Friday, September 10, 2010

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear New Releases

You may recall that last week I said I'd scooped up six of the ten new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears when I spotted the display. Today I have swatches of those. I also once again have shorter nails, because Mr. Peelies is still giving me trouble.

Let's start with Purple Fiesta. Of course I bought this one—both purple and fiestas make me happy. It's a deep plum shimmer with a smattering of holo glitter in a mix of shapes, including bars. Unlike a lot of polishes, I can see where this one got its name; the base is indeed a shade of purple, and the random glitter looks rather like brightly wrapped candy that's fallen out of a piñata onto the floor. If one leaves off top coat, as I do for swatches like today's, it's even bumpy like floor candy. As pretty as the base color is, and as much as I like blingy glitter, I am unconvinced that the two should have been combined like this.





Moving on, we have Blue Icing, which I think they should have named Frosty Blue Fiesta; it's a light blue shimmer with the same sort of glitter as in Purple Fiesta. I see this as an updated version of some of the old SH New Lengths polishes which had silver glitter buried in brushstrokey frosty base colors. I should swatch some of those sometime so you can see them.





Golden Child, a.k.a. Golden Fiesta, is a golden yellow frosty shimmer with the same glitter as the first two. Or maybe not quite the same; it didn't seem as holo-y, but maybe that was just due to the lack of contrast between the glitter colors and the base color.





These three polishes show that there's a reason almost all glitters have a clear or jelly base; shimmer and frost compete with the glitter and cover up some of it, and when the glitter is sparse to begin with, that's not a good thing in my opinion. Maybe they were going for a deconstructed look a la Deborah Lippman. If you like this sort of thing, it's also available in two other colors, Cosmic Blue, a royal blue shimmer, and Cherry Punch, a red shimmer. Since those are darker base colors than Blue Icing or Golden Child, they might be worth a look, since Purple Fiesta is the best of the three I got and it has that darker base.

Moving on to something completely different, here's Concrete, a purpley greige creme. What this is doing in the same collection with the shimmer glitters, I do not know, but I'm glad it's there because it's lovely. The other creme in the display is Plum Burst, a bright purple creme, which I might end up getting at some point because you know how I am about purples.



Purple Gala is purple, yes, and packed with so much small glitter in gold and several shades of purple that it's almost a foil finish. This one is very blingtastic in a tasteful way. There's a red in the collection that looked to have a similar finish, though without the gold glitter; that one's called Fireberry Red.





Finally, I have my favorite in the collection, Mystic Lilac. It's a greyed lilac creme that leans a bit toward the jelly end of the spectrum, but the really special thing about it is the green shimmer. I know that sounds sort of awful, but it's not. It's awesome. It's Demure Vixen in Outer Space.





Mystic Lilac took three coats; the others were all two. While the shimmers with glitter are not so much my thing, I really like Concrete, Purple Gala, and Mystic Lilac. Which are your favorites from this collection?

16 comments:

  1. I still haven't found these around me :( I really want Mystic Lilac and Purple Gala. The other glitter ones look so weird to me, like it was something I would try to franken and consider a fail lol. Maybe they are better in person?

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  2. I love Blue Icing. I really like the mix of glitter in it

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  3. Jen, they've just started showing up around me; I saw a full display that had just been put out at Rite Aid yesterday, so I bet you'll see them soon. And yeah, the bar glitters are very odd to my eye.

    Twister, ah, the bar glitters are for you, then. :)

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  4. Top 3? NO.

    Bottom 3? An emphatic YES.

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  5. awesome!

    http://konadnails.blogspot.com

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  6. I agree with you! The last three are gorgeous!

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  7. hmm, I saw these, but I totally looked over that concrete and mystic lilac, I have to go back tonight and get those, they are stunning!

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  8. I am still hunting these down, but I am not interested in the bar glitter ones at all. They are weird! The last three are great!

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  9. Now that you have shown it, I want to get Mystic Lilac. Pretty!

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  10. I'm so mad that I can't find any of these. Some of them are so pretty.

    And floor candy was always the best candy at the party. The thrill of reaching between the tromping feet of other children to get it made it all the more sweeter.

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  11. Concrete is pretty,along with Purple Gala,and Mystic Lilac.

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  12. I go for purple fiesta. It doesn't seem quite purple to me, but still it is an interesting color. Nice review!

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  13. Ooooh - love Concrete and Mysic Lilac! Purple Gala is a close 3rd as well. Thank you!

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  14. I think some of the glitters look like coconut icing on snowballs! Which... is making me hungry!! LOLZ. There are some great colours in there - I think I want at least 3 of them. I hope they come to Australia soon. Thanks for posting these.
    BV

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Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.