Bargain Shopping: Sally Hansen Crushed Metal Kit

Since this is THE weekend for bargain shopping in the US, I think it's appropriate to share these Sally Hansen Crushed Metal swatches today (yes, in a rare weekend post—the holiday has even my relaxed retirement schedule all messed up), as I bought this kit only after I saw it on clearance. I passed on it when new because I wasn't sure I'd like the finish and heaven knows my stash is a monster already. But at a bargain price? Well sure, that was worth taking a chance. I chose the rose gold though as I recall, Ulta also had the silver and gold in their clearance bins.



The kit comes with three bottles: Dual Base & Top Coat, Crushed Effect Coat, and Chrome Lacquer. They're applied in that order, circling back around to the first bottle at the end.



I thought it was interesting that the instructions on back recommended the foil method for removal ... only years after it was popularized in the nail polish community online.

The Crushed Effect Coat in step 2 goes on smooth and pretty; just after application it looks like any other slightly milky base.



As it dries, the texture appears, but since it's got no color to contrast with anything, it's a bit hard to see the crackling.



When the chrome color goes on, the pattern really shows up. I liked this way more than I expected to; it's interesting and different but in a way that's subtle.





I wanted to compare them to some other "odd" finishes. I pulled out Finger Paints Sea Temptress from 2014's Enchanted Mermaid collection, which was billed as having a "mermaid tail" texture. I also grabbed one of the China Glaze Crinkled Chrome shades, I'm a Chromantic, as well as NYC Crackling Effect Top Coat in City Treasure and Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup in Pure Chrome to see if I could achieve a similar effect to the Crushed Metal by layering polishes.



Top to bottom below: Crinkled Chrome (I remain unconvinced that glitter belongs in chrome, especially bar glitter), Crushed Metal (still liking it), Enchanted Mermaid (age has not improved its lumpiness), and the regular chrome layered over crack (which sort of worked, but it seems the Crushed Metal crackle coat is also a chrome smoothing base coat so provides better results).



Another view:



Now I'm wishing I'd grabbed the other shades of Crushed Metal, too ... maybe I'll see them again in a bargain bin and can scoop them up.

Nails of Recent Days on the Road

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know I've been off on another trip. Mr. K and I spent a little over two weeks making a big loop from our home in Idaho, driving down to Utah, Arizona, and California before returning this past Sunday night.

I put on a set of nails from imPress the night before we left. I used a design I'd worn before called So Unexpected, which pairs matte dusty rose nails with accents in a silver and rose geometric design. I had these on when we took in the amazing scenery of Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon.

This is Bryce:



This is the Grand Canyon:



These are my nails at the Grand Canyon:



A week into the trip, I'd had only one nail come off (twice ... I think that means I abuse that finger more than the other), which I easily reattached with a thick treatment basecoat. My nails had clearly grown in that week as evidenced by the gap at my base, but given the subdued color of them, it wasn't too obvious.



Rather than file my nails down and put on another set of the same length, I went with a Kiss Glam Fantasy set in a longer length and more rounded shape for the next part of the trip. I didn't see a name on the box; the nails are shiny solid white with two accent types: iridescent white and iridescent tiny glitter.





These were the nails I was wearing while we were at Disneyland Resort; I didn't get any photos of them there even though I took lots of pictures there, including this one of the teacups at the end of one day:



I've had these on ten days now and they're still looking pretty decent, though the iridencense has mostly worn of of those acccents. I've had to reattach three of them along the way, which wasn't surprising since I've previously found the Kiss adhesive tabs don't work quite as well for me as the imPress.





This shape doesn't cover my natural nails as well as the more squared ones but it still does a good job of protecting my natural tips. I'm not sure why I don't have as big a gap at my base with these after over a week as I did with the imPress set. I suspect I was able to place them closer to the base to start with since they were longer; it could also be that the adhesive on these is more flexible so the nails can move more and somehow self-adjust.

Wheel C12: Yellow Cremes from Bright to Browned

Back to yellow cremes for Nail Wheel Wednesday. These are little out of season now that winter is making itself known around here, though there are still a few yellow leaves hanging around and plenty of yellow tamarack needles carpeting the ground. Not that worrying about my nails being seasonally appropriate is something I give much thought to.




1. Studio M Bus Buddy (3 coats) [dries matte, as per the sticker on the cap]
2. OPI unknown mini (3) [code on bottom is NIG09, but all my Googling shows that as Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights, so not sure what this is)
3. OPI You're Grounded (3)
4. Butter London Pimms (2)
5. Hearts & Glass Rebel Yellow (4) [this is a bit jelly-esque]
6. L'Oreal Banana Pop (2)
7. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Butter-fly Stroke (2)
8. Cover Girl Glossy Days Glosstinis #GetGlowing (3) [hint of jelly-ness in this one]
9. SinfulColors Chick Chick (3)
10. Cherimoya Matte.n.a Popcorn (3) [super smelly, almost a two coater despite its jelly-leaning formula]
11. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Gold Glass (4) [definitely a jelly]
12. American Apparel Manila (2)
13. Color Club for Soak Lizzy House Meyer Lemon (3)
14. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch (2)
15. Pure Ice Vintage Glam (2)
16. Butter London East End (2) [dries satin, which I didn't expect]
17. Beautifully Disney Broken Arrow (2) [for Pochahontas]
18. Butter London Bumster (2)
19. Andreia Pocket 130 (2)
20. Sephora by OPI Neutral Beauty (2)


Bottles 1 through 5:



Other side of the Hearts & Glass bottle:



6 through 9:



10 through 12:



13 through 16:



17 through 20: