Perfectly Polished Tips 246 - Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips

Last week I used Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail strips for the first time. The package comes with 16 strips in various sizes, a nail file, and an orange wood stick. They claim that the stickers can last up to 10 days. There are a ton of neat patterns, colors, and designs. It's an easy way for someone not so great at nail art (aka Me) to get decorated tips.

I googled some tutorials and watched a bunch of youtube videos. Application looked easy enough. You start out with clean, dry nails. They recommend swiping your nails with polish remover before beginning. The sticker is double ended to accommodate different cuticle shapes, I didn't really find this to be helpful. I have small and narrow nail beds. Once you stick on the strip you use the orange wood stick to seal the edges, then you file off the excess from the tip. I had a very hard time making the cuticle area look nice, it probably equated to my manicure clean up. I guess it didn't bother me that much though. The strips were all smooth and looked as if I had used nail polish.

These only lasted about three days before they began to chip and lift. Most of the time I follow the nails are not tools rule and I think I was overly cautious because I didn't want to ruin my nails. Three days is also typically what I get out of a regular manicure. I don't think I would use these often or even pay full price for them. You can only get one manicure out of a box, unless you have small nails and clip the stickers in half. Even then there is a warning on the box that unused stickers should be discarded. It appears that they dry out very quickly. Maybe putting them in a ziploc immediately would help? I didn't want to take any chances though.

I used a hot pink color called Crybaby.

Neons make my camera freak out, it was a bit more pink IRL and not as washed out. These photos are immediately after I had applied the strips. You can see it's a bit rough around the edges.

You can find Sally Hansen nail strips pretty much everywhere these days. I think they are about $8-9 at drugstores but they can be found for less at Fivebelow and Big Lots.

Perfectly Polished Tips 168 - Sally Hansen Gray by Gray

This Sally Hansen Gray by Gray from the Complete Salon Manicure line. This Sally Hansen line is new to me. I will admit that I am kind of a polish snob. I don't usually buy drug store brands. The prices for drug store polishes as rising and I feel like why should I pay $7 for that when I can get a salon brand that I love for only a couple dollars more.

I set out to find this polish because I had heard it was a near dupe to MAC's Blue India which I missed out on. I failed on my search and was lucky enough to have a dear friend pick up a bottle for me. It didn't quite cure my lemming for Blue India but it is a gorgeous creme which I always appreciate.

In the bottle it looks slightly more blue than my photo shows, but on me it pulled more gray. The brush for this polish made me nervous at first, the ends are a bit tapered and I was worried that it would be a pain to work with. I was wrong though, it made application a breeze, I have small, thin nail beds and brush kept my cuticles nice and clean. The formula was great, this polish has one coater potential but my skills are a bit rusty. I did two on the above manicure to make sure everything was nice and neat.

I am not sure of the exact price on these, I want to say I saw them for $6.50 at my local Walmart. I didn't see any other colors unique enough to buy but if the line comes out with more colors in the future I will definitely be checking them out.

Perfectly Polished Tips 67 - Lippmann Collection Base Coat & Cuticle Remover

This is Lippmann's Cuticle Remover, it contains lanolin oils to help soften your cuticles while the chemicals do
the removing. I like to use this weekly after I scrub with Sally Hansen Cuticle & Nail Refiner. The SH scrub loosens everything and then this stuff gives it the last push to detach from my nail beds. It has a brush like the nail colors but it also comes with a dropper. You can either brush it on, drop it on, or put a few drops in warm water and soak your nails. I've done all except the last. It's not messy at all and it has no smell. I think it's pretty moisturizing. My cuticles definitely do benefit from it.

This guy over here is Lippmann's Rehydrating Base Coat. It contains aloe to help nails stay well hydrated. I know their nail colors have bitotin in them but I could not find anything that said if this did or not. I've been using this as a base for all my manicures for about 3 weeks now. My nails are definitely stronger (except for the one I jammed and it now has a tear very low down) and they aren't at all stained from all the dark shades I've been wearing. I always see a "Do not get on skin" caution on nail polish and I never understood why. Well now I do, this is super drying to my cuticles and the skin around them. I have to be very careful to make sure I leave a gap or else I am plauged with dried out yucky looking skin for a couple of days. The upside to that though is that I remember to use my CND Cuticle Eraser and LUSH Lemony Flutter.

I would reccomend both of these products. I am sure that there are cheaper alternatives to them though. For cuticle removers I really like Orly Cutique and a lot of ladies over at MUA rave about a Sally Hansen one in a blue bottle. I haven't tried that one. As for the base coat, Sally Hansen makes a hydrating base coat call Nail Quencher, I actually picked it up at Wal Mart for $2 the other day. These two products are worth it for me but since everyone is different you really have to try different things to see what works for you.

Perfectly Polished Tips 57 - A Winner & Navy Oh Baby!

First off, I want to congratulate Christen - she is the lucky winner of my Lippmann polish give away. I really enjoyed doing that contest, I hope to do another soon!

Second, navy polish. I am a big blue wearer as most of you know. I love all shades of blue. My most recent quest was Sally Hansen Salon Navy Baby. It's a beautiful, shimmery navy but it is not blackened. Meaning you can tell that it is blue. I will admit that I am not big on drugstore nail polish. It costs more than buying the good stuff off line. Sallly Hansen's salon line might just be the exception. They apply wonderfully and have a nice brush. I'm not sure about wear time because I change polish so often. After I applied Navy Baby I felt like it needed something more. I pulled out Pure Ice Oh Baby, which is a purpley blue glitter top coat. Together they are amazing. I'm wondering what it would be like to franken them together. I would have to get another bottle of Navy Baby though because it's hot on it's own. So anyways here is the out come-

Alright, it looks much better in person, but you get the idea. I'm starting to branch out and actually enjoy layering and glitter. It gives me a whole new way to use my stash.