ABC Challenge: S - Sally Hansen Sugar Cloud

Self-purchased

Sally Hansen Sugar Cloud is an enchanting sky blue texture with pink to gold shimmer running throughout. Since it was sheer, I decided to do a gradient to show how each layer looked like. At the cuticle is 1 coat, the middle of the fingers shows 2 coats, and the tip shows 3 coats. The formula was great and easy to apply. The textured finish materialized very quickly. Unlike many other textured polishes that usually dry to a "smooth" texture, Sugar Cloud had a rough, sugary one when it dried. No top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle 

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (Original Version)

Self-purchased

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (Original Version) is an awesome electric blue creme. It's SO bold! I can't believe I waited so long to wear it! D: Unlike the typical electric blue creme (i.e. Nails Inc. Baker Street, the one that started it all), Pacific Blue is a tad dusty, but is still a great alternative at a great price. I used 2 medium coats, but it could have been a one-coater if applied thicker. It was very pigmented so I was glad I had the foresight to use two coats of base coat to prevent staining. The formula was thin, but not runny. However, because of the long brush stem, the polish tended to run down onto my nails if I didn't make sure to remove the excess from the stem. Application was still easy because the polish just glided on. Just like other electric blue cremes, Pacific Blue does have an odor to it. There is nothing wrong with the polish - it's just the nature of the blue pigment that was used. Surprisingly, it dried shiny, but I still used top coat to lengthen the wear time. I expected it to dry satin or matte, which is the common finish of bright/bold colors.

Unfortunately, Pacific Blue (Original Version) was reformulated into a cobalt blue shimmer back in June. If you can't find the original version online or in clearance bins, then you can easily find dupes! Some dupes I can think off the top of my head are Nails Inc. Baker Street, Essie Butler Please, Sinful Colors Endless Blue, and KBShimmer Low & Be Bold (which I prefer to Pacific Blue [Original Version]).

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Sally Hansen Lava

Self-purchased

Sally Hansen Lava is a multichrome that shifts magenta, orange, and yellow. I love how prominent the shift is. It's sooo fiery and gorgeous! I am appalled that I waited so long to wear it! (Much thanks to my friend, Millie, for persuading me to wear it!) This little one is definitely back-up worthy. I used 3 coats, but I'm not sure if I even needed that third coat.  Lava was super reflective so I couldn't tell if I had any patches or not on the second coat, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. Plus, the third coat intensified the shift. ;) The formula was wonderful as it was easy to apply and control. Honestly, there's nothing bad to say about this polish. It dried with a nice shine, but I still used top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

KBShimmer Totally Tubular + Sally Hansen Fairy Teal

Self-purchased

KBShimmer Totally Tubular (index and middle fingers) has blue, red-violet, and turquoise glitter in a teal crelly base. I used 3 coats. The formula was good, but just a tad thin. I had to dab a bit to get the bigger glitters out, but didn't have much trouble doing so. I recommend setting the polish upside-down before using it in order to get a lot of glitter on each application. It dried satin so I used top coat.

Sally Hansen Fairy Teal (ring and pinky fingers) is a dusty, deep teal creme. I used 2 coats. The formula was great! It was very pigmented and applied easily even with the big paddle brush. I think the paddle brush goes well with curved nails because I've never had problems using it. A word of caution: this one stains badly! Definitely make sure to use at least 2 coats of base coat. It dried shiny, but I still used top coat. I'm not sure if Fairy Teal is in the revamped Complete Salon Manicure line, but I think I remember seeing the same or similar color the last time I was at the drugstore.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Revlon Whimsical + Sally Hansen Barracuda

Self-purchased

Revlon Whimsical (index and middle fingers) has rosy pink, sky blue, and iridescent glitter in a very sheer, pale blue base that's greenish. It's so, so pretty! I already knew Whimsical was going to be extremely sheer when I purchased it so I wasn't disappointed when I wore it. I used 3 coats. The formula was good and easy to control. I needed to dab a little in order to get the bigger glitters out, but it wasn't a big deal. :) It dried shiny. With top coat.

Sally Hansen Barracuda (ring and pinky fingers) is a wispy sky blue creme. I used 3 coats. The formula was really good! I found it easy to apply and control the polish even with the huge brush that the Complete Salon Manicure line is notorious for. It dried shiny. With top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Essie Mint Candy Apple + Sally Hansen Bold Gold

Self-purchased

Essie Mint Candy Apple is a blue-mint creme that pulls more blue on me. I used 3 coats. The formula was good, but slightly thin and runny. However, I didn't have any problems with the application. It dried shiny. No top coat.

Sally Hansen Bold Gold has gold and black hex and bar glitter in a clear base. I used 1 coat. The formula was pretty terrible. It has a thick clear base and the glitter was a bit sparse so I had to dab it on my right hand. The dabbing created bubbles so I decided to sponge it on my left hand. It was easier, but still fairly difficult. The bar glitter was longer than average so I had to move them around so they would fit on my small nails; fortunately, they aren't stiff so you can make them lie flatly. In short, this glitter topper was annoying to apply straight from the bottle. I would definitely pass on it. It dried slightly gritty. With top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Essie Playa del Platinum + Sally Hansen Golden-I

Self-purchased

Sally Hansen Golden-I (index and middle fingers) is a cool-toned gold foil. I used 4 coats in case it showed up patchy on camera, but I could have definitely gotten away with only 3 coats. The formula was great and easy to control, which I find standard for many of my Sally Hansen polishes. It dried very reflective. With top coat.

Essie Playa del Platinum (ring and pinky fingers) is a sandy grey/greige creme. I actually really like greige (a word blend of "grey" and "beige") - it's a shame I don't have more of them! I used 3 coats; the first coat was sheer so I used medium thick coats on my last two. The formula was thin and watery, which made it troublesome to apply. I definitely had to do some cleanup. It dried shiny, but I used a fast-dry top coat to make sure all the layers dried properly.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Sally Hansen Limestone + Candeo Colors Melonball

Sally Hansen Limestone

Limestone is a lime green creme and was opaque in 3 coats. The formula was thin and somewhat watery. The first coat applied sort of sheer. It doesn't level that well either. However, it did have a nice dry time and dried with a nice shine.

Candeo Colors Melonball

Melonball has "medium sized matte pink squares and hexes, small matte coral hex, large red matte hex, and small matte green hex scattered with a few large glowing rose copper hexes". It is a Llarowe exclusive, but I got it from a blog sale. I layered 1 coat over Sally Hansen Limestone. Unfortunately, I don't think I got any of the rose copper hexes. :( Such a shame! Melonball was easiest to apply when a good amount of glitter was on the brush because it prevents much dabbing. Though the square glitters weren't as easy to pick up as the smaller glitters, fishing wasn't necessary. Since the base was neither thick nor thin, Melonball wasn't hard to apply. It oddly dries to a matte finish so I used a topcoat. It was slightly gritty when it dried, but the glitter was well-behaved and laid flatly on the nail. Dry time was slow. 

Description from Llarowe. You can purchase Melonball from Llarowe.

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Happy New Year! With a Jelly... Cupcake? + Swatches

 

Let's start off this new year with a gobsmacking jelly cupcake!

For this jelly "cupcake", I used the following:

2 coats of Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac as my base

1 "coat" of Spoiled Trust Fund Baby

2 coats of OPI My Pointe Exactly over the glitter

Manicures like these are normally called "jelly sandwiches", but for some reason this concoction reminds me of a pretty, yummy cupcake. So "jelly cupcake" it is! (Lighting was not liking me so the jelly cupcake looks very grey and icky.)

Now that's much better!

Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

Lacey Lilac is a pretty lilac creme and takes 2 coats to become opaque. Though it's a pastel, there wasn't an overboard of white in its base. It's not chalky at all and very wearable. It had a great formula as it was easy to apply, albeit a little thick. Still very manageable though! It dried with a nice shine and had a good dry time. When I need my pastel fix, I'll turn to this little one. (And my roommate might too since she likes pastels...)

Spoiled Trust Fund Baby

Trust Fund Baby contains small blue, yellow, and black hexes and small magenta square glitter. I tried applying this one in coats, but the glitter went on too sparsely. The dabbing method works best. There's way too much clear base in this so it took a while to dry and bubbled a little. The bubbling wasn't too bad, though, since you could only see it up close. On the plus side, it dried to a smooth finish. Trust Fund Baby, which is part of Spoiled's core collection, is a dupe of the Limited Edition Wet 'n Wild Beautiful But Dangerous. In my err, I bought the Wet 'n Wild from a blog sale, and while waiting for the package and being bombarded by Black Friday online deals, I got this Spoiled online from CVS. It wasn't until I opened the blog sale package that I realized I accidentally got the Spoiled dupe too! (So much for an Excel chart of my collection! ...But more glitter for me!)

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Sinful Colors Seaweed

Sinful Colors Seaweed

Seaweed is a light, murky olive-grey and is opaque in 2 coats. (Now that I look at it again, perhaps 3 coats may be best). I really like Seaweed, though it is one of those shades that people either love or hate. Anyways, the formula was a little thick and did get a little stringy, but it's not too bad to deal with. It dried surprisingly quick for a somewhat thick polish! Once it dried, it had a nice shine. 

Seaweed was part of the Adventure Island collection, which had dupes of OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides. Seaweed is a dupe of OPI Stranger Tides, Essie Da Bush, and Sally Hansen Creamy Olive. (These were the only ones I could think of off the top of my head.) Fortunately, I have Creamy Olive and was able to do a comparison between the two polishes, which you can see below.

Index and ring: Sinful Colors Seaweed. Middle: Sally Hansen Creamy Olive.

Both polishes are very similar to each other, though Creamy Olive is a little lighter. If you have one, then you don't need the other. If you don't have either, then I recommend getting Creamy Olive. The formula was wonderful, applied like butter, and dried to a smoother-looking finish, though it still takes 3 coats to become opaque and has a paddle-style brush (which many people don't like). Creamy Olive is also relatively easy to find (last I checked). 

No more posts until Friday (probably). My ochem class is (FINALLY) ending and I have an exam and lecture and lab finals coming soon. x__x

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- Michelle

Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue

Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue

Thinking of Blue is an indigo creme that is opaque in 2 coats. It has a little purple (making it a true indigo) that you can't really see in the picture. The formula is great and it applied very well. Thinking of Blue dried fairly quickly and very shiny. Since it was so saturated and such a dark blue, I was worried that it would stain. Fortunately, there was no staining upon removal! Color me impressed! :D (No pun intended.)

With all the bright colors and glitters I've been seeing lately, I really needed a break! A dark-colored polish seemed like the perfect choice. (I also have a thing for dark-colored polishes. I can't wait for all the fall and winter collections to come out!)

What colors do you prefer? Brights or darks? Or maybe some sparkle? :D

- Michelle

Sally Hansen Lady Luck

Sally Hansen Lady Luck with top coat

Lady Luck is a dark fuschia glitter with holographic hexagonal glitter and takes 3 coats to become opaque. Lady Luck dried quickly, but dull and bumpy. It took 3 top coats to become shiny and hydrated. Unfortunately, it was still bumpy even after all those top coats. The formula was great. I would say the formula was easy to work with, but the stem of the brush was too long for my tastes and made it slightly difficult; the polish would flow down the stem and pool onto my nails if I didn't take enough off the stem. I would not pass up Lady Luck, though, because it's a very pretty polish.

Lady Luck is a part of the permanent Sally Hansen Gem Crush line.

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M

Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! + Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada

Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!

Blue Me Away! is a very pigmented, bright blue creme and is opaque in 2 coats, but could have easily been a 1 coater. It dried relatively quickly and very shiny. The formula was great, easy to work with, and applied like butter even though it has been in my collection for a couple of years already and is separating a little. The only issue with Blue Me Away!  is that it stains (because of how pigmented it is). You definitely need at least 2 coats of base coat!

Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada

Pinata-Yada-Yada is full of multicolored hexagonal glitter in a clear base and dried smoothly. It is one of the many dupes of Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, which I unfortunately don't have to compare. Judging from ThePolishAholic's comparison, it seems like Pinata-Yada-Yada's glitter is much richer in color and of a different shape. I prefer the richness of Pinata-Yada-Yada, which, sadly, did not translate onto the nail. You see more of the silver glitters than the rich yellow, red, and magenta glitter. Like some glitter top coats, you have to dab Pinata-Yada-Yada to get a sufficient amount of glitter on your nails, and, as such, took a while to dry. I'm a bit disappointed with this pinata, but I got it when Ulta had a buy-2-get-2-free deal on their nail polish and I still have a Happy Birthday from Milani. (See what I did on both polishes? ...Okay, I'm sorry. Just trying to be witty. :( )

I will be studying for my exam, finals, and lab practicum this weekend and during next week. Which means... Only 5 (not including next week) more weeks of ochem!!! YEAH! Then I will be able to post consistently again! :D I miss painting my nails~

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M

Sally Hansen Without A Stitch

Sally Hansen Without A Stitch

Without A Stitch is a yellow-toned beige creme and is opaque in 3 coats. It is not at all stark and dries with a nice shine. The formula was extremely creamy and easy to work with: it was thick enough to be opaque, but flowed easily. Dry time was good. 

I have read that people have problems with Without A Stitch, but I believe it's because of the brush, which people either love or hate and really affects the application of the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line polishes. The polishes from the CSM line themselves are superb, with great, opaque formulae. However, the paddle-styled brush (which I love) can send blobs of paint onto your nails if you aren't careful and is friendlier with wide nails.

Unfortunately, Without A Stitch was released as part of the Spring 2011 collection and is no longer easy to find. Don't you guys hate it when good polishes are part of seasonal collections?

*I used Without A Stitch as the base for my fade away nude and black manicure, which you guys can check out here!

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M

Sally Hansen Creamy Olive

Sally Hansen Creamy Olive

Creamy Olive is a greyish-olive creme that takes 3 coats to become opaque and dried to a nice shine. The formula was great as the polish flowed on nicely, though I needed a third coat to cover some blotches and was a bit thick. The dry time was alright, nothing special. I loved the brush since it was able to pick up a good amount of polish so I didn't have to go back and again to pick up more as I was polishing. I bought this lemming on clearance and I could see a little separation in the polish. The slight thickness that I encountered was probably because the polish was a little old. However, I'm still very happy that I was able to get my hands on this little one! ^_^

*Creamy Olive is a dupe of OPI Stranger Tides, Essie Da Bush, and Sinful Colors Seaweed. I only have Seaweed of those three dupes and, I have to say, I prefer Creamy Olive because the formula is sooo much better. 

On another note, I'm really sorry about the lack of posts. I had finals and a little summer break. Now, I'm doing an online histology class in order to get ahead of a lot of people and get more credits. After that, I'm going to have another little summer break before I take ochem at a university. Then I make the long journey to my college, move in, and start another grueling school year. x__x Posts may become irregular as posting every day is sometimes a pain and I haven't been very inspired to write these posts lately. :( On the bright side, my dad got a new camera and I will be able to use it! The quality is very good, but I'm still learning how to take good pictures with it.

Please stay tuned because I bought some really nice polishes around two weeks ago! I'm sure you guys will be pleased!

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M

Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty

Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty

Yellow Kitty is a yellow creme and is very sheer, requiring 4 coats to become opaque. She is one of my first polishes in my collection and this is why I baby her. Other than how sheer Yellow Kitty is, the formula was fine. It wasn't runny or hard to apply and it dried to a nice shine. Contrary to what's seen in the picture, Yellow Kitty is much softer, does not have a greenish tint, and has a tendency to look stark against my pale skin. I think she's much prettier in real life. Yellow Kitty is part of Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure line and I know many people do not like the brushes in this line because of the paddle-like design. I love it, though, because I believe it makes application much easier for me. However, it sometimes puts too much polish on my nail, making it hard to control.

Yellow Kitty's story: I saw a swatch online of a very pretty banana yellow polish. I found out that it was Yellow Kitty and went out to buy it. This was before I knew of the world of swatches and how yellows usually have bad pigmentation/opacity. I am still on the hunt for a pretty, pale banana yellow. However, I will always baby Yellow Kitty. (Probably because I adore cats too!)

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Strengthener in Clear

This is my first time using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Strengthener. Before, it was Color Club Nail Base Strengthener. After a while of using that, my nails became brittle and weak. It also has a tendency to peel after my hot showers and manis don't last very long if I use it as a base so I swtiched to the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Strengthener. My nails are so incredibly shiny and are much stronger now. I love it! I regret not switching sooner. This is my third layer of it (I apply it every other day) and there has been no peeling after my hot showers. I also notice that it is much harder to cut my nails because they are so much harder and thicker now. I am still trying this strengthener out; at the end of the week, I will take the layers off and take a picture of my nail to see how healthy or unhealthy it is. I can't wait to see the results! :)

I have always been satisfied with Sally Hansen and this product lives up to (well, more than) my expectations. I bought this at the Ulta store for $2.89. (Great price, huh?)

P.S. This picture is from my newly-made light box. I'm sooo excited to use it for my swatches/NOTDs!

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M