Sally Hansen Sugar Coat: Royal Icing
Just a quick post today- we have sunshine again (hurrah!) so I took some pictures of my sparkly mani to share!
Last night I put on one of my Sally Hansen Sugar Coats I recently bought, Royal Icing. I also grabbed Pink Sprinkles (first, the name, second, it has flakes and is pink- so naturally it was calling to me). I think I’m on the fence about the textured nail polish trend- some I love, some I hate. I usually am not a big fan of the more ‘matte’ finishes- the Milani ones, China Glaze, original Sally Hansen Sugar Coats. I adore the Julie G Gumdrops and Zoya Pixie Dusts, and really like the look of the Nails Inc Leather/Demin Effects.
So yeah, rambling aside- when I saw pictures of the newest Sugar Coats, I knew I’d have to grab the sparkly ones. Royal Icing is like Sinful Colors Cinderella with texture- a pretty baby blue with a strong pink/gold shimmer.
This is SUCH a pretty polish. I really tried to get good pictures of the shimmer, but failed. The shine you see inside the bottle is what I see on the nail even inside my house. Strong gold-pink shimmer, pretty blue base. I had heard that this was a sheer polish, so I used 1 coat of Cult Nails Tempest and layered over that.
And now for the bad. For as pretty as this polish is, it was a huge pain the butt. I ended up using 4 coats over the white base- 4! I know people needed 3-4 without a base, so my advice would be to use a base coat that’s very similar to the blue in Royal Icing. I had issues with white peeking through and uneven spots, which is why I needed so many layers. After it’s dried there’s been some shrinkage, so now I have white nail tips (which aren’t really visible in the pictures, but it’s there).
The dry time on this polish is RIDICULOUS. I know textured polishes tend to take a long time to dry- I expect that. I’m guessing it’s because of how many layers are needed, but getting dressed for bed last night put multiple dents in my polish- 3.5 hours after I painted them. Right now, 16 hours after painting, I can still stick another nail into the polish and leave an indentation, though they are pretty dry otherwise.
So overall- I’m still glad I bought this polish, because it’s very stunning in person. I just need to figure out a better way to wear it, because I don’t plan on repeating this process! Maybe 1-2 coats over 365 Days of Color’s Bora Bora or Girly Bits Arctic Sunrise? 🙂
I found the new Sally Hansen Sugar Coat polishes recently at Walgreens, but they’ve been popping up at most places you find Sally Hansen. I just saw via Nouveau Cheap that all the Sally Hansen Sugar Coats are on clearance at Target- which is great, because I paid around $6 each! At my Target, they did not have Royal Icing on their display, and didn’t have a spot for it- but all stores are different.
What are your thoughts on the texture polishes, and which are your favorites?
LynBDesigns: Jarvis and Five Orange Pips
I have 2 beautiful colors from LynBDesigns to show off today- Jarvis and Five Orange Pips!
Pretty neat bottles, right?
LynBDesigns has a TON of colors to choose from on her etsy site– there’s 95 polish listings! She also has a lot of other fun things to check out.
So first up: Jarvis!
Jarvis is part of LynBDesigns’ Gender-Benders collection- 14 colors that all share men’s names. From etsy: ‘It’s hot pink, it’s color shifting; what’s not to love? Jarvis has a sheer hot pink base and is loaded with color shifting awesomeness. It changes from pink to blue to purple, and on occasion even a little orange.’
You all know I love pink, especially the bright variety- so I was sold!
This is 4 coats of Jarvis alone. 3 would have been sufficient, but without a base coat I had a tiny bit of VNL.
This color is SO gorgeous! There’s a beautiful light color shift and the application is great. Even with 4 coats, the polish wasn’t too thick and was very wearable.
This is 2 coats of Jarvis over Cult Nails Nevermore (my go-to black). WOW! Look at how pretty! I love a color-shifting topcoat that can be worn on its own- it makes it very versatile!
The second polish I have to show off from LynBDesigns is Five Orange Pips!
Five Orange Pips is from the Baker Street Collection, which is inspired by Sherlock Holmes. The description from the store sums up this color perfectly: ‘It’s a collection of orange glitters in a sheer orange base. It has orange holographic glitter, orange hearts, fine orange matte, and glitter that look black in some light, orange in others.’
Even though it’s not part of LynBDesigns’ Halloween collection, this color is absolutely perfect for a holiday look.
This is 2 coats of Five Orange Pips over Sally Hansen’s Ivory Skull (one of the new Fall Complete Manicure colors; a plain white).
This was an easy color to work with- the only hard part was (as expected) the cute orange hearts- but they didn’t require too much effort to get them to come out and play! The white in these photos really shows off the orange jelly of Five Orange Pips.
This is my favorite combo- 2 coats of Five Orange Pips over Cult Nails Nevermore. Does this scream Halloween or what?!
I really, really loved these 2 polishes. Both were super easy to work with and covered nicely- and most importantly, they both looked so very beautiful! I play on getting a lot of use out of Five Orange Pips this fall!
LynBDesigns is currently offering a Buy Two, Get One Free sale (as of 9/19)! Just write a note requesting which color you would like as your free choice.
These polishes and more can be found on LynBDesign’s Etsy store for $8.50 each and unless my eyes deceive me- shipping is free! Which makes these a great deal for some beautiful indie polishes 🙂
Be sure to check out LynBDesign’s Facebook page for new colors and updates. She has a pretty Nightmare Before Christmas-inspired Halloween collection just released!
*The polishes featured in this post were sent to me for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Summer Beauty VoxBox Review
I’ve been meaning to get this written up for a bit- and what’s better than a rainy day to sit down and finish up blog posts and reviews!
Are you familiar with Influenster? I signed up a few months ago, and was very excited when I was selected to be one of the recipients of their Summer VoxBox- a small box filled with 5-6 samples of summer-related items! After you receive the box and have a chance to test the items out, you’re then encouraged to review all of the products. What better forum to do that than right here? So here we go!
The box I got contained 5 things: A full size bottle of Sally Hansen’s Magnetic Nail Polish in Graphite Gravity, a deluxe sample size of Sally Hansen’s Nails & Cuticles Hand Creme, deluxe sample size of Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Sunscreen, a Quaker Soft Baked Bar in Banana Nut Bread, and a sample box of Tampax Radiant collection products.
First up: Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion Sunscreen
I’ve been a bit of a hermit this summer, so I haven’t had much of a chance to use this. I was hoping to use it at the pool today, but then mother nature decided it should storm instead.
I did, however, put it on just to test everything but it’s sunburn protection feature 🙂
I really love the scent- it’s nothing too unusual, it does remind me of the coconut-tropical scent you find with most sunscreens, though this one has a delicate floral smell along with it. Overall the scent isn’t overpowering and smells very nice but subtle.
It made my arms feel very silky smooth just like a moisturizing lotion would, and was absorbed in quickly. There was no greasiness or excess lotion once I rubbed it on. Right now and with my kids I tend to use the quick spray-on sunscreen, but I think I may switch to this one for myself in the future!
Next up: Quaker Soft Baked Bar in Banana Nut Bread
I found this photo on Quaker’s listing for this very bread– because I forgot to photograph it before we ate it.
I only got to try a little bit of this, because it did set off a minor allergic reaction when I ate some (I have a lot of minor food allergies and there’s never any telling if I’ll have an oral reaction, or just be itchy). What I did have, though, was very good! It’s fairly moist, didn’t crumble, and definitely tasted like banana bread. The saltiness of the nuts was a good contrast to the sweeter banana taste. My husband, who ate most of it, said he wouldn’t mind me buying more- so I guess that’s a positive review! 🙂
Now we’re getting into more of my blog’s comfort zone! Sally Hansen’s Nails & Cuticles Hand Cream!
I really loved this product. Since I began blogging, I’m a lot more aware of how my hands and specifically my cuticles look. This lotion made my hands super soft and smooth, and did soften my cuticles a bit. The scent- I’m not sure if I like or hate the scent. I’m really not even sure what the scent is? It’s a bit citrus like, so maybe lemon- but it honestly smells like a starburst candy and a skittle blended together. Not a bad smell- but not exactly what I want to smell like, either. And the scent is not subtle at all, its quite strong.
I also received a full size bottle of Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Polish in Graphite Gravity.
While not my first magnetic polish, this was my first by Sally Hansen. I’ve only tried a few other brands, but this one in particular is the best I own.
The application was very smooth, the instructions were very clear, and the magnet was easy to work with. In some of my past experiences, I had trouble keeping the magnet from bumping the wet polish- and with 1 major brand, I couldn’t get the magnetic waves to show a majority of them time!
With this polish, though, every single nail was perfect on the first try. I simply held the magnet over the nail for 10 seconds, pulled it away, and the swirled design was there!
While these aren’t the cheapest (Most stores sell them for around $10), they’re absolutely one of the higher quality magnetic polishes. Big thumbs up!
My last item to review is the Tampax package. If you’re squeamish about slightly personal topics, feel free to stop reading now! I promise not to get graphic, but I know some ladies (or men!) aren’t exactly comfortable talking about these things.
The Tampax items all came in this cute little zippered bag. I have no idea if this is available for sale- but I love it! I’ve always meant to get a small container to keep personal products in, but never remember to actually do it. This is the perfect size to fit in my purse and keep everything organized!
I haven’t had a chance to actually USE the products, but as a long-term user of Tampax and Always products, I know they’ll be wonderful. I’ve been a very loyal Tampax user for about 17 years now (I think- give or take), and will continue to be.
The package included 3 unscented panty liners, 1 scented pad, 1 regular tampon, and 1 super tampon. These are all part of Always/Tampax’s new Radiant line.
For the panty liners- they are very thin around the sides, but the center absorbent area looks to be thick enough to perform it’s job well. I don’t often use panty liners or pads, but I tried this one out to see if it was noticeable- one of the tag phrases of this new line is ‘Invisible Protection, Invisible Fit’. The entire liner is a soft, non-plastic material with an adhesive backing, so it actually isn’t very noticeable at all. It’s also a bit smaller than other panty liners I’ve used in the past, while not being too small to function. Definitely worth another look!
The scented pad- I don’t use them. The only time I ever have is when my mother wouldn’t let me use tampons yet, and when the doctor forced me to after I had both kids. So I’m not going to be a very good judge on this one! The scent isn’t bad, but I personally don’t like scented feminine protection items. The scent is quite strong actually, and its a bit of a fruity/flower scent. I’m not a big fan. On the plus side however- the pad itself looks to be a super-absorbent material. When I push down on it, it takes a second to come back up- almost like a memory foam. It’s very thin, and not overly large from side to side, either. There’s 2 long wings to help keep it in place.
The tampons… well, this is interesting. I took one out to take a picture and examine!
Have you ever seen such a *fancy* tampon? I mean, I won’t lie, I am a sucker for things with details like this, but… it just seems a bit unnecessary given the function of a tampon.
So yeah, the applicator has scrolled designs on it. It’s also the soft plastic material that we’ve already seen on the Tampax Pearls- which I think is a good thing. I removed the tampon from the applicator, and rather than being stiff cotton, it’s actually a bit softer and definitely smoother. Not to get overly TMI, but I think it’s a good thing. I’m sure ladies can figure out why.
One of the other new features that I really like is the reusable wrapper. Each one is wrapped in the typical plastic wrapper, but rather than opening it, you pull up a sticker section to remove the tampon, which can then be re-sealed. Why is a removable wrapper needed or important, you may ask? It’s for disposal purposes, of course! You can now neatly dispose of both the applicator and tampon in a sealed package. These will definitely be what I pick up next time I have to buy more!
So that’s it for this box- if you stayed for the whole thing, I hope maybe you’re interested in one of the products, or at least know more about them! Everything in this box was completely new to me, so it was fun trying the new things! Thank you, Influenster!
Flakie Friday: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (original) over Cult Nails Cruisin’ Nude
Hello polish monsters! Today is Flakie Friday- and I’m going to feature Sally Hansen’s Hidden Treasure!
Sadly, this is not a polish you can run down to the drugstore to pick up.
‘But Diana,’ you may ask, ‘I’ve seen Hidden Treasure in stores, and I just saw it show up on tons of sites for sale when I checked Google.’
Well my friends, that’s because Sally Hansen likes to be annoying.
The original Hidden Treasure (this one) was sold in Spring 2010 as part of a beachy-themed collection. Like all collections, it was limited edition. This was before I was really into nail polish- although I did already have about 50 bottles- so I had no earthly clue something this beautiful was sitting over at Walgreens. I didn’t make rounds of the drugstore beauty counters back then- if I was there and something caught my eye I’d get it. It was certainly not the first flakie, but I think it was one of the first easily accessible ones.
So then Sally Hansen comes out with another Hidden Treasure. Polish loves rejoiced, thinking the beloved flakie had returned! But no. The current Hidden Treasure- in the same bottle style (it’s still part of the Salon Manicure line)- is not a flakie. It’s very beautiful, yes, but it’s more of an opalescent top coat.
In FACT, just to make things more weird and bizzare- it IS a re-release of one of the colors in the original Hidden Treasures collection! The new Hidden Treasure is an identical copy of Ring My Shell.
Why in the WORLD Sally Hansen re-released a color under a different name- and a name from the same original collection- is beyond me. Really, does that make any sense??
Anyways… because I love flakies, I was determined to get my hands on this particular one. I bought mine from Ebay for around $12, around $15 after shipping. It’s definitely buyer-beware on Ebay- I’m hesitant to buy any polish much above that price point (case in point- I’ve seen many a case of people paying a LOT of money for Clarins 230, and they get something that’s very clearly not Clarins 230 in a Clarins bottle). Luckily, my bottle arrived full and perfect. Lets look at a macro shot!
Oooooh, ahhhhhh…
The best way to really show off a flakie is over black, but this post series will get boring quickly if I only ever feature flakies over black. So this week, I opted for a neutral base. I went to Cult Nail’s Cruisin’ Nude for this- it’s a beautiful beige polish with a slight pinkish shimmer.
Lighter colors won’t highlight the color shifts as well in traditional flakes, but it can make for a beautiful look. I think my nails look something like the interior of sea shells (but maybe a bit darker).
Please excuse the state of my nails… I had the GREAT idea to paint these last night- and then do housework this morning, including dishes- before I took photos. Not my smartest idea.
These pictures are all with 2 coats of Hidden Treasure.
Even though Hidden Treasure is hard to get your hands on, the red-orange-green color shift in this polish is one of the more popular flakie shades. In fact, you can get a very similar one right now by running to just about any drugstore- Essie’s Shine of the Times is pretty close dupe. So is Nubar 2010, Finger Paints Flashy, and GOSH Rainbow (though some of those aren’t easily found, either). What I prefer about Hidden Treasure compared to the others, though, is the coverage. Hidden Treasure is SERIOUSLY dense. As you can see in these photos- 2 coats is almost a solid sheet of flakes.
Hope everyone has a great weekend- try to stay cool! It’s going to be a scorcher!
Polish Monster 