Flakies: Nfu Oh 40 and SH Hidden Treasure

I hope you guys had a great long weekend... I'm sad it's over! I think my posts here are going to have to slow down, mostly because I haven't bought anything new in a while XD (that's a good thing, right?)

I've been reswatching some of my older polishes lately to update my spreadsheet, so I thought I would share those updated pics.

Today imma show you my two lone flakies:

SH Hidden Treasure (over black): This was the first polish I hunted around for like mad (I'm sure many of you did the same!) and never found it at the drugstore (CVS, Walgreens, Rite-aid). A couple months after it came and went, I found a single bottle by itself in a random plastic bin in K-mart! I actually went in looking for glycerin (for my acetone remover; Kmart didn't have any btw) and was thrilled to find this instead! :) Ahhh good memories :)



Nfu Oh 40 (over black): During that time I was freaking out about not being able to find HT, I ended up ordering this from Fabuloustreet.com to ease my pain. I decided against the HT-dupe (which is #38, I believe?) which is a good thing since I finally did get my hands on HT! The flakies in this one are a lot larger and a bit more sparse, but they reflect blue-green instead of red-orange-green.



Ironically enough, I hardly ever wear these. The removal of flakies is a huge deterrent for me, even with foil method removal! haha. Oh well, I'm still glad to have them.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Spam!

The Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line was the first "expensive" nail polish I bought. To be fair, they really are quite expensive for drugstore polish!

I distinctly remember thinking "OMG this is expensive!!" when I bought 3 on sale for $5 each at Walgreens. Ahh... the good old days.

The brush is really huge, but manageable. The really downer with these is the paddle-like stem, which makes it IMPOSSIBLE to wipe off excess polish at the neck of the bottle because flat + round does not work!

Sally Hansen Fedora - This is my hands-down favourite SH CSM. I just love the way it looks! It is a dupe for $OPI Under My Trenchcoat.



Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal - This came out in the same collection as Fedora. I do like it, but wish it was a bit more sparkly. I hear it is very close to ChG Wagon Trail.



By the way, one of my favourite ways to wear ChG Zombie Zest is over this polish. Take a look:




I swear, if that layering combo could be achieved in one polish, it would EASILY be in my top 10! *swoon*

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure - Infamous little sucker. I remember finding the display and seeing both HTs gone. I didn't find this until months after it came out, in a random little bin at Kmart (of all places!). I wore it over everything for a week before promptly never looking at it again. Sounds familiar, right? *sideways glance to OPI Black Shatter*



Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure - One of those first 3 CSM polishes I bought. I was really excited about it and almost bought Petal to the Metal in its place. I do like this pale gold shade, but now that my stash is much larger, I've come to somewhat hate the brushstroke appearance, as mild as it is.



Sally Hansen Fairy Teal - (first eww cuticles!!) I loved this shade like crazy until I got Illamasqua Muse. They were too close (but definitely NOT dupes) to keep both... especially since this SH one stains! Now that I have a better handle on basecoats, I wonder if it would still stain?


Sally Hansen Pink Slip - One word: ICK. DO NOT WANT. So so bad. Maybe my application is better now, but I already gave this one away to a friend who prefers to wear things sheer. I think Essie Ballet Slippers is a much better alternative to this monstrosity.



Even though I hate the brush/stem, I still have some CSM lemmings... such as Gray by Gray.

Your turn: any fav or hated Complete Salon Manicures?

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear spam!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears were the polishes that lured me into the world of NP-addiction. They have great colours, great formula, and a fabulous brush. Seriously guys, I love the brush. It is my favourite type. I find the OPI pro-wide to be mega huge on my small nails and while I like the "Regular" brush on Essies and Zoyas, the brush on SHXWs is perfect! The brush is similar in size to the new CND brushes.

Three pet peeves, though:

1. The price of these is creeping up! I remember when they retailed for closer to $2, and now they are $3.29 - $3.79 at the drugstore. What the nards?!

2. So many of the shades are limited edition, never to show up again. Sometimes a few shades make it into core, which is nice, but other times.... sad panda.

3. The polish tends to gum up quickly if you take too long to do your mani, but doesn't stay that thick permanently. It is very odd.

Regardless, I will still check out the new collections and pounce on them when they go on sale for 2/$4 :)

Here are swatches of SHXWs that I own or have owned in the past:

Sally Hansen The Real Teal - This polish kicked off my teal obsession. It was from the summer collection in 2010 and is really bright and gorgeous. Sometimes, I'll see it on my unlabeled swatch wheel and say "Damn, that is gorgeous, what is that?!" so I have kept this in my collection :)




Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz - From the same summer collection last year, this jelly with purple flakes is amazing. Unfortunately, it doesn't pair well with my skintone, so I gifted it to a friend. I did franken half of it with some flakies to come up with a Nfu Oh 51 "dupe". This polish has been going on clearance, so it appears to be moving out of the perm display, so get this while you can if you're interested!



Sally Hansen Concrete - Probably my favourite XW polish. Such a lovely neutral, work-appropriate shade. I'd like to find a dupe for when I run out! This was released in Fall 2010, I believe!


Sally Hansen Fireberry Red - A gorgeous dark red jelly with glass-flecks. This is a dupe for ChG Stroll and is definitely a sister to OPI Smitten with Mittens. It was in the same collection as Concrete.




Sally Hansen Mystic Lilac - This one was quite popular on NB when it was released and is quite unique. It is a bit sheer though and needs 3-4 coats to be opaque (as shown in the pictures). I like to wear it with just 1 coat layered over Concrete, though. Also from the same collection as Concrete and Fireberry Red.



Sally Hansen Celeb City - Highly recommended if you do not have a basic silver foil in your collection. Great, great formula and opaque in 2 easy coats.



Sally Hansen White On - Another great basic which is pretty easy to apply in two coats.


Sally Hansen Going Green - This polish is super gorgeous and killed my Essie Pretty Edge lemming... for a while. The base colour is very similar and the SHXW has a hidden shimmer! The brush on this one was not the same as the others (it was curved instead of straight/slanted and the brush was skinny. I think it received the brush from the Lacquer Shine line by accident!!) so I gifted it to a friend :) I kind of miss it!



Sally Hansen Blue It - A crazy vibrant blue shade. I hardly ever wore it, so I passed it along to a friend. I always wondered if it was close to ChG Frostbite... I guess I will never know! :)


Sally Hansen Red Carpet - Really gorgeous, basic red glitter in red jelly base! Definitely recommend this if you are missing something like this in your collection! I don't have ChG Ruby Pumps, but I'm told they are similar. Swatched beside OPI Smitten with Mittens, it looks very close in base colour, but of course this is regular glitter particles instead of gold-flashing-glass-flecks in the OPI. I passed this onto a friend too, since one red glitter is enough for me!



Sally Hansen Strobe Light - This has been compared to OPI Teenage Dream, but without the pinkish base. It is very glittery, but I hardly ever wore it, so I gifted it to a friend. I found the formula to be pretty darn goopy though. Not sure if the OPI has the same problem... I suspect it does. This is great for layering, if that's your thing! Here it is layered over black:


Sally Hansen Gunmetal - This is the only XW that I have ever hated. I picked it up because of some lingering hype on NB, but it looks god awful on my skintone. There are brush strokes as well, which I am not a fan of. The colour is a blue based grey, sort of like shark skin. I've seen this look great on others, but it seriously clashes with my skintone! Get it away, get it away!!


Do you have any favourite Xtreme Wears?

Sally Hansen CSM Fedora and Sequin Scandal

DBF picked up these two polishes from Ulta for me a couple weekends ago. They were 2/$10 and there was a $5 off $10 coupon at the time, so he scored both for $5!

I had been lemming both for quite a while...


Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal and Fedora


SH Sequin Scandal


SH Sequin Scandal - macro


SH Fedora - Completely in LOVE with this polish; it has jumped right into my top 20... maybe even top 10 polishes!


SH Fedora - love the shimmer in it <3

NOTD: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Pink Rose Diamond

Found at my local Dollar Tree yesterday \o/ I bought two other packs, but they are vastly inferior.

In full sun by the window:









Indoor light:


Hope you have luck finding some goodies at your Dollar Trees!!

Last week's haul and some NOTDs

I had some friends from back home come and stay with me for a week. This is what resulted from taking them around to various drugstores ^_^;



I cleaned out Marshalls of their Barielle stuff. Got some camo, HRF, mani extender, and hand creme.

Left to right along the top: SH Going Green, SH Blue It, SH LS Spark, WnW Night Prowl, NYC Chinatown, OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow, Milani Dressmaker (LOVE THIS!), Brucci Elizabeth's A Natural.


Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green: I like this more than I thought I would! Not-complete-lemming for Essie Pretty Edge killed.


Close-up of SH Going Green: and this has shimmer!

The Milani is so lovely. Although it took 3 coats to be mostly opaque :( Still... secret shimmer is worth it!






Here's my awful mani of it. I did it in the living room (has terrible lighting) -_-


Also got these bad boys from a blog sale over at The Kitchen, the Closet and the Laboratory.... OPI Green-wich Village (a lemming! It has been fulfilled!), OPI Russian Navy Suede (my first suede, wow, it is amazing!), NARS Arabesque (as a freebie; not sure what to do with it!), Essie St Lucia Lilac (I should do a comparison vs OPI Rumple's Wiggin)

Last weekend I also stopped into CVS to pick up Confetti My Favorite Martian:


I kinda love it:



Finally, my first franken. The mess, first:


I got caught up in the frenzy about Paradoxal, which is bizarre because a) I'm not even that crazy about the colour, and b) I hope I never spend more than $10 on a bottle of nail polish (we'll see how long this lasts).

Anyway, somehow I ended up making this:



I actually like it!


Macro of the shimmer (wrong colour for Paradoxal, but hey, I used what I had)

I used some neglected eyeshadows (the dark shimmery brown from Maybelline Expert Wear quad in Natural Smokes - my first eyeshadow palette!, and a free pigment sample from Coastal Scents in Quartz Mauve), the light pink Barielle from the prior Marshalls haul (which was terribly streaky and blechy!!), some WnW Black Creme and the NYC Chinatown, all thrown together.

I picked up a few more drugstore polishes recently, but I'll save those for next time.