WEEKLY BEAUTY CRUSH: SALLY HANSEN X CRAYOLA

WHY I'M CRUSHING
This week Sally Hansen released its latest bold and bright collaboration with none other than, Crayola. The collaboration is a part of my favorite Sally Hansen line, the Insta-Dri series which dries in 60-seconds flat. The quick drying feature is a necessity for a busy mom like myself. The 12 colors range from a saturated red to a muted white.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE CRUSHING
Just in time for the Back to School season to start, this colorful collection is reminiscent of the crayons we all know and love. If you have a girly-girl on your back to school shopping list this would be the perfect addition to her list. The quick dry time will make it easy to switch out colors as quickly as these kids come out with a new app these days. The colors include:

Wild Strawberry, Sunset Orange, Carnation Pink, Dandelion, Granny Smith Apple, Cerulean, Vivid Violet, White, Razzmatazz, Scarlet, Denim, Purple Heart. 

PURCHASE DEETS:

Availability: Available for purchase beginning July 1st

Price: $5

Where: select retailers nationwide

#MANIMONDAY - THE SIMPSONS

The Scoop

So a little while back some of you might remember I shared the news about one of M.A.C.’s upcoming new collections which was the Simpsons collection or what I like to call, “Marge 4 M.A.C.”. Back then when I was writing the post two months seemed so far away before I would be able to get my hands on the collection but here we are – I made it to the September 4^th launch in one piece (lol). So, it just so happened that the launch was scheduled on my son’s third birthday so while we were out at the mall doing some school shopping I took a slight detour the M.A.C. store here in the Christiana Mall. 

I was surprised that when I went I wasn’t immediately bombarded with Simpsons marketing propaganda. Instead, the collection was set off to the side on one little display. For all of the buzz that surrounded this collection I was just expecting more of a fuss around the in-store launches; but I digress. The display housed four lip glosses, two eye shadow palettes, one blush, and one nail sticker set. 

Because of my weekly #ManiMondays I of course wanted to grab the nail stickers. I debated a little while between the purple shaded lip gloss called, “Itchy & Scratchy & Sexy” and the blush in ‘Pink Sprinkles’ but finally decided to go with the blush. 

About The Simpsons Nail Stickers

As soon as I took the stickers out of the package I was immediately reminded of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects stickers – they must be made by the same manufacturer. One important note here about these stickers is that they are nail polish strips and not vinyl nail stickers. After going back and forth between the polish strips and the vinyl stickers I would definitely have to pick the polish strips every time.

These stickers applied easily and the sizes were perfect for my large nail beds. Some things I think could have been changed or added to these nail stickers include:

1. Feature some strips with Marge’s hair in blue instead of the entire nail strip being yellow

2. Featured different color sticker sets – possibly in the colors of the lip glosses

Overall, I definitely am a fan of these nail stickers. I think the shade of yellow is one that will be flattering on all skin tones and the size of the stickers is a plus in my book. I hope M.A.C. decides to launch a line of nail stickers outside of just a collaboration collection. The stickers retail for $16.50 and are available online and in stores.

The Look

#MANIMONDAY - COLOR FRENZY

 

The Scoop

Happy Labor Day everyone! This week I'm showing a little U.S.A pride for this week’s #ManiMonday. And, just a slight update on last week’s #ManiMonday post – I took the Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat off yesterday and it did require a little elbow work to fully remove the “fuzz”. I definitely had to use more polish remover pads than I normally would. This week I used more Sally Hansen products the first is the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear ($10, amazon.com) nail color in “White Out” and covered it with the Sally Hansen Color Frenzy Textured Nail Color ($3, ulta.com)  in “Red,White, & Hue”. The color Color Frenzy line has been flying off the shelves; Amazon even says there’s only one left in stock. 

About Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat

The Sally Hansen Color Frenzy Collection is a line of nail polishes featuring 8 unique splatter effect multi-dimensional glitters. In looking at the bottle you get the impression that there will be this explosion of glitter on your nails when it’s applied however I did not feel that was the case (and you’ll see what I mean in the pictures below). So needless to say I was a little disappointed in the amount of glitter that was left on my nails. In addition, the “Red, White, & Hue” polish is made with a pink tinted clear polish so when I placed it over my white nail polish it dulled down the color. My nails also took forever to dry, I woke up this morning with impressions on my nails and this was after my nails had ample hours of dry time. So with all of this I was not a huge fan of this week’s mani. I was pleasantly surprised however with the Hard as Nails nail polish because of the value – it was great for the $3 price tag.  

The Look

Despite the pink tint of the Color Frenzy polish my nails still came out pretty white…

 

#MANIMONDAY - FUZZY COAT

 

The Scoop

For this week’s #ManiMonday post I left the nail wraps alone and picked up some polish instead. I purchased the Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat nail polish a few weeks ago and thought this might be a good time to give it a shot. I chose two different colors to put UNDER the Fuzzy coat which was a nude and a blue/aqua. 

About Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat

The Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat line is made of a unique fiber texture that creates a 3D look on your nails. It comes in an array of multidimensional shades and dries quickly. It’s available in shade from a pale pink up to a black. You can wear them alone or over a complimentary color. I opted for a complimentary color.

The Look

The color I bought was ‘All Yarned Up’ which includes blue, orange, and yellow. The below pictures really don’t do it any justice because I really like the way the Fuzzy Coat nail polish took my normal/plain mani and upped the glam factor.  I do like the way the Fuzzy Coat looks against the nude color nail polish better than the aqua - what about you? I think I'd like to see how the black and white fuzzy coat polish looks up against a red for the coming fall/winter season. 

 

#MANIMONDAY - MELT MY HEART

The Scoop

So after last week’s hiccup I’m back on schedule with this week’s #ManiMonday post. I’ve always had a love and a slight obsession for nail polish strips – for the past few years they’ve afforded me the luxury of having uniquely designed nails without all of the hustle of doing a huge DIY project to achieve the look. The best thing of all about nail polish strips is there’s zero drying time – which is beyond amazing when you’re chasing after two toddlers. So, let’s check out which nail polish strip I chose for this week…

The Product

 Of all of the nail polish strip brands I have tried Sally Hansen’s Salon Effects collection still remains to be my number one pick. This week I chose one of the Limited Edition sets called ‘Melt My Heart’ (022). These nail polish strips are different than the original collection in that instead of being packaged in a box these strips are simply packaged in a square packet. In addition, instead of the 16 nail polish strips that are included in the original box sets these Limited Edition packet only come stocked with 12 strips. 

One thing I noticed when I started applying these is that the polish formula is a little stickier than the original formula (or at least it seemed this way to me). I say this because the very first finger I applied a strip to ripped because I was trying to ensure I had the strip flat first before pressing it down. Another thing I noticed about these is that since it only comes equipped with 12 strips instead of 16 I had a more difficult time than usual getting a nail polish strip that would fit my large nail beds. On some of my fingers that had too much space around the nail polish strips I used the two leftover strips to fill in the space. 

The Look

Overall, I really liked the finished product, and as of right now Sally Hansen’s Salon Effects is still my number one choice when it comes to nail polish strips. The major downfall about this is that it’s Limited Edition and seems to be sold out across the US. BUT, I purchased mine at my local CVS pharmacy and there seemed to be enough in stock at the time so I would suggest starting there if you’re interested in trying these out. $8, drugstore nationwide