Sally Hansen Takes On Minx and Prabal Gurung And We Test Them Out

Sally Hansen, the drugstore nail polish brand, is seriously upping its style cred this spring with two new products. First off, Prabal Gurung designed six Sally Hansen nail colors to complement the designs from his S/S 2011 show. Do you remember the turquoise and orange that came down the runway in his first few looks? Those colors are represented in three of the six colors: an orangey red, sky turquoise, and strawberry mango (called respectively Runway Red-y, Model Behavior, and Casting Call). The other three are neutrals--a metallic, a shimmer, and a pearl. On the runway, stylists used the nude shimmer, Without a Stitch, on models’ nails then painted a thin line of Casting Call across the tips. The limited edition colors will be available this spring and will retail for $6.99 a bottle. If regular old nail polish is too boring for you, Sally Hansen is also launching Salon Effects nail polish strips this March. They’re obviously supposed to be an at-home competitor to Minx, the $50 salon procedure beloved by Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. The strips come in 24 different patterns, ranging from plain neon colors to glitter metallics, to leopard and lace. They’ll be available this March and will retail for $9.99 each. I tried them out and gave them to a few women from different demographics to try, too. Here’s the report:
Author:
Publish date:
Social count:
198
Image Title1

Sally Hansen, the drugstore nail polish brand, is seriously upping its style cred this spring with two new products.

First off,

Image Title2

The tricky part was sizing. Some were way too big for my nails, but I used the enclosed wooden cuticle stick to cut around my nail bed and they came out with clean edges. Elizabeth, a 21-year-old Parsons student, did hers on the train and was raving about how easy they were and how great that there was no dry-time. Another friend, however, who changes her own nail polish every single day, had a hard time and thought it might be a two person job. So there may be a learning curve here.

Cool factor: While some of the designs are cheesy (like the pink camo and butterflies) some I really loved. I chose the gold metallic with fishnet stocking print overlay. Subtle, right? This pattern garnered rave reviews from two Sephora salesgirls, a heterosexual male trainer at the gym, a seven-year-old girl, and a doctor. So I guess you can safely say they have universal appeal.

Durability: The box claims that they last up to ten days. I’m on day four of mine and they’re still perfect, without any peeling. The friend above who does her own nails everyday also happens to be a nurse. Hers survived at least one day of scrubbing her hands and using Purell 10,000 times while at work. (When you’re ready to take them off, you just use nail polish remover, no peeling required.)

The bottom line? I was ready to hate these and dismiss them as gimmicky, but I really loved them. If you're sick of your umpteenth Ballet Slippers mani, head to a drugstore and pick up some denim or houndstooth nails instead.

Related Stories

Primary Photo
Beauty

Prabal Gurung Wants His Own Beauty Line

Yesterday we stopped by Sephora to get a peep at the new uniforms that Prabal Gurung designed for the store's "cast members" (aka the perfectly made-up girls and guys who sell you all your beauty must-haves). The uniforms are black with red accents: guys wear a black shirt with red detailing along the shoulder and arms. Girls have a choice of a tunic dress with a back vent (again, red at the shoulders and arms and in the vent's opening). There's also a pretty cute tuxedo suit option for the women. They'll debut in all US Sephora stores in the spring. Prabal spoke briefly to the small crowd of editors assembled for the presentation, and he is quite charming in person (seriously, his accent is soothing). He told the crowd that when he was a fashion student at Parsons, he would attend fashion shows or events, and use the makeup that he got in his goody bags to do fashion illustrations. He also revealed that while it was challenging to work with some of the guidelines that Sephora gave him, "This particular tunic was something that I'd wanted to do for my own collection for a long time. I'd never had an opportunity." And that red and black palette? "Red is my favorite color. I'm Aries and I love red!" he said. We caught up with him for a private chat, where revealed he'd like to extend his brand into beauty:

Primary Photo
Beauty

New Nail Color Alert: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Releases Spring Patterns!

When Sally Hansen launched their Salon Effects nail polish strips back in January, I was instantly smitten. It turns out that a lot of other people were, too, because the brand cannot keep them in stock anywhere. I’m currently hoarding two boxes of Misbehaved, the fishnet stocking pattern, which I’m saving for a special occasion. (Because fishnets on your nails are surprisingly versatile.) Sally Hansen is offering five new patterns--available this month--and they’re perfect. The best of the bunch is Ay Ay Captain (a blue nautical stripe) which is going to look snazzy with all the striped knockoffs you’re buying from Zara. There’s also: Don’t Get Catty (hot pink leopard), Check, Please! (black and white checks that bring to mind old school Vans), Show Your Stripes (a black and silver chevron pattern), and Wicked Bamboo (neutral stripes). Look for the new styles to hit drugstores everywhere over the course of May. Click through to see the other patterns.

Primary Photo
Style

Test Out the New Military Trend... On Your Eyes

A few weeks ago I walked into the office and Hayley said to me, "Wait, what's going on with your makeup? It looks so good!" Green eye shadow, people. I'm not talking about the Pantone color of the year, emerald. No, this is green's browner yet more versatile and chic-er (sorry Leah and Britt) big sister, khaki green. It's a versatile hue that works on any eye color.