MINX nails in Las Vegas

First. Let me say that my pictures are craptacular. I used the camera on my phone and I haven't gotten the hang of holding it correctly so that I'm not making the picture blury. Please forgive the blurry shots.

I finally had my fetish for having mirrors on my fingernails fulfilled when I went to Las Vegas last week. Sadly my nails didn't last more than a few days (4) and they cost more than I really wanted to spend, but it was a treat that I had been waiting to do for ages.
What am I talking about?
MINX Nails of course!

What are MINX nails?
"Minx is a solid film with an adhesive back that is heat activated. The heat gives Minx the conformability to fit over the compound curves of nails and seals it onto the nail bed. Minx is brewed in North County, San Diego, California. The patent pending proprietary material Minx is made of can be easily removed with heat by either the manicurist or the client."

So yeah. High tech stickers for your nails. I understand that a lot of people find this silly, but honestly there are some things that nail polish just can't do and mirrors on my tips is one of those things.

The frustrating this is that there are very few salons near me that offer Minx manicures. The ones that do offer them are fairly far away and in areas of Washington, DC that I just don't want to travel to. So when I saw they offered Minx manicures at The Bellagio in Las Vegas I jumped at the chance.

I literally got off the plane, checked into my hotel room and took a cab to the Bellagio for my appointment! There I met a lovely woman by the name of Theresa who was the lead manicurist for the Bellagio Salon.

She informed me upfront that because my nails were fairly short and because all of us are fairly hard on our own nails, my results from my Minx manicure may not last the one to two weeks as suggested on the Minx website. I said I understood, and perhaps because I just really wanted it done, or perhaps because I believed I could take better care of my nail I ignored her offer for a regular manicure and went ahead with the Minx manicure.

I was allowed to look through a very extensive book of samples to decide on which design/color I wanted. I decided to mix it up a bit and use Silver on my Pinkie, Middle and Index fingers, and then use a black nail with a silver dragon on my ring finger. For my thumbs I chose a black and silver hologram type design. There is no extra charge for using different designs for one manicure.

I was given a basic "dry" manicure where my cuticles were shaped, my nails files and any hang nails or other things that might interfere with the Minx product were removed. Once my nail were ready she used a lint free pad and applied rubbing alcohol to my nails. This would ensure a clean and oil free work surface for the Minx manicure.


The individual nail decals were peeled off one at a time. She would hold them under a special hot lamp to activate the plastic and make it easier to apply to my nail. Once applied and properly trimmed for the sides, the remaining decal was folded over my nail and allowed to cool (Out from under the hot lamp) for the next step which was filing. The Minx nails were folded under my existing nails and with a glass file she carefully filed away the excess product and smoothed out the tips of each nail.

Once my manicure was finished I was in amazement. Like a toddler attracted to shiny things I just couldn't stop staring at my nails. Here I am, walking though a busy casino, not being distracted by the bells and chimes and action on the floor. I'm just entranced by my nails.

I received many compliments on my nails while I was in Las Vegas. Most people had never even heard of Minx so I had to explain it to them. Maybe I was able to get some converts! The only thing I didn't like is that my Minx Manicure started to lift up at the ends by the 5th day. I'm very OCD about my nails. and when they start to look ratty I start to get fidgety and I decided to take them off. I didn't have to take them off. They were lifting at the sides or anything like that. It was my own craziness that led me to remove them. Thankfully they are easily removed under hot water. I had an orange stick and use that to push up the Minx product off my nail. I was happy to see that I had NO damage to my natural nail from wearing the Minx product, or from removing it, and no adhesive was left on my natural nail either.

Would I do this again? Yes. For a special occasion. I can't see getting this done as a regular thing. It's too time consuming (Took about an hour) and a bit more money than I wished to pay. Also, since not many salons near me actually do Minx manicures, it's not like I'm going to drive all the way to Northeast DC to gt my nails done.

A listing of salons that offer Minx manicures is listed on the Minx Nails website. So would you get this done? Have you ever had a Minx Manicure? What's your take?