Wear Test: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Skinny Jeans

Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips are so adorable and high tech, I just had to try them.  (And by “them” I mean I picked up a few designs, including the whole Halloween collection!  Yay!)

I chose Skinny Jeans, a dark blue pattern that resembles the texture of denim.  The nice thing about these is that they look solid from a distance and match any outfit, but have enough texture to keep them looking interesting and not like regular nail polish.  Application was a cinch – I’d say it probably took me 40 minutes to do both hands.  That might sound like a long time, but keep in mind that you avoid messy cuticle cleanup, the stench of nail polish fumes, dry time, and the risk of doing a messy job.

This is how my hands looked after 5 days.  They don’t look bad at all except for that major chip around the pointer cuticle of my left hand (it got snagged when I was shampooing my hair).  I could have worn these longer, but I’m really finicky about chipped nails.   The package promises wear of “up to 10 days” so I was satisfied with 5.  I think after 10 days I would get sick of them; I have nail polish ADD!

Sally Hansen real nail polish strips, I found, are a major pain to remove.  I had to scrub at each nail with my acetone remover for about 5 minutes each!  True, that speaks to the sturdiness of the product, but it also dissuades me a little from using them again.  But I’m sure I will, because, again – cute AND high tech!  I got lots of compliments when I was wearing these, even from men who don’t usually have nail polish on their radar.

Have you used Sally Hansen’s nail polish strips?  What do you think about them?

~ Allison ~

Makeup Tutorial Using Maybelline Forest Fury Palette

It’s been a long while since I’ve done a tutorial so I figured I’d carpe diem.  I’m using a Maybelline eyeshadow palette called Forest Fury.  There are very mixed reviews about this palette out there but what can I say, I’m on a palette kick and I’m a sucker for greens!

Today we’ll be creating this look.  Click through to read more!

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2 L/E Sally Hansen Insta-Dri’s – Teal-y Fast and Bronze Ablaze

I snagged these polishes at my local Walgreen’s for about $5 a bottle.  They are from the Insta-Dri Fall 2011 collection.  Normally I don’t bother with this line because the colors don’t call my name, but these I had to get.

Teal-y Fast (groan, that name) is a richly pigmented teal foil.  This applied like buttah in two coats.  The photo below is in indirect sunlight.  Although there’s a hint of a purple duochrome effect in the bottle, it doesn’t translate to the nail.  I don’t mind though because this color is so scrumptious.

And bright, direct sunlight:

Bronze Ablaze also applied wonderfully with no muss.  It’s a rich metallic bronze, really the quintessential fall shade.  The wrinkling you see on my ring finger is not from Bronze Ablaze, but from my Seche Vite which I slopped on too thickly methinks.

True to their names, these dried in a flash and would be perfect for a quickie manicure when time is short.

~ Allison ~

OPI DS Bold & Temptation For Fall 2011

Here are the latest OPI DS polishes for Fall 2011, two glitters in red (Bold) and purple (Temptation).

Bold is a pale silvery pink glitter in a red base.  The base is darkly tinted so it builds up nicely on its own.  While this polish is OK, I’m not really thrilled about it.

Temptation is a deep purple glitter with specks of blue and silver in a blue base.  I found this to be the more appealing of the two since I’m a sucker for purples.

Apologies for the non-existent cleanup – that glitter did not want to budge from my skin.  That was a turnoff.  Maybe I was just having a bad polish day, but I couldn’t for the life of me get a clean gap.  Although these colors are OK, I don’t have too much to say about them.  The glitter was very gritty and needs about 2+ layers of topcoat to even out.

I purchased these up from Ricky’s (an NYC beauty retailer) for $9.99 a bottle.  What are your impressions of this new DS series – will you skip them or scoop them up?

~ Allison ~

Two Sinful Colors Greens

Here is a comparison of two greens by Sinful Colors.  I got these at my neighborhood Rite Aid for about $1.99 a bottle.

Show Me the Way

What a stunning color!  Sinful Colors Show Me the Way is a golden green with a glass fleck finish.  It is so alive and glowy!  I used 3 coats here.  Although the nail line is pretty visible in these photos, it wasn’t in real life.

HD Nails

HD Nails is a cooler-toned green pearl. Application was buttery smooth.  This is three coats.

This one really comes alive in bright sunlight.  I added black tips, too, with Wet N Wild Creme Black.

~ Allison ~