Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A Nail Tale


Yeah - see my nails there? That should tell you everything you want to know about this product. But, if you want a complete break down of just what's wrong with it let's take the jump together. 
I found Sally Hansen's Yellow Kitty and thought it would be so fun to use with the last pastel polish I tried. This is what the product claims to do: 


COMPLETE SALON MANICURE NAIL COLOUR
5 steps of a manicure - in 1 bottle!
HOW IT WORKS: 
5 Products in 1 Bottle
Base coat
Strengthener
Growth Treatment
Colour
Top Coat
Patented Micro-Encapsulated time-release Technology infuses nails with advanced wear, care & shine ingredients
Chip resistant, noticeably smooth and brilliantly shiny for up to 10 days
Exclusive double brush covers the entire nail surface in one even stroke
36 salon-inspired shades


HOW TO USE: 
Apply 2 coats of polish to clean, dry nails. Allow to dry*


Let's talk about the reality. My daughters helped me with this project. Like the last Nail Tale, we sat down and my daughter did her best to give me a smashing manicure except, the polish wasn't co-operating. It was ridiculously runny and thin. In case she was just having an off day, I tried using it on her. That didn't go any better. So I decided to show you guys with some pic's just how this stuff performs. 

Coat 1 on the pointer finger: 


Do you see how the polish ran to the sides and bottom of the nail leaving the higher middle section fairly transparent? There doesn't seem to be a way to prevent this. 

Coat 2 on the pointer finger: 


Coat 2 had a similar pattern. There's some build up of a more opaque color on the edges and bottom but the middle was still having a hard time holding color. Remember, the instructions claim 2 coats is all you need and this is where you should stop. Just for kicks and to give it the benefit of the doubt - let's try a 3rd coat!

Coat 3 on the pointer finger: 


It never gets better than that. We decided to keep this demonstration to the pointer finger since we'd already spent hours doing all 10 of my fingers and failing. We had similar results on one of my daughters 5 fingers. After doing 3 coats on my fingers, not having an opaque color and adding a top coat, the polish never seemed to fully set. The fact it didn't set with that much polish wasn't too surprising but I was really trying to make this work. 5 hours after application I went to bed and woke up with creases, lines, and polish pushed up from the ends in malformed lumps. The stuff literally peeled off like some sort of elasticy gumby stuff which is the resulting opening photo to this post. I know it's horrible on the nails to have a polish peel off like that but it was quite fascinating. 

My daughter had better luck with it setting but the polish was definitely not uniformly opaque or "brilliantly shiny" and she had chips in it by morning. I guess sleeping in the polish isn't a good idea if you want the polish to hold.  

Summary? Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. It's a waste of time and money. Better luck next time Sally Hansen.

{* Information from Sally Hansen}


14 comments:

  1. I've never seen a nail polish that was too runny...So weird! Hope it wasn't too expensive!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was TOTALLY weird. It was pretty much water like. One of my daughters even asked "You did shake it before we started right?" It was like whatever thickener or pigment was supposed to be there was missing. Luckily I paid less than 3gbp for it so I'm not too heart broken over it. I'm more irritated at how much time I spent trying to make it work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This surprises me. I use Sally Hansen almost exclusively, and I've always had great luck. Sorry it didn't work for you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I used to like Sally Hensen, but something about it's brush that doesn't work well on my nails. I think the brush tip is too big for my nail beds. I've always liked Essie. Their polish has always lasted on my nails, which I abuse all throughout the day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh man! That's awful! Is it just a bad polish week? Seriously my pastel blue, Essie Sweet Talker, did the same thing. It took 4 coats and it still chipped the next day. I think I'm going to stick to red forever. Weird tip, but did you try putting it in the fridge? Sometimes it works.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've tried this line before and had the same result. Since then, I have never bought any Sally Hansen polish ever.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah I much prefer Opi. I just thought I'd try this because they have so many affordable and fantastic colors. I definitely can't see myself trying more of it though. That was such a bummer.

    I don't have a juicer and I seriously came very close to getting one because I fell in love with a beet, carrot, and apple juice mix I stumbled on but! I was talking to a friend who happens to be a health professional who loves the whole juice world and she mentioned one of her concerns. She loves all the vitamins and nutrients you get through juicing but it deprives you of the fiber which is something your body really truly needs. The brilliant part of smoothies is that it breaks up the fiber for you, saving your body the trouble of doing it but still allowing the fiber to do what it's designed to do in the body anyways. Smoothies are a win-win. I hear ya about getting bored with one flavor. I would definitely try hitting the frozen fruit section. Mango's, passionfruit, pomegranate, and blueberries (which are super pretty in smoothies. they turn it PURPLE for heavens sake!) are all really good at hiding banana. If you play with adding a spicy element to it like ginger (great blood cleaner and digestive tract aid), cayenne (great as a blood thinner and internal warming element which they suspect can help raise the metabolism), or actual chili pepper (same as cayenne benefits but with the addition of it's natural digestive enzymes to help assimilate the food to the body) you'd be amazed how weirdly fun adjusting these flavor combinations can be. Celery is great for the body but a little bit goes a VERY long way flavor wise and can drown out any flavor you want to hide. If you come across a flavor combination you particularly love - post about it! I love these things.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I didn't try the fridge thing! I will though. Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Their brush is something they really are proud of. My daughters liked it because other polishes they've used are more round and not as finite in their control. I'm spoilt so I have used plenty of good brushes. It doesn't cover my whole nail bed in one stroke like it claims and I have tiny hands and fingers really. I don't know if the bottle and brush design is different over here or what but I'm very disappointed with this polish. I was so excited. I was going to put my Rimmel peppermint blue on top in polka dots. I thought it would look so cute.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've heard so many people rave about Sally Hansen, I was totally jealous that I've been missing out on the fun. I thought this would be so perfect when I saw the color. :( Maybe I just got a bad bottle? Maybe it's just this particular formula they do. What formula's of theirs do you use?

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is what my nails look like every time I do my nails. I always just thought I was a manicure failure, but maybe it's because I buy Sally Hansens.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I had AMAZING results from the Rimmel polish I tried in my last Nail Tale. It barely started chipping on the 7th day of wear and I'm hideously rough on my hands. And when it did come off, it wasn't some freak-ish stretchy peel job. I can't speak for all of Sally Hansens' lines. I only tried this one because this cute yellow was in it and I just can't recommend it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yellow polish is SO difficult to apply in a uniform manner. I have had to apply 5-6 coats in order for it to look semi decent. Sorry you had such a difficult time. Good news, though, there is that yellow sticker nailpolish that costs approximately $10 and last for quite some time (no chips!).

    ReplyDelete
  14. I will definitely keep an eye out for it! Thanks for letting me know.

    ReplyDelete