Sally Hansen

Pondering Pastel Polish and Painting Nails After Coffee: Talk to Me!

March 21st, 2019 by Karen 34 Comments

sally hansen mega strength boss gloss swatch — This is the *good* hand.

Unsolicited life tip #546: If you’re going to paint your own nails, DoNt dO iT rIgHT aFeTer yOUvE haD A MaSsIVe AmOUNt oF CoFfeE. ☕☕☕☕☕ Like, if the cup was as big as your head, refrain! — because sure, one hand may turn out OK, but the other one? Wonky-wonk.

I did it the other day, LOL! I was telling my friend Tatiana about it in the comments like, “Yeah…I just painted my nails high on coffee.” My left hand looked great because I’m right-handed, but my right hand? Whole ‘nother story.

That pic at the top are the good nails, HA HA HA! On the other hand, the middle nail is all patchy, and there’s a big lump in it.

I don’t even know how it got there. ?

Trust me — you don’t wanna see the other hand!

But you know, I was just happy to have my nails painted, because, believe it or not, once upon a time, I was the person who always had her nails and her toes done. If I were going out, I wouldn’t have dared to go without having my toes painted. Bare toenails used to be MORTIFYING for me, but time flies, life happens, things change… You pop out a kid, things happen. Now I’m overjoyed whenever I actually sit down and paint my nails, so I was absolutely thrilled (despite the wonky right hand) to have my nails did.

sally hansen mega strength shades — From the front to back: Top Coat, Boss Gloss, Her-Oine, She-Ro and Strengthener

The shade I’m wearing here is called Boss Gloss, from Sally Hansen’s new Mega Strength line. Side note: Did you know that Sally Hansen was actually a real person?! For the longest time, I just thought it was a name someone made up, but no. She was a businesswoman and led a *very* colorful life.

Anywho, nails… I did two coats of Boss Gloss with layers of the Mega Strength Base Coat and Top Coat.

About that, there are three Mega Strength colors on my desk right now — Boss Gloss, Her-Oine and She-Ro.

sally hansen she ro — Sally Hansen Mega Strength in She-Ro, along with the Mega Strength base and top coat

I wore She-Ro last week, and I loved the wear time (more on that in a sec), but the color didn’t really do anything for my soul (because that’s important). It’s a mid-toned purplish mauve… I like it just fine, but generally speaking, if I’m gonna wear purple on my nails, I prefer either an Easter-egg pastel purple, or something super intensely bold.

There’s no in-between when it comes to purples with me. Are you like that too with any colors?

Back to She-Ro again — the wear time was awesome! I had it on for a full seven days, during which time I only saw the smallest of chips at the tips until the evening of the seventh day…

Wow, that sounded like the start of a very foreboding tale! ?

And so it began… She was in the shower washing her hair when the edge of the polish at the base of one of her nails kept lifting up and catching on her wet hair…

GIRL, it was all downhill from there. I stood there under the water for gosh knows how long, peeling my nails off. (YOU KNOW YOU DO IT, TOO.)

sally hansen mega strength boss gloss her oine she ro — $5.99 each

Anyway, I’ve got those three colors on my mind right now, and if Boss Gloss and Her-Oine do well, then I’m gonna go back to get some more colors, because they also have some dark colors that look really pretty.

Other things nail polish related… I painted the Boss Gloss mani in the morning before going to my HIIT class later that night, which I think is one of the biggest tests for nails. If a polish can survive a workout with weights, that nail polish is LEGIT. I walked into the class that night thinking, “Aw, man, I just did my nails,” because, on any given day, there are barbells, dumbbells or kettle bells (ALL THE BELLS) involved, and handling weights will chip your nails quicker than you can say, “No way, lady, Keanu is MY BOYFRIEND.”

That evening, we used sandbags, which are the worst for chipping. We did this funky move called “the sandbag clean and press,” where you take a heavy sandbag, flip it over, and do a squat. So now I’m bruised all up and down my arms.

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Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish: 7 Days With Sally Hansen Color Therapy Bronze Reflection

October 26th, 2018 by Karen 15 Comments

sally hansen bronze reflection — Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Bronze Reflection ($7.99)

In the Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish series, I wear a different nail polish for seven days, and take before and after pics to document the condition of my paws over the course of the week!

I keep thinking that I’m going to run into a dud one of these days from Sally Hansen Color Therapy, because, hello! — when do you EVER find a nail polish line where every. single. polish. you try consistently delivers the goods?

This week was definitely NOT that week, because Bronze Reflection was one of the best-performing shades I’ve tried from Color Therapy so far. I feel like I say that every week about Color Therapy these days (hey, Karen broken record much?), but when something’s worth raving about, I’m gonna rave about it!

Bronze Reflection, which lists for $7.99, is all the things I’d expect to find in a Chanel cult nail color (except for price, of course). It has finer-than-fine micro-glitter, and it’s startlingly complex. Just like *that*, it shifts from pinkish bronze to a cranberry tinged with rose gold to a buttery yellow brass. It’s like all of the colors of autumn leaves squeezed into a bottle. And to top it off, you can wear it sheer — and it’ll look purposefully sheer, and not patchy or poorly pigmented — or you can go completely opaque like I did in these pics. It’s SO flexible.

Here’s how it held up throughout the week:

Day 1

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Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish: 7 Days With Sally Hansen Color Therapy Pink and Harmony

October 15th, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

sally hansen pink and harmony — Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Pink and Harmony ($7.99) is music to my nails.

Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish is a series where I wear a nail polish for seven days and take before and after pics to document the condition of my paws over the course of the week!

You know, there’s one thing that working for a top kitty supermodel over the past decade has prepared me for, and that’s the wrath of a toddler. If you don’t know, now you know. Demanding diva cats are just as, if not more than, temperamental than two-year-olds, and it’s a miracle this Sally Hansen Color Therapy Pink and Harmony manicure even made it through seven days on my nails, because I had to open this Doc McStuffins mini doctors’ bag at least 50 times every day!

Allegedly, it’s a toy for children, but they had me fooled based on how hard it is to open…

(Side note: Connor uses it to store the free stickers she gets from the cashiers at Trader Joe’s. She uses them as Band-Aids for Tabs whenever she “treats him.” It’s cute but kinda gross at the same time because the backs of the stickers are covered in tabby hair when she takes them off.)

Pink and Harmony is pure awesomeness, BTW, and it lasted just as long as Falling Deep, the last Sally Hansen Color Therapy shade I wore. At the end of the seventh day, there were absolutely no major chips around the base of my nails. That’s something that’s happened, um…never with a different formula before?!

And considering how I spent most of my waking hours last week prying open that plastic Doc McStuffins toy with my nails, I’m shocked there were only a few tiny dents at the tips.

I also love the wide brush and the fairly quick-drying formula (takes about 5 minutes).

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Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish: 7 Days With Sally Hansen Color Therapy Falling Deep

September 27th, 2018 by Karen 13 Comments

Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish is a series where I wear a nail polish for seven days and take before and after pics to document the condition of my paws over the course of the week!

I recognize that I talk a lot lately about Smith & Cult, but I have reasons! They last, and they’re super saturated, and they also have lots of colors I don’t see anyplace else, like grayish green Bitter Buddhist, an oldie but a goodie that still knocks the cat lady socks off my feet.

Problem is…Smith & Cult is well aware of their fabulousness, and they charge you like they mean it.

$18 a bottle.

But relative to Chanel ($28, wha!?) and Tom Ford ($37, OMG!), that’s a steal…except that it’s not, so what is else is out there?

Here’s something comparable that costs less than half (!) as much: I swear on Jeremy Renner’s makeup brushes that Sally Hansen Color Therapy Nail Polish is just as good as Smith & Cult.

There, I said it.

I’ve been wearing one of their new fall shades — a rich, dark reddish brown with bronze microglitter called Falling Deep.

I’ve been wearing it for the past seven days and, quite frankly, I am shocked by how well it held up. It withstood a family plague of three consecutive colds (first El Hub, then Connor and now me), typing 2,000 words in less than 48 hours, and it made it through a moms group get-together that I went to last night in which I awkwardly pretended to be an event photographer (more on this is a second).

“Sally Hansen’s Color Therapy Nail Polish gives you color that cares while you wear! Intensive nourishment for healthy looking nails and up to 10 days fade-proof, chip-resistant Wear. 9 out of 10 women experienced a noticeable improvement in their natural nails.”

— ulta.com

Falling Deep looks like a Smith & Cult or even a Chanel polish, but it’s only $7.99! And right now at Ulta the entire Color Therapy line is marked down to $4.79, which makes them a steal.

I sandwiched two layers of Falling Deep between the same Smith & Cult base coat and top coat I’ve been using throughout the “Desperately Seeking” series, and after seven days it still looks pretty good.

Day 1

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5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

September 21st, 2018 by Karen 38 Comments

sally hansen color therapy fall 2018 — New shades of Sally Hansen Color Therapy polish from the left! — Falling Deep, Bronze Reflection, Dusty Plum, Pink and Harmony, Cashmere Calm ($7.99 each)

1. These gorgeous nude Sally Hansen Color Therapy nail colors

I can’t decide what to wear for the next installment of Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish! Too many choices… I’m leaning toward dark burgundy Falling Deep, since I wore a pastel cream last week. What do you think?

2. MAC Cosmo Lipstick

Busted this out for the first time in months and remembered why I love it so much. This neutral pink with a hint of brown is a lovely everyday lip color, and it looks amazeballs with brown and taupe eyeshadows!

3. Kim’s Convenience

I found the best show on Netflix! In every single episode, there’s at least one moment where I have to hit pause and scream to nobody in particular that “SERIOUSLY, THIS SHOW IS BASICALLY MY LIFE.”

I’m not Korean, and my parents never owned a grocery store (they’re both retired accountants)…and I’ve never lived in Toronto (Bay Area strong!), but the family stuff rings so true growing up Asian with immigrant parents — ESPECIALLY the miscommunication and how the family members express their love for each other. I’ve laughed and cried my way through both of the seasons on Netflix. It’s the most authentic show I’ve ever seen about growing up in an Asian immigrant family, but it’s also just good. Very witty, funny writing IMO.

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The Day in Beauty Vol. 22: A Sofa Search and a Meeting With Prince Char-Mint

July 16th, 2016 by Karen 36 Comments

Good morning, gorgeous! Happy Saturday to ya. I hope you woke up with a big smile on your face.

I’m smiling at the moment because I’m looking at freshly painted nails.

YEAH!

I just did my paws with Sally Hansen’s Miracle gel in Prince Char-mint because, obviously, I needed another mint polish in my life. LOL! I’m all about those mint shades.

Prince Char-mint is from the seven-piece Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Summer 2016 collection. There are some pinks in the collection, a peach, a couple of reds, and this bright and cheerful creamy mint, which I’m all about.

I talk about the Sally Hansen Miracle Gels all the time (sorry) because you know I love them. They’re a fantastically good deal for $10 each, so if you’re ever, like, just kickin’ it at the drugstore, looking at candy, emergency ice cream or greeting cards, and you decide that you want to treat yourself to something in the beauty aisle, but you don’t want to spend all of your lunch money on a single nail polish, they’re great. They dry quick, too (about 10 minutes), and last about a week before chips (which is good for me).

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Pre-Fall Ulta Haul!

September 16th, 2015 by Karen 27 Comments

What the world needs now is 1) love, sweet love; 2) free pumpkin spice lattes (I finally had my first one of the season yesterday, and it was so good that I felt myself float out of my body and fly toward the sun, OMG!); and 3) more lady-dates.

MOAR LADY-DATES.

You know what a lady-date is, right? It’s when you go out with a friend — ideally, someone who likes makeup as much as you do — for coffee, snacks or what have you, and then, ya know, if you happen to wander into someplace where lipsticks and eyeshadows are available for perusal…so be it. 🙂

I went on one a couple weekends ago with my friend Marisol. We had acai bowls, then paid homage to our homeland, also known as Ulta.

Here are the things that came home with me that day.

It was mostly a nail-centric visit, because my nails have been very crabby lately (they’ve been splitting, boo), with a sprinkling of skin care and body care, and a dash of makeup for good measure.

PRODUCTS MENTIONED

As always, thank you again for watching.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Freshly Painted Purple Paws: Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Boho-a-Go-Go

September 8th, 2015 by Karen 12 Comments

My nails did NOT wake up like ‘dis. I went to bed last night with two fresh coats of Essie Bell-Bottom Blues on my fingers (along with a new base and top coat combo I’m trying, Sally Hansen Green Tea + Bamboo Strength and OPI Top Coat), but apparently I didn’t give the whole thing enough time to cook properly, because I woke up this morning to a mess of smudges and scratches.

Honestly, I should’ve known better. It was kind of dark in the living room where I did my mani, and I was bone tired, too. I was ALSO watching the season finale of Mr. Robot, so I wasn’t paying much attention to my nails (are you watching that show, BTW?).

Anywho! First thing this morning I took the whole mess off, then later today at my desk I busted out this here deep purple Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Boho-a-Go-Go.

So, these Miracle Gels, if you haven’t tried them already, are fan-friggin-tastic. The gel formula cures using the ambient light around you, so you paint your paws with a couple coats of whatever Miracle Gel color you’re in the mood for, then pop a layer of Miracle Gel Top Coat on top, then wait about 15 minutes for the whole thing to dry. They last on my claws from 8-10 days, which is nothing short of miraculous (hahaha) for my paws (I put them through a lot).
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