Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips - Kitty, Kitty

Happy Sunday, everyone! Man, this weekend seems to have flown by! Hope you've been enjoying it! Today, our kickball team plays in the playoff games! Pretty exciting that we've come this far!


Today I wanted to show you my first attempt at the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips that I used for Halloween. For Halloween, I decided to go as the "Crazy Cat Lady". The costume itself seemed easy to put together, but I was racking my brain trying to figure out which polish would be perfect to wear. When I was at Wal-Mart the day before my Halloween party, I came across the Sally Hansen Salon Effects display and noticed they had these cheetah print strips! For $8, I thought it was worth it to see what all the hype was about. Ok, confession: I actually bought 2 packages of these, just in case I really messed up and needed to open another package. But the good news, is I have an unopened package that I can use when I want a fun, frisky, quick manicure! :-)


Now that I've applied them and worn them for more than a couple days, I feel that I can give an honest review about them. First, application was pretty easy! You literally just match up a strip to the nail that would fit it the best. It's better to be a little big than too small because you can always "trim" the extra off. I had no problem with the sizing of the strips. But I will say, don't even bother saving any of the unused strips, because after they've come out of their safety-sealed packaging, they're only "fresh" for a short while. 


I was able to get about 4 days wear out of them before I decided to remove them. Actually, I probably could've gotten longer wear out of them, but I just wanted to change my polish. I did not use a base coat when applying these. Instead, I cleaned my nails very good with Zoya Remove + and waited a couple of minutes for them to get nice and dry. Also, I did not use a top coat after I applied these, either. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I should or not, but I definitely didn't need to. Once they were on the nail, they were on good! 


I would absolutely buy these again for special occasions. They'd be perfect if you were going on vacation and wanted a long-lasting manicure. Or, if you had a special event (wedding, dance, party, etc.) that you wanted a fresh looking, chip-resistant manicure for. I will say, I used strips with a design on them, so it allowed for me to make mistakes without anyone noticing. I'd want to practice a little more before I tried using a one-color strip.

Have you tried the Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips? Or, have you tried another brand of strips? If so, what did you think? Would you try them again?


Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips retail for around $8 and can be purchased where most drugstore brand polishes are sold (Walgreens, Ulta, Target, Wal-Mart).

There's no place like home! Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - "Downtown Rubies"

Happy 235th Birthday, America!

I hope you've been enjoying your holiday weekend! My weekend has been pretty low-key, but I'm not complaining! I could totally get used to these 3-day weekends! And as a bonus, that means only a 4-day work week ahead!


Yesterday, while at Ulta, I found Sally Hansens Complete Salon Manicure "Downtown Rubies" for $1.99. This particular Ulta moved their clearance section to the middle of the store, and it was a little more organized than their usual clearance section. Of course, I went straight to the nail polish tray. I saw only 2 SH's, and bought them both (this, along with "Touch of Mink"). For $1.99 (normally $7.99 at Ulta) each, I felt that was too good to pass up!


So in honor of America's birthday today, I decided to try "Downtown Rubies" as my holiday mani. I have to be honest, while painting my nails, I kept picturing the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy clicks her ruby red slippers and says, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home..." My nails look like little ruby slippers!


I really love the Complete Salon Manicure line from Sally Hansen. I like their handle, their brush is nice (but takes a little getting used to) and their formula is high quality. This polish was a little "goopy" and thick, but it wasn't hard to work with on the nail. I did get frustrated when I kept dipping the brush back in the bottle. Because the brush is a little larger than most, I had to make sure I placed it back in the bottle carefully, so that I didn't make a mess with the polish on the rim. 


Have you used a SH Complete Salon Manicure polish before? What did you think? What's your favorite color from that line?




Application:
Deborah Lippmann 2 Second Nail Primer
1 coat of Seche Clear Base Coat
3 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Downtown Rubies"
2 coats of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Sally Hansen's "Forbidden Fudge"

Happy Friday, everyone! I don't know what the weather's going to be like this weekend where you live, but here in St. Louis, it's supposed to be fairly nice; just a little bit of rain, but NO SNOW! On Sunday, it's supposed to get up to 79*! Woo hoo!!!!

I decided to take the day off today and run some errands and get a few things done around the house. While I was out getting some odds and ends, I checked out the nail polish aisle at the local drugstore. I'd say I probably browsed the nail polishes for a good 15 minutes. It's so nice to not be rushed and be able to enjoy shopping for nail polish and make-up! Anyways, I checked out the racks and found the Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle in "Forbidden Fudge". For less than $5, I decided I "needed" it. I also purchased a couple other SH's and a "Pure Ice". I've never purchased any SH's (other than a Prism polish many, many years ago), and I had never even heard of "Pure Ice" before today. So, today was a day of trying and buying new things!

I chose to use "Forbidden Fudge" tonight. It's a beautiful brown-copper sparkle. Having never used SH before, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I liked the brush, but it certainly took some getting used to. The brush itself reminded me of the new Nicole by OPI rounded, "nubby" brush. However, this brush was much longer (the plastic stem that connects the bristles to the handle). Each time I took the brush out of the bottle, it seemed like a ton of polish came along with it. Even after I scraped the excess off on the inner rim of the bottle, it still seemed to have a lot of product with it. That worried me at first, because the last thing I wanted was super-thick coats leaving bubbles. But guess what? No bubbles! The polish was very easy to work with, and applied pretty effortlessly. No complaints at all. In fact, I'm kind of anxious to try other SH polishes now! That, too, worries me, because once I find a brand I like, I get "obsessed" with it and over-buy (have you seen my OPI polish collection below? Enough said.).

Oooooh, before I forget, I want to tell you about another "first try" tonight - China Glaze's "Fast Forward Top Coat". I recently read on The PolishAholic's website that Jen (the owner of the blog), was a big fan of this top coat. She also mentioned liking Seche Vite and Poshe. I've been using SV for about 7 months now, and she didn't give the Poshe a very high rating, so I thought I'd try the CG to see what I thought. I purchased it a few night ago, and tried it for the first time tonight. Very, very impressive! Yes, it dries quick, but it also doesn't bubble (like I've found with most/all of OPI's top coats). The best part about this top coat, is it's 3-Free (unlike SV)! That was my only gripe with SV (that, and the fact that it does cause shrinking) and a big reason I was open to trying a new top coat. So, I think I'm making the switch going forward and will use the CG "Fast Forward Top Coat"! I should also mention that it does, like Jen @ The PolishAholic also claims, stink to high heaven. But it doesn't bother me enough to stop using it.

Without further adieu, here's "Forbidden Fudge":

Application:

OPI Chip Skip

1 coat of OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula

2 coats of Sally Hansen's "Forbidden Fudge"

1 coat of China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat