nails pretty it only cost me about $6.50.
The price is great.
If you have any interest I have a ton of free samples heading my way that I can mail to you. You can also shop online but be warned that whatever lame person made the catalogue did a crap job. Every set I’ve gotten has been 10 times prettier in real life.
The link to my personal store is below
I’m also on Facebook with a closed group where I’m posting instructions and information and will be having some give aways. I will be getting 5 free sets and will give a free set to the first 5 people who order.
Or host a party for your friends, I do all the work and you earn free stuff.
Honestly guys this is the only way I can have pretty nails with my job and the horses and not break the bank or ruin my nails with gel or powder.
If at all interested give me a shout out in the comments, email me for a sample (agemofahorse at gmail dot com) or join my Facebook group.
I doubt you’ll regret it. It such an easy, inexpensive way to put a smile on your face.
And with that I am done annoying my captive audience. I may announce new lines or fun giveaways from time to time on here, but I won’t be filling your blog roll with nails all of a sudden, I promise.
The Roaming Rider 
I’ll admit, I’m intrigued! I like having my nails done very simply, but seem to destroy it in 0.01 seconds most of the time which is a bummer.
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If you message me your address I’ll send a sample out to you once I get them. It isn’t perfect. They do wear since it’s just polish but you can’t smudge them and they last long enough to be worth the money. For me anyway.
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Ohhh!!! I actually might need a few of these for my upcoming cruise!!! And they work on toes too? I’m very intrigued about these things!
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Yes they do! They last even longer on toes. Send me your address and I’ll ship a sample out to you
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So I got some of these and have used them once and I have a question for you. None of my friends seem to have experienced this. I left mine on for almost 3 weeks (did the whole thing where I shortened my nails partway through) and was super impressed with how well they held up. The issue I had was after removing them my nails started to peal mostly near the ends and worst on my index and pointer fingers. Have you seen this? I’m wondering if I just left them on too long?
I plan to try some again once the bad spots grow out but I don’t really want to repeat the issue.
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I have not personally had that happen but I have a few thoughts. I can ask those in my group about it too.
1) The polish protects the nail and most people tend to have longer nails when polished (with any brand) than naked. It could be that those nails on the high use fingers were weaker and once grown out more than usual, they broke. As the nails get stronger it shouldn’t happen again.
2) It could be related to the acetone to remove. Nail polish remover is really harsh on nails. It dries them out and can create weakening and cracking, so I’m more prone to think it was the remover. Try a gentler brand with less acetone or one of the natural removers (Drs Remedy has one for $5 that is garlic oil based and free of acetone).
I wouldn’t think leaving them on an additional week itself would cause the problem, but I will ask if anyone else has experienced it
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Thanks! The peeling/cracking started about mid-nail (so would have been lower when I put it on) and I do not have long nails so maybe it’s the remover. I struggled to get the polish off (it was a glitter one) and my nails did look normal at first when I removed the polish other than the spots where I had roughed them up prior to putting it on which you could see. Maybe the remover got in those roughed up spots. I’ll look at trying a different remover next time and maybe I will rough them up less as well. Would love to be able to use these regularly!
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I don’t rough up my nails at all before applying and mine still last so you could try not doing that and see if it helps. The glitter does take a lot of scrubbing to get off
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Good to know, I didn’t really like roughing them up. Excited to try them out again with your tips. My nails need to grow out faster!
If it works then I can order from you next time. 🙂
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Thanks!!! H’Appy won’t be too thrilled with my side gig but I sure will be 😁
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Ooh intriguing! I have a kit to do gel nails at home, which I like for the durability factor, but they take kind of a long time to do and they slowly destroy my natural nails.
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Yeah, gel is more durable. I tried gel and I tried powder dip and both destroyed my nails. These don’t last quite as long, but my nails look just as good as they would being left naked so for me its a good compromise. Plus I have to remove my polish before surgery nearly every week, so paying for gels and removing after a week doesn’t make since.
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It’s cool That these are all nail polish. I’ve tried some gel nail thingys, but I hated them because they felt so unnaturaly long that I couldn’t do anything with my hand. Lol. I’m sure I’d much prefer these ones. They come in some pretty awesome colours/patterns too!!
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The nice part is that it is all your own nail at whatever length you like to keep them so it doesn’t feel unnatural. No tips or acrylic or plastic. Instead of painting with a brush form a bottle, you stick the strip to your nail and it finishes drying. If you want a free sample to try, shoot me your address and I’ll get it out to you. No strings attached, no commitment.
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Oh man, that is super tempting. I’d love to try one of the samples for sure. You pretty much sold me with the gloves comment… LOL I am in nitrile gloves SO MUCH at work.
amye (dot) mckenna (at) gmail (dot) com
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I’ll get them out to you as soon as I get them in the mail this week. I was shocked they lasted through gloves and hand sanitizer and washing so many times a day. I love that I can do it at work and still function
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Ooh I like the look of these! I destroy my nail polish within a day or two and lately I’ve been too lazy to even paint them at all which is a bummer because I love the look of painted nails.
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That’s 100% me. Love the look, mess them up quickly and then never paint again. Shoot me either an email or FB message and I’ll get a sample out to you
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So, as I’ve mentioned a few times on my blog, getting my nails done regularly would be the one “girl thing” I would do if I was rich and had free time (which I’m not and I don’t). Seeing these on your page the other day really caught my eye. They’re adorable! And the price is right. I’m glad you took the time to write up this post, because I think I’m going to have to try these! The fact that it’s coming from you (who I know cannot be bothered with BS in general) is also a huge selling point. I’m off to browse now!
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Ha!!! Yeah I don’t BS anywhere in my life. It makes for an interesting doctor-patient relationship in my practice. Just today I told a guy his foot was going to rot off if he didn’t start listening to me.
I really love these. They aren’t perfect and they don’t last months on end but for the price and the fact they take 5 minutes and no harm to the nail is done you can’t really beat them.
Let me know if you want a sample or you can order anything on line. The glitter holds up really well and the designs are super cute.
Thank you!!!!!
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Someone in my narcolepsy support group sells these (because hey, no energy and time for actually doing nails) and had me put a couple on! I didn’t even think to file them lol – probably would have helped as one held up quite well but the other didn’t get put on evenly and it ended up driving me nuts. Makes me want to reach back out to her and give them another try so thanks for this! 🙂
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Give them another try. I don’t buff my nail before applying and they still last, but if not put on straight it would drive me batty. Worth a second chance!
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Ok, I love this idea! I tend to always have my toes painted, but usually leave my nails unpainted because polish lasts for about an hour around me before it’s chipped. Or I get all worried about it chipping, and I hate having to be that careful with my nails/hands. I did a gel French manicure last year and absolutely loved how durable it was, but hate the long-term damage it will do to nails to have it done all the time. So this might be right up my alley to try.
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It is worth a try! They won’t last as long as gel but are way better than regular polish and don’t destroy your own nail. Send me an email and I’ll mail out a free sample for you to try.
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