Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Laced Up

Okay, so I'm HOPING this will be my New Years Eve mani. It perfectly matches a shirt I plan to wear. I just hope this will hold up for four or five days.

I have friends coming in to town to party, starting tomorrow, and tonight was the last night I have to do my nails for New Years!

I'd been wanting to try these out. They are dry nail polish strips, like Incoco. CVS apparently has them BOGO 50% this week, but none of the CVS's in my town have them. I found them at Target, though, and bought the pack that most appealed to me. They retail for $8.99 per pack at Target, which is a little steep. I really wish I'd been able to find them at a CVS because I would have bought a few packs then. SOON. (I hope.)

These aren't quite as easy to use as the Incoco strips. I had a hard time removing the strips from the backing, and I had a hard time getting the excess filed off of the free edge of my nails.

HOWEVER, I recently cut my nails way, way down due to some nasty peeling I had going on at the tips, and if your nails are short like mine, you can get two nails out of each strip. Providing they fit the curve of your cuticles anyway. :) In the package, you get two sealed packages of 8 strips, and I only had to open one of the packages to do this mani. So, score, I may have enough to do another mani in the future, providing my nails aren't super long.

Another plus is that these come in all sorts of neat patterns and in GLITTER. I know Incoco does this too, but I haven't been able to find any Incoco other than boring reds and pinks in stores.

In the dry nail polish game, Incoco wins for ease of application, but Sally Hansen wins for availability and, uh, interesting-ness.

Anyway, I took this photo with my Droid since I have zero charged batteries for my camera and I just couldn't WAIT to show off. ;)

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry French Manicure

I found this at Walgreen's the other day. There are two colors, two brushes, and two openings in this bottle. It isn't the usual Insta-Dri brush, either -- I checked. There were several different (6 or 7) colors in the display. I picked up Presto Pink/Night Flight.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

Have any of you seen this? Googling shows no results.

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Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

I managed to pick up four of the fall LE colors from this line. I reeeeally liked three of them and really didn't care for the fourth. I BELIEVE each of these were two coats.

Problem Child (loved it!):

Sequin Scandal (loved it!):

Golden Ticket (I actually really like this, and I don't usually go for gold):

Fedora (eh. Good formula, applied nicely, don't care for it on me.):

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More nail painting fun

My sister-in-law came to visit and we painted our nails.

She used Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe over a coat of Orly La Playa.

I used Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over Finger Paints Icy Iris.

Hers:

And all together now!

And now for your standard ending...

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Sally Hansens, el cheapo nail polish, and a giveaway!

I only picked up two of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears -- Purple Gala and Mystic Lilac. I LOVED Purple Gala and HATED Mystic Lilac. The latter one wasn't flattering on me at all and my mani bubbled like I've never seen one bubble before (although I'm pretty sure that was user error and not a problem with the formula). It also never dried, even with Out The Door on top. :/
I ended up giving the bottle to my sister-in-law.

Here are my pix of Mystic Lilac:






And here is Purple Gala:


Now... lately, there has been some really cool nail polish spotted in the Dollar Tree here and in Big Lots. I found a bunch of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Dollar Tree several weeks ago. Yesterday, I gave a friend at work a bottle of Hard Candy Beetle I'd picked up for her. Later in the day, she emailed me saying she had a surprise for me. It was Colorama flakies she picked up at Big Lots! FLAKIES! YAY! So I went to Big Lots myself after work and picked up the rest of the flakies I didn't already have. I also bought extras for my blog readers. I also have some Nail Prisms dupes. So.... I'll be having a giveaway. I'll make an official post about it probably Sunday, so don't enter yet. If I can find some other goodies to throw in, I will. :)

Maybelline Gray-T Glamour

So, this was one of those Fashion Week polishes. There are still some picked-over displays in the drugstores around here. Anyway, I felt like most of the other polishes were dupes or dupish to something I already had, but I'm a sucker for a good gray. Which is weird because gray doesn't even look all that great on me.

This applied well -- I think I used two coats. But it dried to a weird not shiny finish. Not matte, not satin, but definitely not shiny. Not a huge deal since I use topcoat anyway.

There is also just a tiny bit of shimmer in this!




P.S. LADIES... I found a whole buttload of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms at my Dollar Tree today. Squee! I got pink rose diamond, purple diamond, white diamond (i think), and... something else. Three of those are holographics, so.. SCORE!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Gray by Gray

Sooo... I also found this color on clearance at a random Walgreen's in August. It's weird -- there were a few clearance colors. I only picked up this one and Naked Ambition. And now, at some drugstores, these colors seem to be gone. But at other drugstores, they're still there. What is this I don't even...

I also think I'm going to attempt to do 31 days of Halloween-ish colors for October. I need to go home and raid my stash to see what I have. I'm thinking any black w/shimmer, black w/glitter, or vampy should do it. I LOVE OCTOBER! And Halloween! And Fall!

Speaking of Fall, it finally actually feels like Fall here in Georgia! Hooray! The 90 degree days were KILLING ME.

Anyway, on with the show. I apologize for the tipwear in these pics. I wore this for several days, because I absolutely loved the color, but the tips wore down something fierce.


I was still too lazy to redo my nails, so I just slapped some OPI Significant Other Color on top. Check it out!




I liked that combination, even though it was a bit odd. :)

Sally Hansen Naked Ambition

Heh hehehehehe.... naked.

Found this one on clearance at a random Walgreen's in Alabama. It's from the SH Complete Salon Manicure line.
I do believe this was three coats. It's a pinky nude with some shimmer/glitter in it.
Eh.. it's okay. Nothing special. Would never have picked it up if it weren't on clearance. :)

Essie Merino Cool and Comparison

I want to apologize for the bubbles in this mani... I have had more issues with bubbling lately, and I'm not quite sure what's causing it. I suspect it's summer humidity, since I've not changed basecoat or topcoat. Yet another reason I'm ready for fall...

Anyway, this is the purply-taupe shade from Essie's fall collection -- Merino Cool.


It reminds me of other purply taupes I have.
This is Merino Cool on thumb and forefinger.
Sally Hansen Commander in Chic on middle finger.
Confetti Moonstruck on ring finger.
Essie Mink Muffs on pinky (yeah, it's WAY different from the other three, but I threw it in there anyway).




Mink Muffs is way more brown than the rest.
Commander in Chic is just a tinge more brown than Merino Cool or Moonstruck.
I think Moonstruck and Merino Cool are dupes, or damn near close to dupes. The formula is better on Merino Cool, but the pricetag is better on Moonstruck ($2 compared to $8).

So there you go!

Huge huge huge Dolla Tree post

Lately I've been into old Maybellines. I read too many nail polish blogs. I never particularly liked Maybelline nail polish, but apparently they had some good stuff out back in the day, when I bit my nails.

Our Dollar Tree had a TON of really good stuff a few weeks ago. So I hauled. Is it really a haul when it comes from Dollar Tree? I mean, come on. At most, I spent $10.

Anywho, here's what I got. I must say... as lovely as some of these were in the bottle, the prettiest ones had horrible drying issues (as in, they wouldn't. ever.) and most were three coats. I guess I shouldn't complain about Dollar Tree polish.

All of these are Maybelline except for one Sally Hansen.

This is a Maybelline polish called "Ginger." It's not what I would expect from a Ginger. It was okay. I'll probably never wear this one again.


This is "Jaded Blues." I LOVED this color. Blue with gold shimmer and a green flash? Hell yes. This is three coats and it had drying issues.
This is under fluorescent lighting.


Same color, lookit the flash!


Diva Gold. This was actually completely dried up, but the polishes were 2 to a pack and I really wanted the other color. I put some Poshe Reviver in it and let it sit a couple of days. Voila, revived polish. Too bad it's a butt ugly color. This is so not flattering on me.


Khaki Fringe. I'd lemmed this color for awhile, and was thrilled when I finally saw it at DT! Too bad I nicked this manicure minutes after finishing it. :/


Brown Aluminum. Meh. Grey-brown, and not in that trendy "greige" way either. It's alright. Nothing special.


Toasted Host. This one applied okay, but holy brushstrokes! I really am not a fan of frosty nail polish.


Plushed Plum. I really liked this one, a LOT. The color is good for my skintone, it's just out of season for summer. I could see myself wearing this a lot in the wintertime.


Jean Jacket. Brightish blue with some purple shimmer. This is really a gorgeous color.


I put my hand on my leg to see if it was REALLY the color of denim. It's pretty close! But my jeans don't have purple shimmery stuff in them. :)


And the lone Sally Hansen - Snappy Creme. Since "Creme" actually just describes the finish, should the name of this just be "Snappy?" I've wondered that. I like saying "Snappy Creme," but I also like being correct. Heh. Anyway, you'd think a polish called "Snappy" would be a little more, you know, snappy and less looks-like-a-paper-bag-y.

Random Picspam!

So, I'm way, WAY behind on both pictures and untried nail polishes. Good lord, these things (both of them) seem to just multiply... for no reason. My next sentence was going to be "We hit Ulta today, and..." Oops. I guess I just found my reason.

Anywho, most of the pictures I've yet to post can at least loosely be grouped together into semi-coherent posts. Today's post is the random stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else, and it's just been sitting in my Flickr for ages and ages, begging to be posted.

Picspam!

Here is Essie Turquoise and Caicos. I know I used this in a comparison post, but I'd never done a full mani of it. You know... I think Essie, as a brand, is growing on me. I don't hate it as much as I once did, anyway. I really, REALLY liked this color. I think I used three coats, since it's a jelly and a little on the sheer side.


This is Borghese Principessa Ivory. I was still on the hunt for the perfect off-white polish. This one was 75% off at CVS, and I figured I'd give it a shot for $2, ya know? It was streaky as hell, and I think this was like four coats. Must have been why it was on clearance.


This is Sally Hansen HD in Byte. It was okay. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Pretty sure this was three coats, since it was pretty sheer.


I liked this one! It's a Finger Paints color - Art Appreciation Apricot. I got it on clearance at Sally. It really was a nice orange-y shade (I never used to wear oranges or corals, but they're growing on me). I have no idea why I didn't take a picture of the polish by itself before slapping some Hidden Treasure on top, but I didn't. Anyway, I call these... nails... OF FIYAH!

Happy Fourth of July!

Also, happy 10-days-til-my-birthday! If I'd been born in France, my birthday would be a holiday.

So, here's my July 4th manicure. I wore this to a get-together my husband and I went to last night. We came home with a new kitten. I'm a sucker for baby animals. Our other two cats are... lukewarm towards the new kitty, at best. But we're working on it. We have sweet kitties, so I feel sure that with some patience we'll have them all hanging out together in no time!

Oh wait, I was gonna show you a manicure. Here you go! I used Zoya Blair for the red, unnamed Goldie blue for the blue, and I stamped the stripes from one of the Bundle Monster plates and the stars from another Bundle Monster plate using Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. I had to go back over the stripes with my Art Deco nail art polish in white, because the Sally Hansen wasn't opaque enough.


And check this out. This is OPI No Room for the Blues, which I found on clearance at Trade Secret. ALL of the bottles were marked with this price. I had to ask the cashier, "So, how much is this nail polish... REALLY?" (By the way, it was $4.99.) I should try to sell this on eBay for like $75. I mean, it was ORIGINALLY $120, so clearly $75 is a deal, right?!



And because I can't resist... here's a picture of our new baby. I've yet to choose a name. I really like Jezebel. I also like Dobby because she reminds me of a house elf, and the other HP house elves had stupid names. Also, Dobby was awesome. :)

Weekly post!

Man, I seem to have so little free time lately. But I'm still taking pictures of my hands every day, the pictures are just slow in coming. :D My apologies!

Sooo, today I have my last Zoya I got from the exchange in APRIL (yeeeah, I realize it's nearly July). This is Freja, which I thought I'd like but really didn't. Also, I had middle nail issues. I smudged it the first time around, then I redid it really quickly, which caused MASSIVE BUBBLING. Check it out. Also, I'm not sure why my cuticles look so icky in this picture. They're looking pretty good right now, actually.


So then I hated the bubbling, but didn't want to take off the polish. So I put Sally Hansen HD in DVD on top and I fell IN LOOOOVE.


You can see the duochromey goodness in this pic. :)


This one too!


I really hate that DVD is so sheer. But I really love that it layers so well and turns any polish into sparkly gorgeousness!

Random swatchery

Yo! Sorry I haven't posted in a week. I've been, uh, busy. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. Busy.

Lately I've been on a search for the perfect coral and the perfect off-white polish. I have no idea why. Those aren't usually "my" colors, but to be honest, coral is totally growing on me.

Sooo... today I just have some photos of some random polishes. There is no rhyme nor reason to this, just stuff I've worn lately and have never posted here. Enjoy! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more... I'm backlogged once again!

So I finally got around to wearing the last Zoya Sparkle. This is Gilda. Color me underwhelmed. To be honest, the only colors from this collection I NEEDED were Charla, Ivanka, and Mimi. The pinks and reds were just meh.


OMG. This was another polish I didn't like at all. This is OPI Fiercely Fiona from the Shrek collection. Okay. A) Terrible color for me. B) Three icky coats. I put this on, took a picture, and immediately took it off. Like, before it dried. Thank god it was only a mini.


This was an unexpected surprise. First of all, it's orange. Second of all, it's Petites, which is hit or miss, but you can deal with a miss if it only cost $1.50, right? I LOVED this color on me. I think this is what set me off in search of the perfect coral. As you can see, despite the fact that this is called "Passion Orange," it's really more coral than straight orange. I think this was three coats.


This was my first attempt at finding the perfect off-white. This ain't it. This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Beige Blast. Three coats, I believe.


Beige Blast alone was boring as hell and a little too sheer, so I Hidden Treasure'd it up.

More comparisons

You know you have a problem when you keep seeing dupish colors in your collection and yet you keep buying more nail polish. I'm hoarding for beauty armageddon.

Here are some taupes (and one brown).

From L to R:
Zoya Dea, Essie Mink Muffs, Orly Prince Charming, Sally Hansen Commander in Chic, and Maybelline Touch of Taupe.

They are in the same order on my hand, from thumb to pinky.


Dea is OBVIOUSLY way different from the rest. (One of these things is not like the others!) So here's a shot of just the four fingers.


As you can see, Mink Muffs and Prince Charming are similar, with Mink Muffs being just a titch darker. Commander in Chic is less brown and more grey. And Touch of Taupe is completely different, and I actually love this color for that reason. It's taupe without being just like every other taupe. And I got it for a dollar at the Dollar Tree. :)


Then I was looking at another mini from that Essie set, and thought that Angora Cardi looked a LOT like Butter London's Teddy Boy. They are quite similar in the bottle.


I just alternated fingers -- Angora Cardi is on my thumb, middle, and pinky, while Teddy Boy is on my ring and pointer fingers.


And in more direct lighting:


They are similar, but not exactly the same. Angora Cardi is more purple and a little deeper. I have no idea what to call this color. Mauve? I dunno. I do like it, even if it is a little boring.

So there you have it. I have one more post planned re: the asian beauty supply, but I probably won't post it til tomorrow or Saturday!