So I am officially in love.
It seems appropriate to start this blog with a product I just can't get enough of right now. The new
Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips. While they're not "officially" on shelves until April 4 (next Monday) they are popping up everywhere already.
I purchased my first pack for around $9 at the Chemist Warehouse, but the official RRP is $14.95. Currently I have on the 'Laced Up' strips, and it's been 3 days and counting and they are still perfect.
The strips were super easy to apply but it took a little time to find the right sized strip for each nail. I have really small nails so I got two nails out of each strip, meaning I still have a whole lot of strips left for another manicure which I thought was great. It did take a little bit of fuss to cut and peel them this way though, the strips do come pre-cut if you can't be bothered, but I was trying to be frugal! If howeverm you decide you want to be a bit particular with them you can probably get two manis out of the packet of 16 strips, unless you have long nails, or larger nail beds of course!
Today I purchased two more packets of the strips from Priceline where they did retail for the full $14.95, I got #310 Wild Child (zebra print) and #350 Misbehaved (looks like fishnet stockings on a gold gilded background), I really wanted the leopard print called 'Kitty Kitty' and the lovely Priceline assistant searched a stack of boxes of the strips that she was unpacking but I had no luck. I also couldn't get this print at two different Chemist Warehouse locations, sigh! Oh well, I guess I will have to wait for the initial sell out and restocking before I can get leopard crazy tips. Zebra will just have to do!
There are three reasons I'm really liking these strips so far. Firstly, I have a terrible habit of picking off my nail polish, when I have usual polish on, I can pick little chips off slowly, and after a couple of days I have usually wrecked my mani without even meaning to! It's better than biting my nails I suppose, but I do annoy myself with it. When it comes to the strips though, they don't flake like polish, if I were to pick at the corner the edge would just lift off and I presume the whole strip would just come off, no little chips. I have had no desire to do this yet though, I think it may have something to do with how cool the lace designs look on my nails too!
Secondly I love nail art, and I have the Konad stamping system but I hate how sometime the print just doesn't transfer right and you have to start all over, wiping off your basecoat, colour and print, it's so irritating. With the Sally Hansen strips if you stick them a little off centre you can just peel and reposition if they haven't fully adhered, making wicked patterned nails foolproof!
Finally, these strips are already dry, so you know what that means, no drying time! No smudges, no ruining the perfect mani because your phone rings or you forgot to feed the cat or you're going to bed. Just stick on these little babies and go, style in a flash!
So where does this revolutionary product come from? Well basically they are a mass market version of Minx nails, foil and print nail transfers available at salons only, and popular with celebs like Katy Perry and Rihanna. Given the fact that my local salon charges $55 for one Minx manicure, Sally Hansen's $14.95 for one (or two if you're frugal and crafty!) seems like a real steal to me.
Now I'm just waiting for a few more prints to come out. The USA has a really cool multi colour glitter one....I'm excited already!
xxx
Beauty Scholar.
Maybelline's new Baby Lips lip balm is my favourite pocket pal at the moment. Not only is the packaging adorable, who doesn't love neon colours (especially when it's pink!!)? But the product is also really good, and really cheap! At $3.95 you can easily buy them all! The balms have SPF 20 and they claim to make your lips lovely after a week or so of use because of the 'Botanical Cellular Repair Concentrate' they include in the formula. It's been almost a week that I've been using them daily now and my lips are feeling a lot better. I have the berry flavour (pictured) and the menthol one which is green and yellow. I like the berry best because it's not as chemically as the other one, though they do claim that the menthol is 'medicated' for lip treatment, which could explain the difference. The other flavours are cherry and orange, but I'm not a fan of either of those fruit flavours in products so I gave those a miss. I'd love to see a lemon one though, or maybe a cinnamon or vanilla flavour, what do you guys think? xxx BeautyScholar.
