 Istyles/Decalgirl BB 8900 skins experience/review thingy
OK, Ive never done a review before so I'll keep this casual and without photos because I didn't take any.
What drove me to purchase the skins was the fact that each skin comes with a download code to get a wallpaper that blends with the skin. I purchased 2 skins: The apocalypse blue skin and the garden at giverny skin.
I ordered my skins from Istyles and actually found out later their stuff is the same as Decalgirl is. Personally I probably would have never looked at the Decalgirl website myself, feeling that it would be full of flowers and lipstick decals. However they carry pretty much the same product for the same price. The skins I received were decalgirl branded skins. They accept credit cards and paypal. They ship via USPS priority mail which took 4 working days to get them to me in central Illinois. I did notice that some of their skins for other products appear to ship from Singapore so watch for that if time is an issue.
Each decal comes in a sheet with the download address and code for the wallpaper printed on the extra vinyl that you would discard anyway. There are no install instructions included but they can be found on the decalgirls website. I downloaded the wallpapers first and installed them to my 8900 to help me align the decals.
Ok, I am not a crafty guy at all and had some trouble getting stuff lined up right but I don't think most people would. The adhesive on the vinyl allows you to remove and reposition the decals as you are putting them on. It took me 4 tries to get it right on one piece and it still sticks fine (told you I wasn't crafty).
I tried the Garden at Giverny skin first but ended up not liking it and took it off in about half an hour. The wallpaper provided just didn't match up like I thought it would and didn't give that feeling of continuity I was looking for.
So next is the apocalypse blue skin.
TIP: Before removing the skin from the backing, first remove the vinyl that surrounds the skin. It makes it much easier to remove the skin from its backing.
This one went on a little easier for me, I'm assuming because it was my second skin ever instead of my first. The wallpaper for this skin works great and the pattern of the skin carries right through the wallpaper. It doesn't look as awesome as the picture on the website but it's pretty nice and has the feeling of continuity I was looking for.
PROS: The vinyl is very thin and has a very glossy finish to it. It does not interfere with using the charging dock or the hip holster. As long as you don't inadvertently stretch the vinyl when repositioning it I don't see any problems with anyone installing this skin. There was no residue or stickiness left on the phone after removing the first skin.
Cons: The skin does not completely cover the phone like an invisible shield would. It covers the front, back , and top but leaves the side and bottom edges uncovered. The exposed chrome on the edge of the 8900 looks good with the blue skin but I would rather have a little more protection I think. The colors of the wallpaper don't exactly match the skin, which killed the effect with the Garden skin but was close enough to work on the apocalypse one.
SUMMARY: If you want to change the look of your phone this is a good choice. If you want to protect your phone from scratches there are better products out there.
 | 
Linear Mode
