Sally Hansen: Coral Reef

Coral Reef, you are finally mine!  I don't know why I say it like that... It wasn't like it was hard to find.  I just kept forgetting to pick it up.  Well, I finally remembered!  I'm glad I have it now because it is just as pretty as it was in the photos I saw of it. 

Coral Reef is a creme finish pinky-coral.  I find that it doesn't really lean too orange.  I definitely get more of a pink vibe from it.  I actually prefer that.  While I do enjoy the more orange-corals, I find myself reaching for the pink-leaning ones more.  I don't know that I'd say this is a unique color, especially the last couple of years, but it is nice all the same and fantastic that it is from such an affordable line of polish.

This was a more opaque polish but I did need two coats to smooth everything over.  That is what you see in the photos, two coats.  Something I didn't care for, though, was the consistency.  I found my bottle to be a bit on the thicker side.  Not gloopy thick or enough that it warranted thinner, but enough that when I went back for the second coat, the first coat was still kind of gummy feeling.

All in all, if you are looking for a vibrant and affordable coral nail polish I'd say give this one a go.  It is quite easy to find and most stores selling polish will carry Sally Hansen.  This runs between $1.99-$3.50 depending on where you shop.

Watermelon Colors

I have all the new Summer colors from Essie and couldn't decide which polish to use, so... I just used two of them in the same manicure. If you can't decide just use multiple polishes, right? :-)

For this manicure I used Essie Mojito Madness and Off The Shoulder. Together, they reminded me of the colors found in a watermelon. Even with no design over the top, they're quite fun. I also flip-flopped which nails on each hand have which color. On my left hand the middle and index fingers have the pink and pinky, ring finger, and thumb have Mojito Madness. But, the right hand has the ring finger and thumb in pink and the index, middle, and pinky in Mojito Madness. So, basically there is no rhyme or reason to the placement of the colors. I just randomly went to town painting fingers. LOL!

We'll consider this a mini review, of sorts, on the two colors. Both have good pigmentation but needed two coats for full opacity. Mojito Madness gave me a bit more trouble, though, in application. It seemed when I used thinner coats it wanted to pull up the previous swipe of polish and clump up. If I laid it on a bit thicker it was fine. I didn't notice Off The Shoulder doing that. Neither were horrid to work with just be aware that Mojito Madness isn't going to swipe on like butter.

Essie describes Mojito Madness as a "fun loving, lime green" and Off The Shoulder as a "Bold, hot pink."

Key Chain

Shortly after putting on Coral Reef I decided it wasn't enough and I wanted to play around with it more.  PLUS, I had recently received my MASH image plates and wanted to test them a bit.  What better time, right?

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I went very simple for the design.  I didn't want to overwhelm the base color because I quite like it. I was looking through the MASH plates and saw one with a cute little key.  I decided that would be perfect and small enough to not distract from the Coral Reef color.  I settled on one finger and kind of linking the other nails into the design by creating a chain that is dangling across all of the nails and holding the key.

WHAT I'M WEARING

1 coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails

2 coats of Sally Hansen Coral Reef

1 coat of Seche Vite

Used Sally Hansen Chrome pen in Gold Chrome and my Mash plates for the key on the middle fingers

Dotted across the nails with a tiny dotting tool and the Sally Hansen Chrome pen

1 coat of Konad special top coat

Look!  Even the thumb connects when I make a "claw."

NEW: Mash Nail Image Plates

Earlier in the week... I can't remember what day, but it was only a few days ago... I placed an order for some new image plates. I had seen that MASH had released their new plates for 2012 and so far had gotten nothing but rave reviews. I decided I would snag some up right away!

This set has very similar etchings to Konad... not the actual images themselves, but the quality of the images. Playing around with them, though, will really determine how well they transfer.

This set is #26-50 and the price was something like $12.99. Not at all bad. They also come already backed (unlike Red Angel) and with a blue protective piece over the top of the image plate. Each plate is in its own little envelope and then all are put into a larger one and packed into a small bubble wrap envelope to be shipped.

When I got my envelope out of my mailbox someone had already opened it. >:-| I'm sure they looked inside and were like "WTH is this?!" and put it back in. Most people wouldn't be interested in these because they'd have absolutely no clue what to do with them... but it still irritates me that my mail was opened by someone curious to find out if there were any goodies worth taking inside.

Sally Hansen: Pacific Blue

This polish is so popular and sought after. I had seen it a number of times but never thought much of it. The more I saw it, though, the more I convinced myself I had to own it too! I want to be a cool kid! x-D

I would have to say this is a true cornflower blue. It is vibrant and eyecatching. Look up pictures of cornflowers...this is spot on. It is a creme finish that has fantastic pigmentation.

In these photos I am wearing 2 coats. I think you could get away with one coat, but my camera likes to show any imperfections so I applied two to be on the safe side. It applied with ease. It was neither too thick, nor too thin. I didn't find it flooding my cuticles or pulling away as I brushed it on.

I thought it might be similar to Essie Mesmerized but it isn't. This one is definitely brighter and demands you look at it, lol! It really, really is eye-catching. With that said, if you are shy about color and vivid polish.... this is NOT for you!