Sally Hansen TWINKLE, TWINKLE Xtreme Wear Nail Polish Swatches and Review

My Rite-Aid FINALLY put some new polishes out! The God's have sung. Hell froze over. Pigs flew...

I grabbed one Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Polish in Twinkle, Twinkle. It was sitting right next to Pumpkin Spice, but this one just looked prettier. I know, they're cheap... I should have bought both. Hrm.

Twinkle, Twinkle is seen here 3 coats over top of Fantasy Makers Black Magic from Wet N Wild. I love the fun holo different sized glitter in this polish. It's more of a top coat, and is way too sparse to be worn alone, however it does give your polish more dimension.

When I bought Twinkle, Twinkle I actually expected it to be more dense. I would still love to be able to wear it alone. It could also use a larger amount of the bigger size glitters.. but all in all... not bad, especially for the price!

You can pick up Twinkle, Twinkle and other Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Polishes at your local retailer for $1.99.

Sally Hansen goes backstage...Spring 2012 Fashion Week

INTRODUCING
COMPLETE SALON MANICURE
LIMITED EDITION SPRING 2012 DESIGNER NAIL COLOR COLLECTIONS
FROM SALLY HANSEN

THINK: Trend-setting spring polishes, hot off the runway.

WHAT THEY ARE: A designer spring wardrobe for your nails. Nail leader Sally Hansen took New York Fashion Week by storm, joining forces with Tracy Reese, Prabal Gurung, and Alexander Wang to create exclusive nail colors to complement each of their runway collections. Sally Hansen’s limited edition fall collections put exclusive runway nail looks at your fingertips.

The designers looked to Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure to create their custom colors. Complete Salon Manicure is an all-in-one formula that combines the components of a professional salon manicure—base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, rich color and top coat in a single multi-tasking polish. Backstage Beauty fixture and nail expert, Jin Soon Choi, created the manicures at each of the three shows.

Tracy Reese joined forces with Sally Hansen for the twelfth consecutive season to create seven bold shades that mirror the designer’s relaxed, romantic spring aesthetic. On the runway, models wore Complete Salon Manicure in Temptation.


Prabal Gurung’s three-color Complete Salon Manicure collection features eye-catching brights and creamy pale hues with an edge that reflects the designer’s spring collection inspired by Nobuyashi Araki’s photographic series, “Sensual Flower.”On Prabal Gurung’s fall runway, models sported Loves-Me-Not, a deep plum.


Alexander Wang enlisted Sally Hansen for a first-time collaboration to create a clean, natural-looking runway nail to offset his spring collection which channels a tropical speed racer using perforation and lasering. Models wore Parchment, a sheer nude Complete Salon Manicure shade on the runway—the perfect accent to Wang’s downtown cool looks.


Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure:
· Buttercup
· Fired Up
· Honey Whip
· Olive Branch
· Temptation
· Parrot
· The Sky’s the Limit

Prabal Gurung for Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure:
· Barely Bluebell
· Loves-Me-Not
· Purple Posy

Alexander Wang with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure:
· Oxblood
· Parchment
· Petrol

WHAT THEY COST: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, $7.99 each.

WHERE TO FIND THEM: Sally Hansen products are available at chain drug stores, food stores and mass merchandisers nationally starting April 2012

China Glaze WHITE CAP, STARBOARD, AHOY! Nail Polish Swatches & Review - Featuring Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

Round 3 of the China Glaze Anchors Away Collection! These are late to be swatched but for good reason! I won them a little later than their release from Kayla Shevonne's 500 Follower Giveaway. I've already swatched Pelican Gray, Sea Spray, and First Mate, and Life Preserver, Knotty, and Hey Sailor. If you right click the link it will prompt you to open a new window to check them out.

The three polishes from Anchors Away that will be shown today are White Cap, Starboard, and Ahoy! I also realized as I was digging through my "to do" box that I haven't yet tried Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. So, today, on top of the three China Glaze polishes, I've swatched Hidden Treasure as well.

White Cap

White Cap w/ Hidden Treasure

Awhile back I was asked how Sephora by OPI Wild About Shimmer compared to China Glaze White Cap. They are extremely similar. Wild About Shimmer has a bit of a different hue to it, and IMO the China Glaze has more of the gold shimmer. But really, if you have one, you don't need the other at all. I used 3 coats of White Cap for the photo and one coat of Hidden Treasure. For the Hidden Treasure photo I did use the flash, but only because the flash photos were turning out better than the non-flash. For the other shades, non-flash worked much nicer.

Starboard

Starboard w/ Hidden Treasure

Starboard is such a pretty, dusky, kelly green. It's creamy and applied very well. I thought the Hidden Treasure looked really cool over top of the green shade. It reminded me of wildflowers growing in lush grass. I used 3 coats of Starboard for the photo and one coat of Hidden Treasure. The Hidden Treasure photo was taken using no flash.

Ahoy!

Ahoy! w/ Hidden Treasure

Anyone else getting tired of this color? I feel like Ahoy! has been done quite a bit this Spring/Summer. YES it's definitely pretty.. but I'm over the fuchsia with shimmer. This particular one has fine golden shimmer. If I wasn't sick of the shade, I'd be blown away and gushing over how gorgeous it is. This particular polish DID apply well and I thought Hidden Treasure basically saved it. HT meshed well with the fuchsia shade and hit off of the golden shimmer. I used 3 coats of Ahoy! for the photo and one coat of Hidden Treasure. The Hidden Treasure photo was taken using no flash.


Overall, I'm not as in love with this set of three as I was with the other 6 I've reviewed so far from this collection. Starboard was my favorite out of this little group and will likely be the only one I keep.

China Glaze Anchors Away is still available at Ulta, I've seen quite a bit of stock at mine. Depending on where you buy your China Glaze, retail can go anywhere from $4.99 - $6.99 (these are the price points that I've seen them hit).

1000 Follower Giveaway!!!!

This Giveaway has ended! Thank you to all who entered, and be on the lookout for the next Giveaway!

The time has come! It's FINALLY time to formally announce my 1000 Follower Giveaway! It wasn't too long ago we were just doing the 500 follower giveaway, and I'm over the moon happy about the response that BlushingNoir has received over this time.

As a stay at home mom, I literally have everything invested into my kids. This blog is a way for me to escape, meet new people, and do something that I love that selfishly only benefits me ;) So I LOVE to do these giveaways as a way to give back and benefit YOU! Because this blog would not be what it is without the support of my readers =)

Now, there are MORE ITEMS TO BE ADDED. (Items have been added, you can view them HERE). They're just not here yet lol so I will be updating this giveaway throughout the month. Each time it's updated I'll post on the blog and redirect you back here from that post. This is the ONLY post where entries will count.

Lets see what we have for the giveaway, shall we? =) Please note, ALL items are brand new and unused.

Arriving in this awesomely huge and beautiful Lancome tote:

One winner will receive:
Items sponsored by BlushingNoir:

* Mary Kay Travel-Sized Sun Care Set
* Too Faced Shadow Insurance - Mini Size
* Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion 1 fl. oz. side
* Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara .14oz
* Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara .135 fl. oz.
* Lancome Bright Expert Dark Spot Corrector 0.5 fl. oz.
* Lancome Renergie Lift Volumetry 0.5 oz.
* Lancome Color Design GWP Eye Shadow Quad 0.05oz. includes colors Latte, Bikini Golden, Snap, and Designer.
* Lancome Raspberry Ice Juicy Tube 0.33 fl. oz.
* MAC My Paradise Cheek Powder (from Surf, Baby!)
* MAC Creamola Cremestick Liner
* Le Metier de Beaute Paradis Lip Palette

Sponsored by Sally Hansen & NYC Cosmetics:

* 7 NYC Smooch Proof 16hr Lipstains in the following shades - Forever Mine Wine, Smooch Proof, Rock on Ruby, Berry Long Time, Forever Freesia, Never Ending Nude, and Forever Fuchsia.
* Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Glitz Blitz

Sponsored by Golden Rose:

* Golden Rose Lipstick in 63
* Golden Rose Style Liner Metallic in 07

Sponsored by Wet N Wild:

* Wet N Wild Walking on Eggshells Coloricon Eyeshadow Trio

A huge thank you to all of the companies that are helping to support this giveaway! You're FANTASTIC ;)

Contest begins July 15, 2011 and will end on August 15, 2011 at noon EST. At that time all entries will go through random.org and the winner chosen and emailed. Once the winner replies and accepts I will announce it on my blog!
The winner has 48 hours to respond to the email or the prize will be given to another. The giveaway is open to anyone! Anywhere in the world!

HOW TO ENTER
1. You MUST be a public follower of my blog. Please leave your GFC name in the comments so I can find you.
2. Leave your email address so that I can contact you.
3. TWEET about this giveaway! Follow @BlushingNoir on Twitter and tweet the following message: Follow @BlushingNoir and RT to win a HUGE #giveaway of beauty items! Check it out here: http://bit.ly/nrGmKA
4. BLOG about this giveaway! Either by doing a blog post, or putting it in your sidebar (leave a link to your blog! Feel free to use a pic!)
5. FACEBOOK me! Yes, I finally set up a Facebook lol so follow! (leave your Facebook name that you follow under)
6. REFER a friend! Tell everyone you can about this giveaway so they can follow and enter too! Make sure your friend mentions your name, each time your name is mentioned will earn you one additional entry! (i.e. 10 people say you referred them to my blog, you will get 10 additional entries!)

***each number will equal 1 point (unless otherwise noted). Each point = 1 entry, the more entries the more chances of WINNING!

IMPORTANT - if your name is drawn I will be double checking all links and entries. If any are invalid at that time your entry will be disqualified and another winner will be chosen.

So, seriously... what are you waiting for?!

Enjoy, and GOOD LUCK!

PS - Check out other giveaways posted HERE!

Sally Hansen Collaborates with Prabal Gurung on Exclusive Fashion Film featuring Rye Rye

Sally Hansen’s fashion partner, Prabal Gurung, presents his first-ever resort collection this week. To celebrate, he created an exclusive fashion film featuring Rye Rye, “New Thing”. Sally Hansen collaborated with the designer and created 4 exclusive nail looks with Sally Hansen nail color including:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue ($2.99)

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed ($2.99)

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Gilty Pleasure ($7.99)

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out ($2.99) and Antiqued Gold Crackle Overcoat ($5.95)

All of these exclusive nail colors can be found at your local drugstore.
Be sure to "click here" and check out the video featuring the Sally Hansen nail looks!

Sally Hansen ANTIQUED GOLD 06 Crackle Overcoat Nail Polish Swatches & Review

Recently, Sally Hansen has jumped on the shatter/crackle band wagon. Who can blame them? It's such a popular trend, it would be cray-zay if every brand didn't want to cash in!

I wasn't seeing these ANYwhere. The only one I was really interested in getting my hands on was the Antiqued Gold. Luckily, I went to CVS on a CP run and right there were the Sally Hansen and NEW Wet N Wild items... almost sold out! The CP didn't work out, but at least it wasn't a wasted trip!

(Antiqued Gold over top of Chanel Morning Rose)

From the Sally Hansen website:

Create a Unique Crackle Effect on Each of your Nails

Sally knows that having options is important. For the ultimate in mixing and matching, Crackle Overcoat comes in 8 different shades which can be paired with any nail color. From bold blue to mature metallics, you can create a unique mosaic design that’s modern and sophisticated.

Application Tips
Do not apply to bare nails. Apply two coats of your favorite Sally Hansen nail color. Once dried, add a thin or thick coat (depending on desired effect) of any Crackle Overcoat shade. Do not leave the bottle open, close tightly when not in use. Allow it to dry and seal with any Sally Hansen top coat.

Benefits
*Available in 8 Shades
*Creates a unique design on each nail
*Wet to set in 60 seconds

The color is a really beautiful foily gold. Unfortunately, there isn't much pigment to it. (You can click the pics above to enlarge them to see the color better). It did NOT dry on me in 60 seconds. I didn't put a top coat on my non-photo hand and 5 minutes later I smudged the polish while putting my jeans on. It looks much prettier with a top coat, if you don't add one the shade looks rather dull.

I despise the brush on these. Mine was bent weird and it's thin. I don't know if it's more thin than a usual Sally Hansen polish brush (I don't think they are)... but it was a REAL pain to get the color on. And, of course, if you go over it again it messes with the crackle...

I like the shape of the bottle, but the crackle packaging on the cap is coming off...and it seems cheaply applied. This brand of crackle also has a much stronger odor than I've noticed on other brands. Needless to say, I won't be picking up any of the other shades. Even though they're a little cheaper than the other brands (especially with drugstore specials and coupons), it's just not worth it to me.

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat retails for $6.99 (give or take, depending on where you're buying and what specials and coupons there are) and are available wherever drugstore makeup is sold.

Sally Hansen GEM, SOLITAIRE, MARQUISE, FANCY Diamond 12hr Lip Treatment Swatches & Review

Today I have 4 of the 12 Sally Hansen Diamond 12hr Lip Treatments to share with you all ;) Before receiving these glosses I actually had NO idea Sally Hansen made them. To me, the name Sally Hansen is synonymous with nail polish. So, of course, I was extremely excited to see the brand had some makeup items in the line as well.

(Top - Bottom: Gem, Solitaire, Marquise, Fancy)

(L-R: Gem, Solitaire, Marquise, Fancy)

Gem

Solitaire

Marquise

Fancy

None of the glosses were sticky (to my delight!) & made my lips appear smoother and actually feel a bit plumper. The only thing I didn't like about these glosses was the brush applicator. I don't like brush applicators to begin with, but these ones splay out a bit (all four of them were like this) and it was hard to keep it off of your skin as you were trying to apply to the lips. The brush is also extremely stiff, which did not change even after several uses. I think these glosses would be better suited with a doe foot applicator.

Sally Hansen Diamond 12hr Lip Treatment retails for $6 and can be found at drugstores.

***Products were provided by the manufacturer or PR firm in exchange for an HONEST review. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Sally Hansen KITTY KITTY Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips Photos & Review

Well today is my friend Tanya's bachlorette party! I never get to go out and am extremely excited. Being extremely excited and worried about time frames with 2 kids I'm ready WAY too early. I don't want to do my makeup so soon, so I thought I'd show you my nails of the evening!!

I wanted to use something I didn't need to worry about chipping or getting ruined before the night out. I had to do it today and I didn't want to be worrying about smudges if one of my kids would need me to pick them up or wanted something. Enter Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips.

For something different I chose the style KITTY KITTY.

It was much easier the second time around to apply, and a lot quicker. The last time I used these (which was also my first time with this particular brand) I was in LOVE with the product, and this just proves that the love was no fluke. You can CLICK HERE to check out my wear test and review of BLING BLING.

As you can see (especially if you enlarge) I did goof up on the tips of 2 of the nails. (The camera really exaggerates sins of the nail). You're supposed to file gently, but I was kind of hurrying, so my idea of gentle apparently isn't so gentle. I assure you, you cannot tell as much in person.

I do like the artsy strips better than just the plain neon or glitter. You can do that yourself, ya know? Now, nail art... that's something I'll likely never be able to do. I would really love to see these in a french manicure set.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips retail for $9.99 but that will vary. You may be able to find them cheaper, or more expensive (I've even see them for $10.39 but I forget where) and keep your eye on your Sunday ads for Buy One Get One Half Off deals and coupons!

***Products and information regarding this product were provided by the company in exchange for an HONEST review. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Sally Hansen BLING IT ON Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips Photos & Review

I'm sure you all remember the absolute and utter fail that I experienced with the ArtClub Glam Nails product. If you weren't around back then, check this post out to catch up, of if you need a memory refresher.

Recently I got the opportunity to try out the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish strips.

(L-R: Bling It On, Glitz Blitz, Blue Ice, Kitty Kitty, Laced Up)

For my product review I chose to use Bling It On. Originally I wanted to do the 10 day wear test, but I'm not used to my nails being very long, and after Day 8 I couldn't take it anymore. The GOOD news is, that these strips outlasted me! They were SO easy to apply and come with everything you need.

I love a product that makes things idiot proof. I NEED products like that. My concentration since having kids is basically nil. You get all the tools plus step by step instructions included in each pack. I threw the mini file in my makeup bag after all was said and done.

With this product I noticed it was easier to file off the excess and shape the sticker to the nail after I trimmed most of it off with cuticle scissors. I messed up the first nail I did (thumb nail) because I tried to file ALL of the extra off. If you use the scissors, though, there should be no issue.

Here are 3 pics for progression photos. As you can see, by Day 8, just a bit of tip wear and no lifting. This is seriously a GREAT product!

(Day 1: Excuse the fact that I didn't put any cuticle cream on. I was worried if I did that right away it would ruin the stick. ArtClub crap had me paranoid.)

(Day 5: No tip wear, minor growth)

(Day 8: Extreme close up! Tip wear was happening, the growth was there, and I couldn't take it anymore lol but it could have definitely lasted a bit longer if I hadn't gotten in my own head about the length. The angle was taken to show the tip wear.)

These held up REALLY well and are perfect to put on for vacations or trips where you don't want to be bothered touching up or changing your polishes. During my wear test I was wrangling 2 extremely active kids AND bringing a new nippy and playful puppy into the house. I was not dainty in the least when wearing this product.

The designs are beautiful if you don't have a steady hand, and there is definitely something there for everyone. LOTS to choose from! Check out the selection!

Retail on these varies, depending on where you go to purchase. Keep your eye on your local ads to get coupons and deals like Buy One Get One Half Off... The most expensive I've ever seen them is $9.99, but I really can't recall where. They're everywhere from Wal-Mart (which WILL price match if you bring the ad in), CVS, Rite-Aid... any drugstores, really. It's worth the little bit extra you have to pay. You can see the difference in the quality when you compare these photos to the ones from my ArtClub post.

***Products and information regarding this product were provided by the company in exchange for an HONEST review. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Sally Hansen Nail Polish

REALLY?! Confession. I am a huge label whore.

I have no drugstore make up. I have no drugstore nail polish. Until yesterday.

My sister in law showed up with a gorgeous shade of metallic gray (forget the name). It was a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Polish and she said they were on sale at Rite-Aid for $1.99. That's all I needed to hear. We walked up and I picked up 5 different shades. (I'll post a haul pic later).

The one I'm wearing today is called Emerald City, and that is exactly what you'll think of when you wear it.



I have no idea if these polishes are normally $1.99 or if they're more. But get em... they're HOT.