Monday, June 22, 2015

Sally Hansen Insta-Ombre Swatches and Review

*Products Sent for Review

Hey guys!

I am back today with the second part of the package of polishes that I was sent by the guys over at Sally Hansen.

These polishes are from one of their new lines called Insta-Ombre. They are supposed to give you an ombre look without all of the fuss. Did they do as they were promised? Wait and find out!

I was sent three polishes in this line. Here is a preview of them.


The first one that I have up to show you is called Gold Grade. This is your standard gold glitter polish. Application was great!


Next up, this one is called Cobalt Coat. This is a nice blue and silver glitter polish. Application was great.


Last up, this one is called Copper Cap. This is supposed to be a nice beige color, but to me it appears more of a rose gold. Application was great again.


Per the instructions on the back of the bottle, to get the ombre look, first paint one coat over the entire nail. You wait one minute. Then you paint another coat over just half of the nail. Wait another minute. Lastly, paint one more coat just over the tips of the nails. This method is supposed to give you the ombre look.

Do I think it succeeded and it really gives a full to sparse look that a perfect ombre is supposed to give off? No. Do I think it failed? Not quite that either. It gives a partial look, and the ombre look is better seen if you view your nails from farther away instead of close up. Along with that, I think some colors are just easier to create an ombre look with and others are not. As you can see, the more metallic and copper colors look like they achieved the look while Cobalt Coat kinda missed the mark.

Would I recommend these polishes? If you think you can achieve the right application to make it look ombre, go for it. If you think you can get the right amount of polish in each coat to get the great ombre that we know and love, by all means. These are nice polishes in terms of just straight glitter polishes, though colors are nothing special. I don't recommend nor not recommend them. Basically, I am leaving it up to you guys!

If you think you want to attempt this look, you can pick these up at any store that sells Sally Hansen products, which is basically any mass retailer and drugstore, for $5.99. If you do attempt this look, take a picture and link it to me in the comments, or on my Facebook page.

Well, that's all I have for you guys for now. I will talk to you all later, bye!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Sally Hansen Pearl Crush Swatches and Review

*Products Sent for Review

Hey guys!

I am back today with another great product and review from our good friends over at Sally Hansen.

I was sent two groups of polishes from two of their new collections, and these are three from one of those. In the package I was sent, there was a casualty and one of the polishes broke in shipping. I was meant to show you four polishes from this group, but now it is down to three.

This set of polishes are from their line called Pearl Crush. These polishes are part of an eight piece collection that give a shimmery, iridescent look that combines some chunky glitter. They play off the light and give off lots of dimension. 

Here is a group shot of the three that I received that survived the trip.


The first one that I have up to show you is called Rainbow Fish. This one is a an iridescent blue with hex glitter. This was the only one that I was able to get tons of glitter out of, as I sat it upside down for a few minutes. Application was great!


Next up, this one is called Shell and Tell. This one is a nice shimmery sheer lilac filled with large hex glitters and bits. I did two coats like the last one. Application was great. The color doesn't show up as much here, but I still love it. Might be great over white or a lilac cream.


Last up, this one is called Mer-Mint. This is a sea green shimmer filled with hex glitter. This one was the only one I didn't let sit upside down before applying, so I hardly got any glitter out. I didn't notice the color being sea green but that's what the color is supposed to be per the information sent to me in the package. I did two coats. Application was great, again.


My opinion on these polishes? Fantastic! I love colors like these, especially Rainbow Fish, my favorite of the three. These probably would be better over another color of your choice, or do another coat or two for more of a color payoff. Rainbow Fish could do with just another sheer coat and it would look perfect by itself in my opinion. Shell and Tell and Mer-Mint could use two more, and Mer-Mint would do best over a mint color I feel. 

These polishes can be purchased at any mass retailer and popular drugstore, such as Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreens, Target, Walmart, Kmart, etc. They will retail, starting this month, for around $5.99, probably more in such states as mine, Hawaii.

Well, that's it! I hope you guys enjoyed my post. Up tomorrow or Monday, I will have the second set of polishes that I was sent by Sally Hansen to show you up on my blog! I hope you guys enjoyed. See you all later, bye!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Belated Two Year Anniversary Giveaway!

Hey guys!

It has been quite a while since I held a giveaway on my blog.

I just realized that this past May 4th, my blog hit the two year mark. Since I started my blog, I have has less time to post and it takes me loner to get swatches done, but I still give my blog some time each month to make a couple of posts, and that is good enough for me as of right now. Currently, my job is most important, but don't worry, I still love you guys a lot and will continue to show you my lovely looks.

For my giveaway to celebrate hitting two years, I decided to ask one of my favorite people in the nail polish community and my favorite indie maker, Alicia De La Cruz of Leesha's Lacquer. She always love to help me out in giveaways and I love to swap with her. I love to pick up polishes and makeup stuff I find on sale and send her packages. She just loves anything!

Here is what her and I are putting up for the giveaway, hope you guys like them!

My prize includes: Sally Hansen Triple Shine in Reef Raf, China Glaze Crinkled Chrome in Wrinkling in the Sheets, and Formula X for Sephora in Galaxy and Maniacal. This all goes to one winner!


Leesha's Lacquer's lovely prize: One full size bottle of Boardwalk, from her own line.


And a surprise third prize given by me. One full size bottle of Leesha's Lacquer in Very Pinteresting.


Here is a link to the giveaway widget to enter! Three winners, three fabulous prizes, who would not want to win any of these polishes?

Belated Two Year Anniversary Giveaway

Thanks for following my blog and continue to stick with me even if I don't post every single day! Love you all! 

Friday, June 12, 2015

Hits Speciallita Polishes

*Products Swapped For

Hey guys!

I am back today to show you a manicure that I did today. My old manicure wasn't holding up well after just a few days, so I decided to wipe it off and do something new.

I swap every so often polishes with other people, and in my swapping, I have got a small collection of four Hits polishes. Two shimmers, one glitter packed polish with a strong colored base, and one chunky glitter topper.

I decided to use all of them in a manicure. I had the day off from work so I had time to just do whatever with my nails.

This doesn't include any nail art, I don't have a steady hand for it, but it did come out nice in my opinion with the way I chose which color went where.

I used the colors Toxic Galaxy and Daring as the two main colors. On my thumbs and middle fingers, I put Toxic Galaxy. On my pointers and pinkies, I put Daring. Both of these colors come from their Mari Moon line. Two coats of each with a Barielle top coat. On my ring fingers, I used Cirandinha, which comes from their Soy La De Crianca line.. I did two coats of that. Lastly, on top of Cirandinha, I put Arnsterda, from their line Glitter's World, one coat.


It is a little bit of a wild mani with no color scheme, but I kinda like that about it. I just figured I would just use all of the colors and so what if it doesn't quite match.

Application for all of these was great! Toxic Galaxy felt a little chunky, but not at all unworkable.

Hits polishes can be purchased from Llarowe. They have ten for sale at $2, and then regular price for these start at $6.50 to $8. These come in skinny 6ml bottles. Even though you don't get as much polish, you get big impact and I think they are worth it anyways!

Well, that's all I have for you guys for now. I will talk to you all later, bye!

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Swatches and Review

*Products Sent to Me for Review

Hey guys!

I am back today with another great review of another great product from your friends over at Sally Hansen.

If you have noticed, many brands now, mainstream and not, have come out with their own versions and interpretations of gel polish. Some of them requiring light, and some without and only requiring a special base or top coat to give it the gel look that we all know and desire.

Sally Hansen has come up with their own version over the past year, and I say their hat thrown into the ring looks pretty good.

I was sent two polishes to show you. Since I included other products and images in this post, I won't do a collage this time around.

The first one that I have up to show you is called Dive Bar. This is a nice light sky blue, ocean cream gel. I did three coats and topped it off with their signature Miracle Gel Top Coat made specifically for these polishes. Application was great, but I had bad issues with staining as you will see later on.


Next, since I forgot to swatch this when Sally Hansen and New York Color sent me this last time, I figured now was as good a time as any. I applied one coat of New York Color's Strip Me Off base coat. It goes on white and dries almost clear, unless you are like me and have some spots that were done a little more heavier than others.

 

You might be able to notice here that I had a little staining with my nails from Dive Bar. The base coat covers it up a little bit, but without the base coat, my nails look more blue, especially my pinky.

Over Strip Me Off, I applied the next Miracle Gel Color, Swimsical. I appologize up front, my camera is the worst. It is supposed to be a nice green-blue teal, but my camera wouldn't capture anything but a medium blue that only showed the slightest hint of teal. I did three coats with the top coat over it. Application was great, and I think this one doesn't stain as bad as Dive Bar.


After I took the swatch, I did what the base coat was given its name for and stripped/peeled the polish off to test if it was really good or not. I am not sure if gel polish or gel-like polishes would come off harder than regular polishes, but this is my results without struggling too much. I figured if I sat there and picked and struggled to get off the rest, then that wouldn't quite be the point of the base coat.


(Please ignore any peeling going on my fingers and any roughness.)

My opinion of these polishes is pretty good. I am sorry I couldn't get a good color representation of Swimsical because I have a bad camera and can't really see spending money on  new one at the moment. Other than that, I recommend picking some of these up and trying them out. Pick up the Miracle Gel Top Coat as well, it really helps to give it that lovely, gel-like shine that people lust for with gel polish. As for the Strip Me Off base coat, make your own opinions. Maybe I used it wrong, maybe it requires an orange stick or something like that. I was just testing it the way the name said. I wouldn't buy it myself, but it was neat to try out.

Well, that's all I have for you guys for now. I will talk to you all later, bye!