Spray Perfect: A Highly Imperfect Nail Polish

Picture this: It’s Friday night you’re ready for a girls’ night out. It’s going to be great. But wait! Your nails look terrible. You don’t have the time, not to mention the money, to go get them done. Great, the night is ruined!

Ladies, we’ve all been there before, am I right? But don’t give up on your perfect night out just yet, because another as-seen-on-TV product is here to rescue your nails!

Spray Perfect spray-on nail polish claims to be the world’s fastest manicure. It dries in under a minute and gives you complete coverage of your nails. It saves you the time and the money of going to the salon. “No dripping, no smudging, just perfect nails,” claims the product.

When I first saw this product, I thought there was no chance this could ever work. I mean, come on — spray on nail polish? Sounds like a hoax.

So although I was intrigued by spray-on nail polish, I did not have high expectations for it at all. Not a single shred of hope that this product was going to work.

I started off, as the directions stated, by applying a base coat of polish. The directions also specifically state not to blow on the nails to get them to dry. This was a very hard task for me, as I am not a very patient person.

After the base coat dried, the package says to shake the can and spray four to six inches away from the nails. I did as instructed and on went the polish.

My first reaction to Spray Perfect was that this stuff was cold. Next I noticed that although it was advertised as being able to cover nails completely, it did not. I had to spray my nails multiple times to get them completely covered.

Now, after the paint went on I was pleasantly surprised on how they looked. Although the red color was more of a maroon, it was a nice shade and it looked good on my nails.

Next I let the paint dry (again not being able to blow on them) and then applied a top coat. After the topcoat dried it said to wash my hands with soap and water to get off the excess that sprayed onto my skin.

As I was washing I found that I had to pick at the paint on my skin rather than it just washing off. In the process of me cleaning off my hands, the polish on my nails actually began to chip off. Not even two minutes in, and it was coming off.

That night, I went to the street dance for D-Days and when I returned to my dorm I had found that the polish had further chipped away. After showering, it was nearly gone. Five days of wear later, there are still bits of the polish on my nails, though not much.

Overall, I would say that Spray Perfect met my low expectations of not working. I suspected from the start that this product wasn’t going to work, so my spirits weren’t badly crushed.

Although the polish did look good the few seconds it stayed on my nails, I wouldn’t use it again. It was more of a hassle than what it’s worth and honestly I would rather just go get my nails done at a salon than use this again — at least at a salon they massage my hands. Spray Perfect is not a product I would recommend to anyone who wants their nails to be perfect.