Free beauty tips: Sally Hansen

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Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Gilty Pleasure

Gilty Pleasure is the last of five in this line I have to show you. You can find Yellow Kitty just below this post, and 3 others I shared a few weeks back here. I always love shades of metals, so I wanted to give this one a try. It looks like it could be a foil-type finish by the appearance in the bottle, so I was pleasantly surprised that it's not, because I sometimes have problems with streaking on those types of finishes. This is a lovely light gold shimmer that covered very nicely in 2 coats. It dried exceptionally fast, which is always a bonus. The brush on this one was cut evenly, and again, the formula was excellent. I'm very pleased with this shade, because of it's simplistic beauty. It's such a light and bright shade of gold, yet it seems to have a very noticeable richness to it.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Yellow Kitty

Above & Below: Yellow Kitty shown indoors with an Ott light, no flash. I used 3 coats and still had some streakiness, so I added a thin fourth coat. Surprisingly, it dried quickly even with that many coats.

Yellow Kitty is from Sally Hansen's newly re-formulated polish line called Complete Salon Manicure. I picked several of these up at Walmart a few weeks back, and although I'm not too impressed with the formula on Yellow Kitty (this is 3-4 coats!), the color range is excellent. I did add a few drops of thinner to this after trying it once and ending up with quite a mess. I'm not entirely happy with this manicure either, but trust me, had you seen my first attempt, you'd think this one looked perfect! I posted a few of the other shades here, and found the formula to be much less problematic on these, than I did with Yellow Kitty. The brush in Yellow Kitty was cut better than the one I previously had issues with, so that was a relief. I do love this shade of yellow, because it's the perfect Butter yellow shade that I've always been attracted to. I have one more to show you later today from this line called Gilty Pleasure. I'm not discouraged with these, but I do find the combination of the handle/brush a bit difficult to work with. And of course the $6.50 price tag seems high, but as I mentioned, many of the shades are quite unique and different.

Posted in Creme , Sally Hansen , Yellow

Sally Hansen's New Complete Salon Swatches

Above & Below: Midnight in NY is a black creme base with very subtle multi-colored microfine glitter. The black is one shade away from black in my opinion, and could be considered the deepest shade of charcoal grey. All of these polishes are shown indoors using 2 coats.

Below: Gray on Gray is a blue gray shade that I would say doesn't lean more toward blue or gray, but rather a true blue gray shade.

Below: A bottle picture comparison alongside Barielle's Slate of Affairs. As you can see, Slate of Affairs is much more blue.

Below: Fairy Teal is a true teal, although it does have a slight 'dusty' look to it in real life.

Below: Bottle comparison picture of Fairy Teal with Misa's Dirty Sexy Money. They are in the same color family, but not all that similar.

Below: Look at the inconsistency in the brush cut on Midnight in NY (L) and Gray on Gray (R). The one on the left is tapered (and has some stray hairs!), while the one on the right is much less tapered and straighter along the end. Quality Control was obviously not involved in the production of these!

I wanted to try out some of the new Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicures I picked up earlier this week (click here for original post), so today I have swatches of Midnight in NY, Gray by Gray, and Fairy Teal to show you. This new line has quite a few shades in it and they retail for about $6.50. I found mine in an end cap display at Walmart. These have the flat stem and tapered brush, much like their Insta-Dri line. I don't dislike the brush/stem structure, but it does take a bit of getting used to. As you'll notice above, the brushes are inconsistent in their cut from bottle to bottle, even though these are all from the same line. My biggest complaint with these, as with the Insta-Dri line, is that it seems to me that the bottle opening should be a little wider. The bottles themselves are also a new shape and are quite heavy and substantial. Otherwise, the polishes all applied nicely in 2 coats, dried quickly, and although they all seemed somewhat thick, the formula caused me no application problems. All in all, I think Sally Hansen's formulas and color range are improving with every new collection.

Posted in Black , Blue , Creme , Glitter , Sally Hansen , Silver/Grey , Teal

What I Bought This Week: New Sally Hansen's, Redken, Carmex

Above: L-R Nicole Hint of Mint, Sally Hansen Gray by Gray, Gilty Pleasure, Yellow Kitty, Fairy Teal, Midnight in NY, Vivid. Also shown is Carmex Moisture Plus Hydrating Lip Balm and Redken's Aerate 08.
Below: Bottle close-up of Sally Hansen's Midnight in NY. It appears to be a black creme with multi-colored micro glitter.

Not a terribly exciting week in hauls, but I'm hanging on to my $$$ so I can add to my Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes during their 50% off sale on 12/15! I've given up on my Walmart ever stocking the new Hard Candy line, but I did spot 2 new end caps that had a new Nicole by OPI collection and the new Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes. I only picked up one of the Nicole's, but it looks like a good one, because it's a mint green shade with micro shimmer. The new Sally Hansen polishes, although pricey at $6.50, also had some trendy shades and you know Fairy Teal is the one that caught me eye first! I also picked up Vivid from their Lacquer Shine line for the simple fact that it looked like it was a glowy wine color with a black base. I walked away from it not once, but twice, before I finally realized I wouldn't be satisfied until I put it in the cart.

The other two products I purchased are not nail-related, but I wanted to share them with you because they are beauty-related, and I'm impressed with them both. I was impressed enough with the Carmex Moisture Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balm that this is my second purchase. I bought my first tube in October and it's almost gone. I have tons of lip balm products and fear I have an addition to always having something on my lips. After using this product for a couple of days, I found I was applying it less and less during the day, leading me to believe that it must actually be hydrating my lips enough to make them feel moisturized for a longer period of time. It's a clear twist up stick that feels refreshing and slightly tingly or minty on the lips, but not nearly as intense as the original Carmex in the little pot. I picked this up at Walmart for $2.49. I'm a huge Redken product fan, and I was happy to have finally located their new Aerate 08 Bodyfying Cream-Mousse when I got my hair cut and colored this week. It's a very light cream that seems to have air pockets in it, somewhat like a mousse, but without any sticky or crunchy feeling to it once applied to damp hair. It leaves my hair soft and definitely much fuller. This retails for around $12-$14 for a 2.3 oz. jar, and I find that less is more with this, so I only use a small amount for big results.

Are their any products you've been hunting for and recently found? Who's plotting their order for Rescue Beauty Lounge's sale?

Posted in Hair Care Products , Lip Color/Lip Treatment , Nicole by OPI , Redken , Sally Hansen

Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Gentle Blossom

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I was out and about this morning picking up a few things for this project I've got going, and I ran into the display for the new Nailgrowth Miracle line from Sally Hansen. Most of the colors were pretty yawny, but I did pick up two. The two I chose, I selected because the finish of each is interesting.

I got home and unpacked, then promptly decided that I've been working hard this week and I'm going to be a slacker today. That meant there was no reason I couldn't try out one of the new polishes, so I did. I used Gentle Blossom.

Gentle Blossom is a light mint green, a really pretty shade. As I looked at it in the store, I initially passed because I couldn't see the shimmer well in the weird store fluorescent lighting, but a closer look convinced me it was a good choice. The shimmer is odd - it's subtle, but really dense at the same time. Gentle Blossom applied well with a brush like the one in the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line. In two coats, it was opaque but still a bit streaky, so I added a third to even it out.

Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Gentle Blossom Nail Polish, Three Coats

The sunlight today is not very strong, but the shimmer still shows well. Here's a closer look at the shimmer.

Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Gentle Blossom Nail Polish, Closer Look

I think this is a really nice one, and I like it a lot. Occasionally admiring it throughout the day will be a nice use of a slacker day.

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in green , nail polish , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle

How I Love Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Prisms

Above & Below: Emerald Amethyst displaying it's many personalities. It's olive and purple...

...a silvery lilac...

...a metallic shade of amethyst...

...silvery grey with a tinge of purple and green...

...difficult to define, but easy to love.

Another one of my older polishes, and the older it gets, the more I love it! I have just a few of these and Emerald Amethyst is my favorite. It's a duo chrome changing from a dusty lilac shimmer to an olive green with a little bit of gold in the mix. It can also look like a silver shade in the right lighting. I used one coat over a polish I showed you earlier this morning, LA Girl Metallic Pink. The shimmer is very fine, making the finish somewhat metallic when showing the lilac shade. I always enjoy rediscovering certain polishes, because it makes me appreciate their beauty all over again.

Posted in Discontinued/HTF , Duo Chrome , Green , Purple , Sally Hansen , Shimmer , Silver/Grey

Sally Hansen HD LE: Opulent Cloud, Disc, Gigabyte & Zip

Above & Below: Opulent Cloud shown with 3 coats. I took so many pictures of this trying to capture the shifting icy violet to gray, but all I seem to have captured was the gray. It's a truly unique shade and the gold shimmer is lovely, but I wasn't thrilled with the formula.

Above & Below: Disc, shown with 3 coats. This is a pretty shade of copper that flashes the slightest hint of rose gold.

Above & Below: Gigabyte is a very frosty shade of baby pink and is shown in 2 coats. For as sheer as this looked in the bottle, it was surprisingly opaque in just 2 coats.

Below: Zip was oddly my favorite of this collection and is shown in 2 coats. It is a bright cherry red shade that has very fine gold shimmer throughout.

Below: Bottle picture left to right: Opulent Cloud, Disc, Zip, Gigabyte.

Sally Hansen recently released a 4 piece collection of more HD polishes which are limited editions. I don't know if any of these will move into their 8 piece permanent line of HD's, but with the popularity of Opulent Cloud, it seems possible. These can be found in various stores such as Walgreen's and Rite-Aid and are in a tabletop display with just 2 slots for each color. The formula on these is nothing special and honestly, Opulent Cloud and Disc were a little disappointing to me, formula-wise. I used 3 coats on both of those and I felt as if every little flaw showed up. Hmmm, it must be because they're HD! I didn't have that problem with the other 2, however. All in all, this is a nice little collection. The finishes are pretty, as they're all shimmers, and for such a small collection, it has a decent range of colors. Opulent Cloud is garnering the most attention and I'll agree that it is a unique shade. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to go with Zip simply because it applied so evenly and it's such a plush looking shade of red. The gold shimmer gives it some dimension and for some reason, this is the one that appealed to me most, although I thought Opulent Cloud would have been the one that stood out more.

Posted in Copper , Pink , Red , Sally Hansen , Shimmer , Silver/Grey

Sally Hansen Magenta Magic

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I've been over-the-top busy since Sunday, the kind of busy where exhaustion and frustration are constant themes, but I decided to take a half-hour head clearing manicure and post break between tasks. In an email today,wearing a good holo was mentioned, and thinking of them made me decide wearing one would be a good idea. It doesn't take a single thing off my To Do list, nor does it make anything easier, but having a cool holo mani is generally spirit-lifting so it seemed like a good choice.

I used one of the old Sally Hansen Magicals, Magenta Magic. It's a really, really good holographic polish. I used a coat of Nfu Oh Aqua Base, two of Magenta Magic, and one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite top coat for the manicure. In the last year, maybe year and a half, I've answered lots of questions about top coat over holos and jumping through hoops with it, and to be honest I'm not sure how the idea that top coat is problematic with holos came up. I've always used whatever top coat I have a bottle of over whatever holo I'm wearing just like any other color polish without a problem. The instant top coat is applied it dulls the holographic effect, then about two minutes later after it's dried the holo is back, just like when the holo polish is first applied and wet it's not super holo and gets more so as it dries. Anyhow, this manicure had no trouble with it, as you can see here.

Sally Hansen Magenta Magic Nail Polish, Two Coats

The Magicals were a really cool line, another that was discontinued after a short life. I really like all that I have quite a bit, and it was nice to wear a much-loved oldy today.

That's Sally Hansen Magenta Magic and all I have for you today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Holographic , nail polish , Pink , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Magicals

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Numbskull

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm racing the calendar to get in Halloween manicures, so today I have another set of Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips to show you today, this one named Numbskull. They're the cartoon-y black skull and crossbones pattern in black over white from this year's Halloween Salon Effects.

I didn't use anything under them, and they were way easier to apply. I have two repairs, on the first two applied, because I was a little too aggressive in stretching them over my tips. I slowed down a bit and the rest turned out just fine. The hardest part of applying this set was due to the pattern being slightly on the diagonal, which made visually lining them up straight a little tough. I've typically centered them at the cuticle to apply the nail polish strips, but after a few of these I found it easier to get one side edge of a nail lined up the whole length and then press them down across. Then all that was left was filing the overhanging edge off of each as I went, and when they were all applied I sealed them with Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine. Here is my Numbskull manicure.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Strips Numbskull

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Numbskull

You can see the repair on my index finger's nail here, but it's such a tiny bit I tacked on that it doesn't really show on my hands. I pretty much love this manicure! I'm wearing it out to lunch today, and depending on what the weekend holds, I might add a coat of Wet n Wild glow in the dark top coat to it. Seeing a band is an option, and if I go with that, I believe making this glow will be mandatory.

For the record, there was no trouble with the Ghoulie Girl strips that made me remove them, it's the race to fit in Halloween manis that prompted the change.

That is my Numbskull Salon Effects manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Black , Halloween , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Salon Effects , White

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Ghoulie Girl

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back with a real post after giving you just promo materials earlier today. Yesterday I realized that Halloween's less than a week away, and I've shown you a grand total of one Halloween-themed manicure this year, so after swatching yesterday I applied the Ghoulie Girl set of Halloween Sally Hansen Salon Effects, the black background with rows of Pacman-looking ghosts in white and orange, and I thought I'd give you a look.

The Ghoulie Girl strips are thiick in a good, sturdy way, and they were easy to work with. I put a coat of a non-sticky nail strengthener on before the strips, but I think I need to get over that because they were a lot easier to apply well for the pedicure I did with them, where I used nothing under them. The only trouble I ran into on the mani was a wrinkle or two where they stuck to the base coat, but I was able to get the wrinkles out pretty well. To fix them, I used an e-cig battery like a little steam roller over them - the battery is an anodized aluminum perfect cylinder, so it rolled over without sticking at all or making any marks. I finished the strips off with Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine, and they're holding up beautifully. I took the picture just a bit ago, so after they've had twenty-four hours of wear.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Ghoulie Girl

These are so silly fun to wear! They've gotten a few looks but no comments, likely because I'm forty and otherwise conservatively dressed, and somehow that makes them seem even funnier to me. I'm a fan!

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Halloween , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Salon Effects

Sally Hansen Haunted & Emerald Amethyst

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Since duochromes seem to be making quite a return right now, I thought I'd show you one of my favorites from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line, Emerald Amethyst. The sun is absolutely not cooperating today, so the best I can do is give you a sense of how cool this one is.

Since Nail Prisms seem to be pretty sheer, I picked a charcoal shimmer base for it, which I find to blend a little better than a black creme, and the one I used was Sally Hansen Haunted, which is a New Lengths from a few years ago, and I think it was a Canadian exclusive. Haunted needed two coats over a base, and while I gave it a few minutes to set, I took a picture of it alone.

Sally Hansen Haunted Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added two coats of Emerald Amethyst to it, waited a few minutes, then added Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to dry it all. Here are a few pictures under a completely overcast sky to give you a hint at what it really looks like in decent light.

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Straight On View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst, Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst, Close Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Close Angled View

Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Amethyst, Final Angled View

Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Final Angled View

You can see that straight on, it's kind of a purple mauve, but from any angle it's really green, which make it a lot of fun to play with in the light. I'm glad to see a return of duochromes, and hope that some of the new ones coming out are as cool as the old ones with some different color combinations. I haven't seen any yet that strike me as unique, but hope springs eternal.

That's my ode to Emerald Amethyst, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Duochrome , green , grey , nail polish , purple , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Nail Prisms

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