Every time I make a trip to Target I always find myself perusing the beauty aisles regardless of whether the item I came in for was in that area or the other side of the store. My favorite place to look in the beauty section is the end caps nearest to the walls. That’s where they put all the cool, new nail polish.
On a recent trip one of these end caps held a few baskets of new Sally Hansen nail polishes. A few nail art inspired ones caught my eye, mostly because I was curious to see if they would actually work. I love trying new things, and if these polishes worked, then they would make any DIY nail polisher’s life that much easier.
So here are my reviews of three make-your-life-easier nail art nail polishes by Sally Hansen.
Product: Luxe Lace™ in Ruffle (840)
Claim: “Lace fabric-inspired effect.”
What I Was Expecting: I thought the applicator might have some sort of textural difference that when you swiped it across your nails gave the look of lace.
Use: After doing a test swipe and seeing that it was nothing more than one of those top coats with specks of confetti (in this case 2 sizes of solid black confetti) I decided to use it over a coat of Sally Hansen’s Gray by Gray (a blue-gray color) in hopes that it would make the effect look better compared to bare nails. I also dabbed on 2 coats of the polish as recommended.
Results: It’s a normal confetti topcoat that I honestly do not think looks like lace.
Final Word: While it certainly doesn’t live up to the hype, it is a nice topcoat effect in general. With the gray I used it kind of reminds me of marble or granite.
Product: Big Peel Off Base Coat™
Claim: “Instantly peel off any hard to remove nail polish, revealing a healthy nail without the fuss.” Also “dries quickly.”
What I Was Expecting: I had heard of using glue as a base coat for glitter polishes so I suspected it was something similar.
Use: I painted a thick layer on my bare nails, as instructed, and waited for it to dry transparent. In hindsight I wish I had been more careful about making sure it was evenly thick, and also not letting it pool in my cuticles, as that caused it to chip easier later on. I then used glitter polish on top.
Results: I wouldn’t say it dried quickly, but maybe I was being extra careful. I’d say it took roughly seven minutes. I am happy to report it was very easy to peel off and my nails didn’t have that “poor me” look like they normally do when I pick off my polish (guilty as charged!).
Final Word: This is a must for glitter nail polish or anything similar. Normally I have to scrub my nails for forever with remover but this was simple, quick, and didn’t leave my nails in a terrible state. This is also great if you know you’re going to have to take off or change your nail polish pretty quickly. Just be generous with your topcoat application, as any chips lead to more coming off than you want as it’s all sort of “glued” together.
Product: Insta-Ombre™ in Gold Grade (950)
Claim: “Easy glitter ombre in a bottle.”
What I Was Expecting: A special applicator (maybe foam?) that distributed the product in such a way that it created an ombre effect.
Use: I followed the directions so I put one coat on the whole nail, another coat from mid-nail down, and a third on my tips.
Results: In some lighting I really couldn’t tell it was ombre. I thought it just looked like normal glitter polish until I went to take my pictures and the lighting really showed it off. It could have also been the color (It was the only one left when I went to buy it – I had been hoping for the copper color Copper Cap (910)).
Final Word: I don’t think there’s any reason this wouldn’t work with other glitter polishes, as long as they aren’t too concentrated. While it did work I think this product is hit or miss depending on your level of nail art. It would be great as a quick fix when traveling, and the colors pretty enough to be used as a normal glitter polish.
