Sally Hansen Insta-Dri + Gel Update

I said I would let you guys know how the regular polish plus Sally Hansen gel topcoat (plus some curing) lasted (original post here). Well, I'm happy to report that my nail polish has lasted pretty darn well considering it usually chips within a day (I did this on Sunday morning so this is nearly 6 days of wear). The wear is more obvious on my right (dominant hand) as is expected. Otherwise, it's pretty much tip wear and the chip on my middle right hand finger is actually due to my error of not placing the gel top coat there, not the gel performing poorly. Clearly, the polish would be nearly gone or looking worse for wear without this stuff. And, one of my coworkers thought I had them professionally done!

This is a picture of my left hand. There's some tip wear but otherwise, it's looking pretty good.

This is my right hand. The tip wear is more noticeable and also you can tell I'm horrible at painting this hand as the cuticle area is uneven! Otherwise, still not too bad.

Anyway, I'm going to continue to use the Sally Hansen Insta-Gel on top of regular polish for longer lasting manicures. I'm actually getting tired of this color and might remove and repaint tomorrow or Sunday.

The kit itself is $29.99 and it comes with the light needed to cure the gel as well as the top coat, and a pack of the gel stickers (which I wouldn't recommend). You can buy the top coat separately for $12.95 as well. A note that the gel stickers are priced at $14.95 and come with a full size bottle of the gel top coat if they go on sale or clearance.

NOTD: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Purple Haste + Gel

I recently tried the Sally Hansen Salon Insta-Gel Strips and I didn't get on with them as well as I had hoped. My nails are more rounded so they tended to lift around the edges. Anyway, I thought I would do a little experiment. The kits come with a bottle of the gel top coat and I had read that you could use the gel top coat on top of regular polishes as long as you made sure they had plenty time to dry. So last evening, I painted my nails with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Purple Haste and allowed them to dry overnight (unfortunately, this also led to sheet imprints). However, I then did a top coat of the gel top coat this morning and cured for the allotted time. This particular polish has tons of microglitter glass fleck particles in it which doesn't really translate to the nails all that much. The gel really helps that!

Sally Hansen Purple Haste sans top coat.

non-gelled nail (left) versus gelled nail (right)

 

It is so hard to get this polish to focus properly, but you can kind of see the hidden flecks in the middle finger here. I'm a bit bummed that the dents show through the top coat but I suppose it serves me right for doing the painting so late last night.

I'll keep you guys posted about how the gel impacts the lasting power of the regular polish. Here's hoping it reduces the number of chips I get. I'm pretty hard on my nails which is why I tend to stray from dark or bright colors which make the chips all the more obvious. If I could manage a week of one manicure looking decent that would definitely make me happy!

NOTD: NcLA Rock Solid

I received this NcLA polish in Rock Solid in one of my Little Black Bags. They seem to carry items from the NcLA line quite often. The polishes generally retail for $16. Rock Solid is described as "a luxurious, slate grey cream shade, illuminated with fine silver metallic sparkles" which is fairly accurate. It's pretty unique and the extra bit of glitter makes it less flat than a standard grey cream. My only complaint is the formula is quite thick and goopy and I probably should have used some thinner prior to application had I known. Nonetheless, it easily covered in 2 coats.

Disclosure: Referral link.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Weartime (review follow up)

The true test of longevity for nail polish for me is my Thursday night water Zumba class. Chlorine combined with vigorous arm movements pretty much kills any nail polish for me. The Sally Hansen Salon Effects however, did surprisingly well. This is a photo taken when I got home from my water Zumba class tonight. I applied these babies on Sunday evening. That is pretty awesome. I removed the polish tonight as well which was a pain in the neck but I'd imagine they would have at least lasted through the weekend, though I did experience some chipping on my dominant hand (right - this picture is of the left). I'm impressed and will pick up a few more packs if I find them on clearance or at Five Below again!

New Limited Edition Maybelline Color Show Fall Fashion Week 2012 Nail Lacquers

I've been a very bad blogger lately. I have a lot of items to review but I don't seem to have the time nor the energy. But, I found these nail Color Show Nail Lacquers at CVS tonight and I just had to show you guys. First of all, these Color Show polishes retail for a pretty nice $4.19 and the whole Maybelline line is often on sale and of course Maybelline always has lots of coupons. Anyway, these are from a new Limited Edition  Fall Fashion Week 2012 collection. I believe there are 6 total and the display that I saw only had a few per color which is pretty annoying. Nonetheless, here they are!

From left to right, we have Avante Green #700, Auburn Ablaze #705, and Metal Icon #710
To be honest, I wasn't even going to buy Avante Green as it looks like nothing in the store, but the minute I got it home, I saw that it had the neatest duochrone! Auburn Ablaze doesn't have the cool duochrome that Avante Green has but it's a pretty fall color nonetheless though I don't find it particularly unique. Metal Icon is awesome. It's kind of a dupe for Chanel Graphite but I can swear that there are blue flecks in it. These were all 3 coats, but Auburn Ablaze and Metal Icon could have been 2 easily. Avante Green was a bit sheerer and definitely needed the third.

The next three are Boho Gold #715, Pink Cosmo #720, and Downtown Brown #725
As you can see, Boho Gold is another Chanel Peridot dupe but it is super super sheer. This was pretty much 4 coats. I'd imagine it would be better over a black or white base. It's pretty though and less prone to brush strokes than some of the other look alikes. Pink Cosmo is also super sheer but very pretty and I bet it would come alive over a black (it has a grey/green/pink shift). Also about 4 coats. If you work in a conservative office but still want to wear some duochrome-y goodness, this would be your shade. Downtown Brown is pretty much Club eyeshadow from MAC in nail polish form. This isn't the best photo of it but you can see the duochrome a bit more in the background bottle picture.

I was so excited to find these in one of the random CVS stores near me as I have not found the range anywhere else.  The Color Show Fall Fashion Week 2012 collection also has lipsticks, eyeshadows, blushes and an illuminator but they didn't thrill me like these!

Have you found these yet? What did you think?

Models Own Beetle Polish Deal & Giveaway

After a particularly stressful work day, I made my way over to the mall to browse and I found these at Urban Outfitters on sale no less. Urban Outfitters is currently running a 30% off sale on current markdown items and these babies are on sale for $4.99 ($3.50 with the extra percent off). My store only had these 3 colors available though the full range has 8 shades. Nonetheless, I think the price point is pretty ridiculously awesome considering these were usually $10 at Urban Outfitters and are £5.00 on the Models Own website (current exchange rate makes that just under $8 without their shipping costs).

The colors I found were Purple Blue, Aqua Violet and Golden Green.

left to right Golden Green, Aqua Violet and Purple Blue

I wish Golden Green and Aqua Violet were a little less prone to brush strokes but they are still super pretty. Purple Blue is my favorite. No brush strokes and tons of multicolored shimmer.

The next day, I was determined and went back to Urban Outfitters to purchase 3 more bottles (1 of each shade) for you all. I know I haven't had a giveaway in ages but I thought these might be of interest. One person will win these 3 gorgeous shades. Please see the widget below and note that this giveaway is US only. Sorry guys but polish is a pain to ship out of the country and girls in the UK can get these much easier than we can across the pond. Obviously, you will receive 3 sealed bottles, I showed my own for color reference. Good luck!

NOTD: Dermelect Above It

I was recently sent an offering of Dermelect nail colors to try as part of the Bloom Ambassadors program. Above It - a sky blue was the one I tried first. It was the most "me" color out of the ones I received. Once I try the other colors, I'm going to be doing a more comprehensive review of the formula, drying time and the longevity of the polish, but I'll mention the formula briefly here.

I found the polish a bit thick and hard to work with and it could benefit from some thinner. The first coat went on a bit streaky but it evened itself out on the 2nd (and 2 was definitely enough). I experienced some bubbling issues as it was hard to do thin coats due to the thickness of the formula. Otherwise, it dried fairly quickly without a fast drying top coat and I didn't get any nicks in it (I'm very impatient so it isn't unusual that I get dents in a new manicure).

First coat.

 Second coat.

Here's slightly different lighting and you can see the bubbles a bit better in this shot.

If the other colors have a similar issue with the formula, I'll apply some polish thinner prior to application. There was a bit of cuticle drag due to the thickness but overall, it was pretty easy to apply.

Dermelect polishes retail for $14 and come in .4oz bottles. The polishes are free of DBP, toluene, and formaldehyde and contain a type of peptide protein to strengthen nails.

Disclosure: The Dermelect polish was received for review as part of the Bloom Ambassador program. Also note referral link.

Julep Boho Glam February Maven Box

My February Julep Maven Box arrived in the mail today. This month I opted for the Boho Glam box as the colors seemed more up my alley and it included the Essential Cuticle Oil which I had been wanting to try. This month's box definitely has a Valentine's Day theme complete with red packaging and chocolate! Julep sure knows a way to this girl's heart!

Inside was the Cuticle Oil as expected, Marisa (Rich Cobalt Blue Shimmer) and Oscar (Gold Glitter). Both colors launched as a celebration of the Oscars that aired recently and maybe you can't see him that well in the picture above, but each box comes with your very own chocolate Oscar.

Isn't he nice and likely delicious?

Julep Maven is a $19.99 a month program and it seems with the program they tend to send newly launched colors rather than items in their normal line. So far I've enjoyed it as I really like the polishes. They are some of the fastest drying polishes I've ever tried and the opacity of them has been great. I am disappointed with their metallic shades since they streak horribly though I've tried my best to only pick boxes with creams or shimmer finishes.

Swatches to come!

Disclosure: My referral link has been used.

Julep Hayden

Julep describes Hayden as simply "neon peach" which is right on the money. It looks like a pastel peach in the bottle but when it dries, it is definitely takes on a slightly more bright-in-your-face look; it is not matte like many neon polishes on the market though not as shiny as some other Juleps and it should be noted that it looks slightly brighter in person than in the above swatch. This was 2 very poorly done coats as it was my right hand and I'm right handed. It is important to note that if you've been using Julep polishes for awhile, this used to be named Amanda. I'm not sure what caused the name change but if you have an Amanda lying around in your collection, it's the same polish.

As with all of the Julep polishes I've tried so far, this was opaque in 2 coats and dried very quickly compared to other lacquers on the market. That is the reason I've since kept my Julep subscription service as I tend to do my polish at night and these don't need a quick-dry top coat. Even with the price, if I can cut out a step, I'm a happy girl.

The Julep Maven program can be gotten for $5 with code MAVEN5 if there's interest. This post includes my referral link.

Julep Leah

Julep describes Leah as "Vivid and refreshing grass green with a hint of shimmer" and that is a fairly accurate description. This is a bright green and not a color I generally go far but it's very pretty. I'm always worried about greens giving me "lobster hands" as I'm quite pale and prone to redness. While the touch of silver shimmer is evident in the bottle and quite pretty, I didn't find it translated to the nail so the effect is more of a green cream. I find that in certain lighting Leah looks more minty as shown below which is nice but a little strange.

As with all of the Julep polishes I've tried so far, this was opaque in 2 coats and dried very quickly compared to other lacquers on the market. That is the reason I've since kept my Julep subscription service as I tend to do my polish at night and these don't need a quick-dry top coat. Even with the price, if I can cut out a step, I'm a happy girl. I got some bubbling with this as you can probably see and you can blame yours truly as I didn't keep the bottles upright before swatching.

The Julep Maven program can be gotten for $5 with code MAVEN5 if there's interest. This post includes my referral link.

Julep Megan

Julep describes Megan as a "A playful and sultry Mediterranean aquamarine shimmer" and I agree with the color description, but I feel this more of a frost formula and for that reason, it does have the tendency of being prone to brush strokes. I don't find it as bad with the color Leighton that was in my intro box but it is something that I feel needs mentioning.

As with all of the Julep polishes I've tried so far, this was opaque in 2 coats and dried very quickly compared to other lacquers on the market. That is the reason I've since kept my Julep subscription service as I tend to do my polish at night and these don't need a quick-dry top coat. Even with the price, if I can cut out a step, I'm a happy girl. I got some bubbling with this as you can probably see and you can blame yours truly as I didn't keep the bottles upright before swatching.

The Julep Maven program can be gotten for $5 with code MAVEN5 if there's interest. This post includes my referral link.

Julep Maven It Girl January Box

My Julep January box arrived in the mail. This is my first "real" box as a full $19.99 paying member. I opted to do a "shelf pull" for January as the It Girl boxes from now on will be all polish. They were also running a promotion allowing a free upgrade in January with an option for 1 of 3 different products (2 nail colors and the nail treatment). I actually elected to chose one of the polish colors so I was a little annoyed to see the nail treatment in my box; however, searching further, I found a little card that apologized as the color I had selected had sold out and offering this and a coupon for a free nail polish of my choice!

This month's box included 3 different nail colors and a sample of their nail polish remover pads. Considering each polish normally retails for $14, I think the $19.99 price is pretty reasonable. The colors included Hayden (a peach cream), Megan (a shimmery teal-aqua) and Leah (a bright grassy green with what appears to be silver shimmer). I haven't tested these out yet but swatches will be coming soon.

Use code MAVEN5 to get your first Julep box for $5 - not quite the steal I posted in my first box post, but a good deal nonetheless.

Disclosure: Referral link used.

Julep Maven American Girl Intro Box (December)

Julep recently had a pretty amazing promotion and finally convinced me to try the program. Usually, each box is $19.99 however for a certain number of sign ups, you could get the first box for 1 cent (the code is SHAREON but I'm not sure if it's still working or not). I couldn't pass the deal and signed up.

In the first box I received the following:
* Julep Nail Vernis Demi (red)
* Julep Nail Vernis Leighton (silver)
* Julep Glycolic Hand Scrub
* red flaky glitter sample
* age defying hand brightener sample
* spf 30 hand cream sample

While I can appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the shape of the polish bottles, the tall and skinny shape requires care as they are very easy to knock over. I managed to keep that from happening but I had a few near misses. The brush is very nice and I managed to get a nice opaque finish in one coat. I did two out of habit and also to attempt to get out the brush strokes from Leighton (though it was unsuccessful).

Bathroom "A" lighting

Demi is a burgundy that borders on raspberry and looks different in various lighting. To me, it has a bit of a jelly finish but has full coverage.

Leighton is a metallic silver and has awful brush strokes. I'm not a fan of this and would only use it for layering purposes.

Both covered in under 2 coats and they dried fairly quickly (even without a topcoat). I haven't truly worn them to determine wear, so your mileage may vary.

Natural light, in the shade.

 Natural light.

 Natural light.

Bathroom "B" lighting 

Demi is definitely a bit of a chameleon. The box also game with the flaky red glitter sample which looks cool but I doubt I'll ever use.

I haven't tried the hand scrub yet but I've heard good things about it. Also, I've decided to stay subscribed for at least the January box. They sent out an e-mail message saying current subscribers could upgrade and get another polish for that box so I've decided to pay the $19.99 for at least one more month. As with Birchbox, I like the idea of getting a few items a month to play with and $20 is less than I would spend if I were to order from a place like transdesign when I get the polish urge, though in reality, I doubt this will curb my polish binges especially when OPI, Essie or China Glaze come out with new collections.

Disclosure: I've included my referral link but you do not have to click it if you're interested in trying Julep.

The normal website is simply http://www.julep.com.

NOTD: Revlon Glitz & Glam #530

Revlon Glitz & Glam came out in the same Spice it Up collection as Mistletoe. Glitz & Glam is a pink jelly base jam packed with tons of pink and silver glitter. This is definitely a two coat glitter. It goes on a little patchy at first, but by the second coat you're good to go. I am finding the glitter version of the Top Speed line easier to work with than the creams. And a plus, these do not need a top coat so it's a much faster process than other manicures. As with most chunkier glitters, the nails are not smooth but it doesn't bother me. If it bothers you can just put on some Seche Vite!

Another reason why I selected this color is starting tomorrow, Revlon polish is on sale for $4.99 plus $3 in Extrabucks back at CVS - limit 6! Combine that with some of the Top Speed coupons floating around and you can get a few bottles of this for only 99 cents a piece! Bargain.

Essie Polishes $4!

I must have been living under a rock, but I only found out about this through a dear friend, Kelly of Jellyminx Thinks yesterday during her nail polish haul. She mentioned something about Transdesign having Essie polishes for $4. Lo and behold, I go there tonight to check and yes, all of the Essie polishes on the website are $4 including the new fall and winter collections (and I think it might run through the end of October)!

So if you've been wanting some Essie polishes, I would seriously go over and take a look! It's very seldom that one can find Essie polishes on a discount (aside from the buy 2 get 1 free offers Ulta occasionally has).

Wet n Wild Prowl

We interrupt your regular scheduled programming to bring you...

Prowl! I found it! Well, most of it. Behind Closed Doors was already sold out but maybe I'll find it at another area drugstore.

I popped by a CVS on the way home from work and finally found the new Wet n Wild Prowl Collection. I have to admit, Wet n Wild really hit it out of the park with this collection, though a couple of them were a bit of a disappointment. For instance, in the CVS lighting, Buy Me A Drink seemed to have an orange duochrome but when I brought it home and swatched it, zip zero zilch. And like most, I did not buy the black cream.

Cougar Attack (gold glitter), Ready to Pounce (blurple with shimmer/sheen), Jungle Fever (green chunky shimmer)

Tangled In My Web (black chunky glitter), Correction Tape (multicolored glitter), Buy Me A Drink (wine with shimmer/sheen)

(the glitters are over Revlon Powder Puff)

I think my favorites are actually the first three I swatched. Cougar Attack, Ready to Pounce Jungle Fever. The chunky glitters are fun but as with most glitters like this, application takes some effort and removal is a pain in the behind. I found the best way to apply is to really work your brush into the bottle to get the most glitter on the brush and then instead of sweeping, almost stipple it into your nail. And then you can add a little more clear if you want to move the dots around. Again, not the easiest or fastest but it brings the best results for me.

CVS Haul

There are quite a few good sales at CVS this week, although I've only participated in 1 of the beauty related ones. I'm referring to the buy $20 worth of Salma Hayek Nuance get $10 in Extrabucks back. I would also recommend that you look around for the temporary displays as they have samples which include $2 off coupons for her skincare and cosmetic items. I was able to use 2 of these coupons that brought my out of pocket expenses (after extrabucks) to around $6. These coupons are great either way, as the line is quite expensive.

I also highly recommend to seek out your store's clearance displays. It changes depending on your store. Sometimes they are in the back in bins, sometimes a shelf is selected randomly where items are marked down. Some of the items in today's haul were from these sections (I also found some batteries on clearance but they aren't included in this post).

I love my microfiber hair turban so much that when I found these towels on clearance, I quickly scooped them up. Microfiber is much more gentle on hair than a regular towel and cuts down on frizz for us curly girls. These towels were regularly $5.99 which is pretty cheap anyway but since they were marked down to $1.49 a piece, they were definitely a steal!

In the clearance section, I also found Orly Here Comes Trouble marked down to $1.74 - bargain! Body & Soul blogged about this Pin Up Collection back in April. The opacity of this glitter looks amazing.

And the Salma Hayek stuff I picked up: I bought the Walnut Body Scrub ($~8.50), the Light Camera Action Eye Trio in Pewter/Silver Shimmer (~$8.89) and to put me over the $20 mark the mini size of the Blue Agave Curl Cream ($~3.50). I sincerely hope these impress me more than the other Nuance items I've tried but considering the price I wound up paying, it won't be a huge loss.

Also, the red machine of awesome was spitting out coupons for free Newton Thins cookies, and a $10 off $50 purchase coupon. Between that and the free allergy pills, free tampons and other great deals, CVS is definitely a great place to stock up on essentials this week!

Review: Sula Paint & Peel Polish in Sorbet

A month or so ago, Big Lots had a bunch of Sula Paint & Peel polishes for the very reasonable price of $2.50. They have been carried at ULTA recently and I think they are making a return based on Sula's tweets. I was feeling bored but didn't want to sit down for a full manicure so I brought out the shade Sorbet. In the bottle it looks a bit darker than on the nails and these pictures are awful (and don't mind my cuticles)! This is 24 hours of wear including 2 showers.

Even though these technically dry fast, they stay mushy for quite a while after painting them. The positive thing is that it didn't stain anything or move from the nail but I'll just say I tried going for the textured look? I got a lot of tip wear. I noticed a bit of the dried red on my desk at work at some point though it was easy to remove from the surface.

I'd say this stuff is good for a pick-me-up when you don't have time for a manicure but still want something on your nails but don't expect it to last long.

First coat was kind of streaky yet surprisingly opaque (more than I was expecting anyway). The 2nd coat more or less evened it out but I still got some streaks. I'd say lay down thicker layers as these polishes dry quickly.

This is my left hand. I couldn't get a good shot of my right hand but the wear was significantly worse. And the tops got more bumpy (likely because I'm right handed).

Sula's Paint & Peel polishes retail for $9 and are available online and at ULTA. They are water based and free of the big3.