Press on, fellow lacquer lover! Press on…these new beige, red and black temporary press-on nails from MAC.
Leave it to MAC to make press-on nails neat again… They took something I enjoy doing — painting my nails — and said, “Yeah, but check this out.”
The 24 nails in each of the three new MAC Ruffian Manicure sets come in a variety of nail shapes and sizes, and they aren’t just pre-painted in solid colors. They’re like straight up nail art!
In the first set, Demilune, a black matte sits atop a golden chrome strip along the base; Spectator, the second set, bookends a glossy cream-colored center with glossy black stripes; and the third set, Demoiselle, paints thin white and black arches at the very tip and base of a gorgeous, glossy red.
All three sets are available online now in North America ($25 US, $30 CDN) and coming in September to select international locations.
They’re designed to be applied to bare, natural nails, and they’re pretty easy to apply…except for one potential sticking point, but more on that in a sec.
It’s nice that the sets come with 24 nails each, so you stand a good chance of finding 10 among them to fit the shape and size of each of your fingernails (MAC, what about mah toes?!).
When you go to put these on, be careful lining them up along the base of your cuticles before pressing them down, because that adhesive? — that stuff is no joke. Way stronger than Lee Press-On Nails from back in the day.
Granted, the adhesive is probably not strong enough to keep your nails from moving while you play an epically long piano sonata or type out a novel…but it should be sticky enough for a night on the town.
And despite the uber-glue, the nails are still relatively easy to remove. Just ease each one off by peeling slowly from the side. If you’re careful, you should be able to get in another 3-4 uses before the adhesive loses its mojo.
I think it’s also cool that they don’t leave behind any sticky residue once they’re removed.
For me and my small hands, Demilune, with the shorter length of each nail and the squared tip, was the most comfortable of the three…and I also think it looks the coolest! I love the inverted golden half moon and the matte black against the gold chrome.
That’s just hot. 🙂
As a part-time perfectionist, I’m not crazy about the teeny chips at the end of some of the matte nails, but it’s not terribly obvious if you don’t look too closely.
I had a little trouble going about my day with Spectactor and Demoiselle… I think they’re just much too long for me, and I kept struggling to do everyday tasks, like typing and opening up tubes of lipstick.
I felt like I had eagle talons! — and I accidentally clawed off a big chunk of Ruffian Red Lipstick from the bullet.
Grrrr…
Oh — whatever you do, don’t run your fingers through you hair when you’re wearing these. I did earlier today while wearing Demilune and yelped when one of the nails got caught. It took a minute or so to ease it out without breaking any/many strands.
I would have loved to end this review with something kitschy like, “MAC nailed it!” but I don’t know… Fun for a play day or a night on the town, but not something I’d wear every day.
PRICE: $25 US, $30 CDN (available in three styles, each with 24 nails)
AVAILABILITY: Available online now in North America and coming to select international MAC locations in September
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Okay, so I’ll be the first to admit: I hate false nails. That said, though, the Demilune tips look absolutely lovely! I kinda want to recreate the look with polishes and a bit of tape 😛
I quite like the look of Spectator! I’m not keen on false nails, but I think those designs would be pretty fun to recreate in polish.
Wow, these are perfect. First of all, they look amazing plus I really like the fact that you can use them so easily. Perfect nails in 10 minutes, works for me.
When I first saw them I really wanted the Demilune. But here I can see that they really wouldn’t be suitable for anything but going out, haha!
There’s something about the black half moons that make them look a little like alien-ish eyes to me…
Guess I’ll be saving my money for the lipsticks!
They’re all quite pretty, but not $25 pretty. At least to me :P. Demilune does look really hawt!
At $25 they’re too expensive for an occasional night out. I’ll just stick to my crappy little nails instead, lol.
I have never done fake nails — the designs on these ones are gorgeous but … kinda spendy!
I’ve tried press-on manicure once and still don’t know what to think about it. It’s pretty on, but it’s weird, and removing the glue was a bit of pain. I do like how Demilune looks. Maybe I’ll do a similar-looking manicure!
Eh, $25 for nails that may night even fit my nails? I’ll pass 🙂 I love the designs, especially the matte black and gold, but stick-on nails just don’t thrill me.
I’m not fond of these at all. To me they look noticably fake. I don’t know, maybe they look better in person.
The black and golden is just fabulous !
I’m not a big fun of fake nails, but I love the look of Spectator. The design is so pretty!
The art on the nails, the french and moons, are very cute and is very beautiful. But I hate false nails for the fact that they look very fake. Just as these all do. They don’t fit the nails perfectly, which means you have to file them in the right shape, which is going to ruin the fake nails. This isn’t worth the money.
The demilune nails are super pretty–but I dont really wear fake nails or long nails. I’d rather try to recreate the look at home! And I could NEVER wear those sharpened tip/claw-like ones…I would most definitely take mine or someone else’s eye out!
Seconding everyone else, I’m not a false nail kind of person– I’ve never worn anything like stick-ons or gel nails but… wow, that demilune– gotta have!
Not a huge fan of fake nails but these look so bloody good! 😀 I’m lustingggg…
These are tight, and I love the designs – but I can see the little tiny tab on one of the nails in your picture – like they were connected to something and you have to snap them off to apply. And because of that, and the $25 price tag, I can’t. Plus, I have small fingers and these things never look right on my hands. :-/
I feel like a goof- I thought it was black nail and gold tip but see you applied it the other way around (how embarassing for me).
My favorite are the beige/black ones. I’m a square nail kind of gal but this looks great.
I think she applied them wrong? Maybe that’s just me, but they don’t look right.
Nope, they’re a “ruffian” style mani. The gold is meant to go near the cuticle.
I would love to wear one with the logo on it as an accent nail!
Ha, I thought Demilune was a French mani, understand black nail with golden tip !! I think I would’ve preferred it that way…
Woah! I love the black and gold nails! So beautiful and glam!!
These look great on you! Unfortunately, they did not fit on my nails and I had to return them. Such a bummer because they are definitely chic looking! 🙂
Rosie xo