Sally Hansen

The New Long-Lasting Sally Hansen Poolside Paradise Miracle Gel Nail Polish Collection: This Mirror-Like Shine Makes Lounging by the Pool More Fun

June 15th, 2015 by Karen 7 Comments

My version of a poolside paradise typically includes some combination of the following…

Trashy mags, and US Weekly is a fave.
Strangely, I only read it when I’m at the pool…
Iced tea.
One of those oversized fluffy beach towels that are so big that I can wrap them around my torso twice.
Because I’m not about that tiny towel life. Even when it’s 95 degrees outside, I’m always freezing when I get out of the water.
Sunscreen, obvs.
A bathing suit that stays put even after multiple cannonballs (learned this lesson the hard way).
Cheapie sunglasses, because who wants to stress out over losing or breaking their favorite pair of expensive sunglasses at the pool?
A shiny mani/pedi combo, ideally in bright shades like the ones from the new Sally Hansen Poolside Paradise Collection above, because despite the lack of verifiable scientific evidence to support this, I think they make your cannonballs more cannon-bally.
Seriously, they totally do.

I wore two of these Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polishes last week on my trip to New Orleans (creamy yellow Morning Sunshine on my toes and creamy leafy green Lip Palm on my paws), and they were all it took. Now I consider myself a card-carrying member the Miracle Gel cult.

Wait — do the Miracle Gels actually have a cult??

If they don’t, they totally should. These nail polishes are…

Long-lasting
Playful and bright
Easy to apply
And affordable

All of which add up to “drugstore gem!”

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When Halloween Spirits and Team Spirit Collide: The Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Fast Dry Nail Colors in Pumpkin Queen, OMGhost, Night Fright and Scaredy Matte

October 27th, 2014 by Karen 32 Comments

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Colors from the left: Night Fright, Pumpkin Queen, OMGhost and Scaredy Matte, $5 each — The Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Colors from the left in Night Fright, Pumpkin Queen, OMGhost and Scaredy Matte ($5 each)

In line at Target last Sunday afternoon…

GIANTS SUPER FAN LADY WEARING HEAD-TO-TOE ORANGE AND BLACK GIANTS GEAR: “I like your Giants nails!”

ME: “Oh! Thanks!”

ME (INSIDE VOICE): I probably shouldn’t tell her that I know nothing about baseball…or that this is actually a Halloween-inspired mani.

GIANTS SUPER FAN: “That offense in game four…”

ME: “…nothing short of amazing.”

ME (INSIDE VOICE): What the hell am I doing?

GIANTS SUPER FAN: “How about that Sandoval?”

ME: “Right!? Amazing!”

ME (INSIDE VOICE): Change the subject, change the subject, change the subject…

GIANTS SUPER FAN: “I hope he gets over that stomach bug soon.”

ME: “Me too. Tummy troubles are the worst!”

Awkward pause…

ME: “You should totally do a Giants mani to match your Giants gear.”

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Color in Pumpkin Queen — Clockwise from my thumb: Night Fright (glossy black), Pumpkin Queen (glossy orange) and Scaredy Matte (matte black)

GIANTS SUPER FAN: “I’d love that! But geez, I don’t have time to paint my nails.”

ME: “These Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Nail Colors would be perfect for you then. They only take five minutes to dry.”
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Take the Leap With Dive In, One of Sally Hansen’s New Triple Shine Nail Polishes

December 3rd, 2013 by Karen 9 Comments

I felt like I needed a break from the mostly dark, moody colors I’ve been wearing so much on my nails lately (my last mani was Urban Decay’s glittery dark green stunner, Zodiac), so this morning I painted my paws with a bright greenish blue from the new Triple Shine line by Sally Hansen.

The Triple Shines are billed as uber-glossy, and that’s definitely the vibe I’m getting from Dive In, one of 29 shades in the line.

It’s probably more of a summery color than winter (wintry?), but I couldn’t resist. I’ll just call it Christmas peppermint. 🙂

The brush it comes with is nice and wide, so it covers a lot of surface area on my nails. I also how relatively quickly it dries. By no means is it quick-dry, but it was in pretty good shape after about 30 minutes. Not bad.

With Dive In, I need three coats to get a nice, solid block of color because it’s a touch streakier than I would’ve liked. Still, it’s pretty darned cute for five bucks!

If you, too, want to take the leap and Dive In, it’s available now with the rest of the Triple Shine Line for $4.59 at drugstores, grocery stores, Target and online.

Three coats of Sally Hansen Triple Shine Nail Polish in Dive In

Pair It Up: Kick Your Summer Makeup Repertoire Into High Gear With Matching Lips and Tips

June 13th, 2013 by Karen 27 Comments

Five of summer’s must-have lip and tip combos

This summer inspiration is brought to you by Target. Find more fun and surprises all season long on Target’s #SummerUp Pinterest board.

Lounging languidly beside any pools this summer? Planning any barbecues at the beach? Don’t forget those all-important warm-weather essentials like your swimsuit, big floppy hat, sunscreen, cooler filled with drinks and snacks, and of course, your matching lips and tips. 🙂

Some among us may argue that those last two items aren’t summer fun essentials. Either way, I sure do love bright nails and lips this time of year, especially when they match!

Gotta get that quick burst of color from your fingers as you write your name in the sand, or blow kisses into your camera phone as you snap a quick selfie to send to your sweetie (“Wish you were here, boo!”).

I searched high and low for a few fun, affordable combinations to wear this summer and combed through countless contenders (a tough job, but someone had to do it) to come up with the following five trendsetting color combos.

You don’t have to pay Dolce & Gabbana prices to look fashionable and fab. These five lip and tip pairings are available now at Target stores and online at target.com.

Look 1: Fruit salad

L’OREAL Colour Riche Le Gloss in Peach Fuzz ($5.99) and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Lickety-Split Lime ($3.80); Xhilaration Neon Floppy Hat ($14.99)

This juicy combo with lime green nails and lush peach lips begs to be worn with umbrella drinks and on lazy days by the pool.

Look 2: Playful purple

Revlon Super Lustrous Gloss in Sugar Violet ($5.99) and COVERGIRL Outlast Saty Brilliant Glosstini in Purple Freeze ($2.99); Mossimo Purple Fedora ($14.99)

Nothing says “fun in the sun” quite like shiny purple tips and shimmery violet lips.

Look 3: Think hot pink

Pixi Tinted Brilliance Balm in No. 1 Unique Pink ($16) and Pixi Nail Colour in Summer Pink ($8); Merona White Floppy Hat ($14.99)

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Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas: Crazy Cat Lady

October 25th, 2012 by Karen 36 Comments

Granted, I wear my crazy cat lady costume 365 days of the year, but for the purpose of a last-minute Halloween costume, I feel like I need to put in a little extra work to truly get the message across. 🙂

This costume draws inspiration from a crazy cat lady action figure I found a few years ago at the bookstore.

See, homegirl’s got the right idea. Why bother to put on real clothes when the cats just ruin ’em anyway? LOL!

To start, I grabbed my bathrobe and pinned a few stuffed cats on it. FYI, you need a minimum of three kitties, because the third cat is the gateway cat. It’s the crucial part of the puzzle that takes you from a mere “casual feline enthusiast” to full-blown CCL.

Then I put my hair up in rollers, put on some crazy, bright and glittery makeup…

crazy cat lady costume — On my eyes I’m wearing the 29 Purple Glitter Pencil from the new Sephora Jumbo Liner 12HR Wear Waterproof Set as an eyeshadow base and a mix of the purple and multi-colored glitter liners from the Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner Set as eyeshadow

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The Effects of This Venomous Vixen Wear Off Fast: The Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Venom Vixen

October 8th, 2012 by Karen 43 Comments

True, I could give myself a manicure the old-fashioned way, brushing on a base coat, carefully coating each nail with two (or sometimes three) layers of polish and finishing with a clear top coat to seal the deal, all the while hoping that a stray strand of tabby fur doesn’t fall on my handiwork before it dries, but these are modern times.

The future is now! — and in it, I’m wearing nail polish stickers. 🙂

sally hansen venom vixen — Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Venom Vixen

Yup, that’s right. Nail polish stickers, like these Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. Each $9 (or thereabouts) kit comes with 16 pre-printed strips in various sizes, a cuticle stick and a miniature nail file/buffer — all the fixin’s for a futuristic, laquer-less manicure.

Talk about handy (haha! — sorry, bad pun), and lately, they’ve been saving my butt.

Stylish nails on the go

Before my quick trip down to Southern California last week, I had every intention of painting my nails, but time got away from me, and I had to head to the airport with bare claws.

But I couldn’t bear the thought of interviewing Too Faced Cosmetics Co-Founder and Creative Director Jerrod Blandino with naked nails, so at the last second, right before darting out the door, I dropped a set of Sally’s dark red and black snakeskin nail polish strips (codename: Venom Vixen) into my overnight bag.

It’s one of four snakeskin-inspired sets for fall. There’s also a tan and brown one called Queen Cobra, a black and gray one called Snake Charmer and a green and black one called Hiss-Terical (I love those names!).

sally hansen salon effects fall 2012 — From the left: Queen Cobra, Snake Charmer and Hiss-Terical

Ye olde airport bathroom test

I had some time to spare before my flight and still really, really wanted to paint my nails, but I wasn’t about to attempt that at the airport. I did, however, think I might be able to apply Sally’s nail polish strips.

And I did! Standing at the sink in the ladies’ room! 🙂

At one point, a woman using the sink next to me asked, “What are those? They look pretty cool.”

“They’re nail stickers,” I answered. “You stick ’em on bare nails, and then press them down, and file or just tear off the edge.”

They’re basically like nail polishes in sticker form, and when you’re ready to remove them, you can use regular old nail polish remover.

They took about 10 minutes to apply under less-than-ideal circumstances. Not bad. And the best part? — not having to wait for them to dry.

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What Are You Wearing On Your Nails?

September 18th, 2012 by Karen 38 Comments

I’m wearing the limited edition Sally Hanson Rock of Ages Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Fingerlace Gloves ($9.99; check drugstores for availability), which strutted on to counters earlier in the summer with seven other patterns inspired by the movie Rock of Ages.

Salon Effects are pre-cut, printed nail stickers that you apply to clean nails for an instant manicure with a glossy finish. To remove ’em, just use regular old nail polish remover and a cotton ball or pad.

It was pretty easy and only took about a half hour to do both hands. The stickers do seem to run big, so if you have small hands like I do, you may need to trim down a couple of the strips to fit your nails.

The box says the mani can last up to 10 days. Hmm! It’s only been two, and I already have a few chips. I’m pretty hard on my hands, though. It might be different if you aren’t typing or opening cans of gravy all day. 🙂

What about you? What are you wearing on your nails?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Making Nail Art Easy with Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

July 4th, 2011 by Karen 44 Comments

Written by Betty

What do you do when regular nail polishes can’t keep up with your creative side? Nail polish blogger Betty shares one idea in today’s guest post.

Skeptical of nail polishes that claim to last as long as 10 days or more. How about nail stickers that make the same claim? I recently took the plunge and gave the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips (that was a mouthful, wasn’t it?) a try.

Available in a wide range of interesting patterns, like leopard, zebra, butterfly, plaid, stripes, and a selection of solid colors, too, they usually retail for about $10, or thereabouts, at stores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Wal-Mart, Target and CVS. These strips, which are made out of real nail polish, are supposed to look more real than other stickers, and most of the time, when I spot one of the displays, it’s usually empty.

I hope that means they’re pretty good!

The pattern I chose is called Fly With Me. Let’s see how it works…

Here’s what I found inside the package: a note with semi-vague directions (in three languages), a small cuticle/orange stick, a small pink file/buffer with two different grits and 16 nail strips. Pulling away the tab at the end of the strips exposes the adhesive side.

So, 16 strips? But we only have 10 fingers. I suppose 16 is an amount that both ensures that each box is suitable for a single manicure, while also providing some extra strips to accommodate mistakes and different sizes of nails.

Honestly, I think I’d prefer getting 12 strips per box instead of 16 if it meant being able to lower the price by a few bucks. As these are now, they aren’t very kind to a college student’s budget. A polish bottle at a drugstore costs a few dollars less and can last for dozens of manicures, but, of course, these come in some very cool patterns.

See how I think? Haha! Not to worry. Stay tuned for a way to make these strips last for TWO manicures, which certainly helps.

Before we begin…

Let’s buff down the ridges on our nails. The directions suggest using the dark pink half of the included buffer, but I find it way too rough on my nails and and use my own buffing block instead.

Ensure that you’ve created a smooth canvas upon which to work. Not a requirement, but these strips are thin and extremely unforgiving to ridges, exaggerating and emphasizing every bump. While we’re at it, let’s also even out the length of our nails.

Next, let’s wash our hands and nails. From what I’ve read, we needn’t apply a base coat here because it can reduce the longevity of the stickers.

It’s very, very important that our hands are warm when we apply. I know it might sound silly, but I tried to apply another set of nail strips once in a room with a fan on high. My hands were cold at the time, and the adhesive on the stickers refused to activate. They just kept falling off. From my experience, warm fingers and nails give the best results.