Sally Hansen Salon Effects Perfect Manicure Nails

Two posts in one week? Believe it! Of course I had to try the Sally Hansen fake nails. The brand I have the longest relationship with comes out with a type of product I've been all over in recent years? A few sets were in my shopping cart so fast. I tried an oval set first, in the solid "creme" color Beet Pray Love.

 

These come with both glue and adhesive tabs. I used the tabs. The fit was good for me. The base curve and the c-curve of these matched my natural nails fairly well, and the length was long enough to cover my natural nails in the length I like to keep them without being so long that I felt the need to clip and file them.

 

That first set held up nicely, and I didn't have any more pop-offs than with any other brand, so I tried another oval set next: Ombre-lievable, which is a gradient French mani look. Again, I used the adhesive tabs.

 

These did not hold up well. Three days after I'd put them on, the white on the tips was wearing off and looked bad. I took them off days before I'd planned to.

 

More recently, I tried a square set, What a Star, which has dusty rose stars scattered on a pale pinky peach base color.

 

These did not fit my nails nearly as well as the ovals. The length was too short in most cases (and my nails are not long right now), leaving a gap at the base (yes, I could have filed my natural nails down, but I didn't want to lose that length. The base was too square and wide to fit the curve at my base. These are very square indeed.

 

I haven't tried the coffin or almond shapes yet, but plan to when I come across them again. I won't do the squares again; those just aren't a good fit for me.

Wheel B11: Glitters from Sally Girl

Today's Nail Wheel Wednesday features glitters from Sally Girl, from the time before they changed to the square bottles. Some of these could be mistaken for indie crelly glitters.



(coats as noted below plus clear topcoat)

1. Sally Girl Vanilla (3 coats)
2. Sally Girl Vanilla (3) [same name as #1 but different number; there are two more pairs like this on the wheel, from what I believe was a re-release of a Christmas collection in different years, I see slight differences in glitter coverage between the pairs but they're essentially the same shades]
3. Sally Girl Butta (3)
4. Sally Girl Trapeze Artist (3)
5. Sally Girl Bubble Gum (3)
6. Sally Girl Sugar Cookie (3)
7. Sally Girl Sugar Cookie (2)
8. Sally Girl Peppermint (3)
9. Sally Girl Peppermint (2)
10. Sally Girl Cherry Chip (2)
11. Sally Girl Fresh as a Daisy (2)
12. Sally Girl Petal Pusher (2)
13. Sally Girl Mulberry Affair (3)
14. Sally Girl Grape (2)
15. Sally Girl Grape Sherbert (2)
16. Sally Girl Chocolate Chip (2)
17. Sally Girl Mint Chip (2)
18. Sally Girl So Re-Leafed (2)
19. Sally Girl Mint (2)
20. Sally Girl Blueberry (2)


Bottles 1 through 4:



5 through 9:



11 through 15:



16 through 20:

Last Displays of 2015

With the year quickly drawing to a close, it's time to fit in one last display post. Today I've got a mix of the last few things I saw in Michigan before I left and what I spotted on my first official display hunting trip in Idaho last week. Some of these are holiday displays I probably should have made an effort to post earlier; some look more like spring releases out early.

At Fred Meyer in Idaho, I saw the Essence Mountain Calling display. When I got to it, there were three polish colors left: Snow Alert, Let's Climb Mount Beauty, and Today is Fun Day. I relly wish I knew what other ones there were ... this is a perfect collection for me right now, what with just having moved to a mountain.



In the core display for Essence, they had Nail Candies, which I hadn't seen before even though I don't think they're new to Essence. Left to right: Peachy Keen, Sweets for the Sweet, Always in My Mint, empty slot for Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, Oh Lolli Lollipop, Soda Pop & Candy Shop, Like Love Birds, A Hint of Mint.



FingerPaints holiday offering is 'Tis the Season to Sparkle, which thank goodness isn't all glitters or I would have had to buy them all. Left to right: Golden Glaze, Tinsel & Tidings, Romanesque Rouge, Vintage Vincent, Be Merry & Sparkle, Sterling Sculpture.



I first saw the L'Oreal Mad for Plaid display at Bed Bath & Beyond in Michigan; I also spotted it at Fred Meyer in Idaho last week. This has seven cremes and a golden metallic: Classic Check, Plaid Please, Regal Red, Schoolgirl Chic, Tartan Teal, Bundled Up, Navy Knit, Pop of Plaid, and Feeling Kilty.



At a Walgreens in Idaho, I saw a different new L'Oreal display, Bohemian Beauty. This looked to be seven cremes and a glitter, but it was hard to tell as it was on a high shelf. I had to hold the camera over my head to get the shot. Left to right: Sunkissed Silver, Boho Babe, Peaceful Pink, Radical Rose, Flower Crown, Blissful Blue, Totally Turquoise, Gypsy Glitz.



The only place I've seen the Orly Infamous display is at Sally Beauty. There are six shades in this one, only five of which my store had when I got there. Front row: Frenemy, 15 Minutes of Fame, Gossip Girl. Peeking out from behind the front row: Scandal, Front Page, empty slot for Makeup to Breakup (dark dusty teal blue creme).



Walmart is once again part of my display hunting rounds now that I'm in Idaho because it's one of the only chain stores that carry polish in the small town closest to me. They have Pure Ice Shine with Gel Tech, which is that brand's version of the no-light gel system with color and a special topcoat. I didn't take the time to document what the shade names were because it was two days before Christmas and just being in the store made my head hurt with all the chaos around me.



At Bed Bath & Beyond in Michigan, I saw the Revlon Love is On display with new core shades: Stunner, Romantique, Adventurous, Vivacious, Hypnotic, Irresistible, Desirable, Passionate. I later spotted it at Ulta as well.



The Sally Girl Winter Wonderland display with scented nail polish and remover pads was still on the counter at Sally Beauty as of last week. Four polishes here: Pine Tree (red shimmer, for some reason), Vanilla (silver glitter), Peppermint (red glitter in white base, that makes sense at least), and Sugar Cookie (red and green glitter in light tan base).



Sally Hansen has apparently reformulated Complete Salon Manicure (again? seems like they've done this before). Now it's got keratin. The relaunch display, which I saw at Ulta, is full of what I think of as "muggle colors" from the existing core collection; I mean, I wear them sometimes, but they're pretty tame. Front row: Clear'd for Takeoff, Plum's the Word, Raisin the Bar, So Much Fawn, Shell We Dance. Back row: Red My Lips, Ruby Do, Wine Not, Pat on the Black, Pink Pong.



These new Complete Salon bottles have two numbers on the top; not sure what that's about.



Ulta also had a display of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel, touting it as "new & improved". These new shades are much brighter and more interesting on the whole than the Complete Salon repromotes. Front row: Pink-terest, Electric Pop, World Wide Red, Byte Blue, Let's Get Digital, Digi-teal, Gigabryte. Back row: Head Bang, Scarlet Starlet, V-amplified, Motley Hue, Punk-ish Purple, Rock On, Stilettos & Studs.



On my last trip to Meijer before we left Michigan, I finally saw the Studio M holiday display, 'Tis the Season. Most are core or reissues, but there were a handful of new shades. Top row: Red-ical Gypsy, Gingerbread, Blue Funk, Flurries (new), Hot Cider (new), Gold Mine (new), Baldwin Blues, Kaleidoscope. Second row: Party Girl, Slammin Red, Trinket (new), Sexy Siren, Jingle Jangle, Sex Symbol, Slammin Red, Sparks Fly. Third row: Holiday Splendor, Antiquated, Sparks Fly, Berry and Bright, Mamba, Glitterati, Drama Queen, Holiday Splendor. Bottom row: Poparazzi, Lust, Northern Lights (new), Magnetism, Purple Medallion, Love Light (new), Savoy Nights, Wish Upon a Rockstar.



Ulta had the limited edition Whim winter collection in a separate section of the core display. There are ten shades in this group: Cocktails & Fairytales, Blush & Bows, Sapphire Slipper, Dreaming in Glitter, Moonlight Moments, Sage of Innocence, Sheer Embrace, When the Clock Strikes, Thyme to Celebrate, Let's Cuddle.



That's it for now; pretty short for a display post, but I suppose that makes sense since it's only been about a month since my last one. I expect we'll be awash in spring displays soon; I hope I can get out there and catch them before they get picked over. I'll be interested to see how quickly things move here versus back in Michigan.

Sally Girl Circus Spectacular Collection

I scooped up all four colors from the Sally Girl Circus Spectacular display that showed up at my Sally Beauty last month. left to right: Circus Clown (warm pink), Fire Breather (magenta), Trapeze Artist (purple), Human Pretzel (turquoise).



I did Skittles swatches of these shimmers with scattered glitter. From top to bottom, it's Circus Clown, Fire Breather, Trapeze Artist, and Human Pretzel. Human Pretzel was the odd polish out; it had a similar shimmer plus glitter finish but was a lot more sheer. I used four coats of it to three for all the others, and it was still showing obvious nail line.





I also tried them over a black creme base, adding one coat of the Sally Girl colors plus topcoat and getting effects that reminded me of a night sky (might also be a good base for galaxy nails). These are in the same order as above. I was somewhat surprised that the pink and turquoise looked so similar over black; seemed likt the only difference was the density of the shimmer.





My experiments continued with gradients. Top to bottom: Clown plus Fire plus Trapeze, Fire plus Trapeze plus Pretzel, Trapeze plus Pretzel plus Clown, Pretzel Plus Clown plus Fire. You may notice some very slight bumpiness here because I didn't stop to add topcoat before admiring these.





I did eventually tear myself away long enough to add matte topcoat before putting my hand back into the lightbox.



There's a lot of fun packed into this small collection of small bottles. They can be worn on their own (well, maybe not Human Pretzel), layered with each other, and layered over various base colors. These are similar to the Funky Fingers You're the One That I want collection, but I like these better since the formula is thinner and a touch easier to work with and the mix of shimmer and glitter gives more to look at than the consistent microglitter of the Funky Fingers. Thank goodness I can keep both collections, though.

There's enough variation in what individual Sally Beauty stores carry that I'm sure some still have these polishes in stock; I know for sure that they're on the Sally Beauty website as of the time I am typing this. At 94 cents each with their club card, they're an affordable indulgence.

*****
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Core Displays Continued

A couple weeks ago, I shared some core displays at Ulta, and today I have more core stuff from there and CVS and Sally Beauty.

At Sally Beauty, they've changed the shape of the Sally Girl bottles to square them off. They're still mini size.





I did not take shots of every row with every polish name; I'm bold, but not that bold (you can see how close to the register this is, what with the SA standing right there). The curious thing about this change is the two limited edition groups I've seen since it was made were both in the old bottle style, with the flared top, like the Sweet Candy Dreams ones. Maybe they prepare those collections way ahead of time?

I like the Sally Girl bottle change; the wider bottom should make those more stable to work with. I do not like that the Salon Sciences products have disappeared from the shelves at Sally Beauty. Instant Artificials is my go to base coat, getting slicked on over whatever treatment I'm using at the time, which is sometimes Starting Over After Artificials (despite not having had artificial nails). Most stores are completely out now, not even having the little plastic trays on the shelves pictured here.



It may be just a coincidence, but at around the same time the clear pink Instant Artificials disappeared, a clear pink FingerPaints Nail Strengthener showed up. I don't plan to try it until I've used up my existing stock of IA (of course my nail plans are pretty much always subject to change).



OPI is now in the "gel polish without a light" business with the Infinite Shine Gel Effects Laccquer System, which I've seen at Sally Beauty and Ulta. Here they are at Sally Beauty, with the fancy but not so great for photos (or actually looking at the polish) backlit display.



Here's the display at Ulta:



There are thirty colors here, plus the Primer (base) and Gloss (top) coats (it's a "system", remember), placed in the displays from number 1 (Pretty Pink Perseveres) in the top row uppper left through 30 (You Can Count on It) in the bottom row lower right.



Ulta has these priced at $12.50 per color, $19.95 for the pack with Primer and Gloss. I don't know that I'll be trying these anytime soon, since the products I use now last as long as I need them to, and I like to be able to mix and match my base, color, and top coats.

If you want a more expensive gel look polish, Butter London Patent Shine 10X has arrived at Ulta for $18 a bottle (.4 oz. vs. .5 oz. for the OPI). This doesn't seem to be a system, though it is shelved next to the Patent-Gel Top & Tails set that's been around a while.



There are fourteen shades here, mostly "muggle friendly" colors. I don't feel a burning need to grab any of these, especially at that price point, even though they don't seem to need a special base or top coat. Again, I don't need longer wear, and none of these colors really call out to me.



The Spoiled line is out of CVS, making room for a new brand, Pop-arazzi, which has cute black and white polka dotted caps (except for the two that have dropper caps). There are 64 shades (including clear) plus bases, tops, and treatments. They're $2.99 or 2 for $5.



Top row: One Step Prep, My Tips Are Sealed, Mind Over Matter, Sticky Situation, Fillin' Smooth, Flash Forward, Insta-Shine, Too Cute-icle.





Second row: Hit the Goldmine, Pageant Girl, Star Shine, Never Too Rich, Seeing Sparkles, Perfectly Peacock, Sparkle-fetti, Yin Meets Yang.



Third row: Love All, Lime-ousine Ride, Tropic Tango, Fuchsia in Show Biz, I Want to Be Royale, Head Over Teals, Sapphire Desire, Pick You Up at Seven.



Fourth row: Clearly Thinking, City Sparkle, Icing on the Cake, Pretty in Pearls, Quiet on the Set, So Cheeky, Sugar Spun, Toes in the Sand.



Fifth row: Short But Sweet, Watermelon Spritz, Living Coral, Spice is Nice, Shell Me More, Surf n' Turf, Emerald Ice, Money Honey.



Sixth row: Mauvie in Night, Lovely in Lilac, In Your Dreams, Orchid Crush, You're a Gem, Down the Runway, The Hue is Blue, Just Beachin'.



Seventh row: Frosted Fairytale, Wink Wink, Blushing Beauty, Kiss Ya Later, Call Me a Cab, Razzy Baby, Meet Me Downtown, Mind Your Manners.



Eigth row: Bronze Metal, Carmella Latte, Reddy Set Action, Retro Delicious, Info Red, Starlet Fever, Leading Lady in Red, Crimson Couture.



Ninth row: Cinna-Ya-Mon, Midnight Maven, Break His Heart, Auto-Graphite, Don't Need No Romeo, Curfew, Glam Factor, Going for Gold.



The bottom row has a nai art set and a French manicure trio:





I did buy some of the Pop-arazzi colors; when I will get around to swatching them, I have no idea.

Of course there have been more new non-core displays popping up, so I'll have those in my next display post.