Swatch and Review - Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Terracotta

Hi! It's Saturday! Yay! Today I'l be showing you a polish from the 2011 Designer Collection for Rachel Roy, named Terracotta. Terracotta is a lovely caramel nude creme polish, so pretty. It applies wonderfully smooth and creamy, perfectly opaque in 2 coats. Although the Complete Salon Manicure polishes claim to have "7 Benefits of a salon Manicure in 1 Bottle: base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, colour, top coat, while also being chip resistant and have a gel shine finish", I do not feel it lives up to all of them. I still applied a base and top coat, mainly because I didn't know of these "7 Benefits" until after I saw an advertisement of their new collection for spring and summer of 2013 on the back cover of the Hello! magazine, but also because I felt the polish wasn't shiny enough for my standards. I mean, this polish may seem AMAZING to those who are not obsessed with nail polish, but I demand for PERFECT, shiny, chip-free nails, and without applying my own base/top coat, it just doesn't meet my standards. 

I also have to note that this polish normally sells from $5.99-$7.99 at most Canadian drugstores, which, for a drugstore polish is A LOT. OPI and Essie runs for $7.99-$10.99 where I purchase them. That being said though, I only buy them when they are on sale, at about $4-5 dollars, or in multi packs of 5 polishes for $15.99. Everything said, this swatch was done on my own nails this time, and the wear time was incredibly well. The pictures below were taken today, which is the 4 day now. Normal/most polishes only last max 4 days without chipping. I did file my nails yesterday though, so that may have filed off any tip wear. Enough with me rambling on and on about this polish, and the collection, price........ pictures!!

What I used:

Base Coat:  1 coat of Pro FX Epoxy Bond Base Coat
Polish: 2 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Terracotta
Top Coat: 1 coat of INM Out the Door Dry Fast Top Coat

I also want to say that I love the wide brush in these polishes. I know some people hate these kinds of paddle brushes, but in my opinion, the brush makes or breaks my overall application quality of a polish. A polish could have the best consistency and formula with perfect pigmentation, but with a bad brush, application of the polish is almost guaranteed to be difficult. My favourite brush type is a wide paddle brush, which is why I also love OPI polishes, and not-so-love Essie polishes. 

What kind of brushes do you prefer?

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Nail Art - Multi Coloured Polka Dot Manicure

Hello! I wanted to share with you another nail art post.... polka dots! I think this manicure is so fun and versatile, you could have multi coloured dots on a colourful background for a fun, easy-going look like I had, or gold dots on a neutral beige base for a more simple, elegant, office appropriate look. So versatile, you could easily change and switch the colours for your preferences and create a totally different style. I do have to give credit for MissJenFABULOUS on YouTube, she has a tutorial on her called "Cute and Easy Polka Dot Manicures". I used her third design in the video,  I've also done her second design, I will also post that in the near future. 

I created this design starting with Essie Fiji as my base. Then, I used Essie Fifth Avenue, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety-Split Lime, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pronto Purple, and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Terracotta. After placing my dots how MissJenFABULOUS showed, I decided I wanted a little bling, so I added OPI Which is Witch on two or three of the dots on each nail. The extra sparkle really pulled the manicure together and gave it more of a nail applique (a.k.a nail sticker) look. Awesome! Let's get on with the manicure...

Left to Right: OPI Which is Witch, Essie Fiji (Base), Essie Fifth Avenue, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety-Split Lime, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pronto Purple, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Terracotta

What I used:

Base Coat: 1 coat of Pro FX Epoxy Bond Base Coat
Polish: 2 coats of Essie Fiji as base, 1 coat each of polishes used for polka dots
Top Coat: 1 coat of INM Out the Door Dry Fast Top Coat

I think this design is perfect for summer, but you can easily switch the colours I used for this design for darker colours during the autumn and winter. Thank you for reading and have a great day!

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