I'd like nothing more than to try out one of these Sally Hansen pastels and then be able to write a glowing report about it, so that I could maybe even share the post with Sally Hansen's Facebook or Twitter accounts and have them shower me with blogger love. Unfortunately, I've recently picked up another Sally Hansen pastel polish that looked incredible in the bottle and left basically a streaky mess on my nails.
Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Pink Blink immediately caught my eye when I saw it last week at London Drugs. I'd never seen the color before, but it was a perfect "baby girl/Barbie" pink color. None of the pictures I've taken of it have really shown the true color well. Every photo I took showed a more washed-out version of the color, making it look much more pale and far less sassy.
However in real life, this pink is very fun and bubble-gummy. I can't even find one single photo on Google that shows the true color of this polish - everyone's looks as washed out as mine does. I can assure you that, in real life, the pink color of this polish was enough to make me say, "Oooh! Gotta have that!"
However, this polish's consistency is just gross. It's disgustingly thick and gloopy, even when applying thin coats. No matter how skilled I've become at applying nail polish, there's nothing I can do with Pink Blink - it looks like a toddler applied it.
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| . first coat . |
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| . second coat . . obviously pre-clean up - sorry!! . |
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| . oogly . |
So I painted all my nails two coats of Pink Blink and then used some of my Love & Beauty Crystal Silver polish to add some accent to my thumb and ring fingers. I can still see streaks in the pink polish but I had no patience for the formula and didn't care to add a third coat of it to try to reduce the streaking.
In the meantime maybe I ought to just use all these pretty-in-the-bottle polishes as home decor instead of nail polishes. They'd look better lined up on a shelf on display than they do on my nails, that's for freaking sure.
Anyone find a pastel polish with a formula that doesn't suck? Please, for the love of God, share it with me!!!
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Oh nooooooo. No, no, no, this will never do. After two coats, you shouldn't be seeing streaks. however, I think that the pink looks good on you and the sparkles are an awesome touch. Have you tried China Glaze? They're my favourite brand, especially for neons (which have a tendency to be quite streaky). If you're willing to spend a little more, the ORLY pastels that I have go on like a dream. You can buy both brands at Sallys. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if pastels are problematic in general, kind of like yellows are difficult formula wise? The only ones I've tried are from Julep, and they were a bit tricky.
ReplyDeletePastels definitely are troublesome - neons are too, like Jennie mentioned above. I wonder what it is about them that makes the formula so pesky?
DeleteDid you use a top coat? I have some polishes that go on streaky but a top coat completely hides it.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, it looks gorgeous and love the glitter you added to it. Such a cute girly look (and indeed reminiscent of Barbie, in a good way!) :)
- Toria
http://toriamasons-treasures.blogspot.com/
Oh yes, top coats also smooth everything out in my experience as well!
Deletehttp://chelseypatti.blogspot.com
I love this!!! Such a great color. Love the way you described it "Baby girl/barbie/bubble gummy" lol.
ReplyDeleteDon't you hate gloppy polishes that streak too? I think the end result when you cleaned it up and added that gorgeous silver glitter looks pretty good! Pastels can be tough!!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Such a bummer. I have some pastels from OPI and Essie that I love. I wonder if it's the brand you're buying or the formulas. Keep trying!
ReplyDeleteI am getting the feeling that it's Sally Hansen that is the problem - I have a couple Essie pastels that don't give me this much trouble! Lesson learned - NO MORE SH pastels!!! ;)
DeleteI like Essie, but they can be a bit expensive sometimes. Even though it was streaky you can't tell that much from the pics! I think it looks very feminine and pretty! Also another trick for smoother application, did you try buffing your nails before you painted them?
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Patti Cake b.t.w.! :)
-http://chelseypatti.blogspot.com
The pink is gorgeous, but Sally Hansen Instadry SUCKS. The eXtreme SH sucks too. It's just the worst formula ever. I agree with Chelsey to try out Essie. I haven't had a streaky polish from them yet. Zoya is also a great brand and around the same price as Essie.
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