Are You Ready for Halloween? Sally Hansen Has You Covered!

Sally Hansen has outdone itself when it comes to Halloween cuteness! The company has released five new, limited edition prints of their infamous Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. All five of these prints have a Halloween theme, and honestly, I think they’re so dang cute.

I found mine at Walgreens, but I’m sure CVS, Rite Aid, and those drugstores should be getting them in, as well. These are on a separate display, which you’ll be able to find where all the other special nail polish and makeup displays are. Each display only has two of each design, so if you want one of these, I would recommend checking your nearest drugstore soon. The retail price on these is $9.99, which I do find to be ridiculously high. The only reason I shelled out the money on these (usually I wait for a bogo sale) is because I’m a total sucker for anything cute and Halloween-themed.

Out of the five that were on the display, I only ended up grabbing two. These are the two that, in my opinion, are the cutest. The other ones are a little more edgy…still very wearable, but more “on the edge”, if you know what I mean. 

The first one I didn’t get is Numbskull, which is essentially a black skull and crossbones design against a plain white backdrop. Skulls, in general, are just not my cup of tea. I don’t care for them very much, so I skipped this design.

The other design I didn’t get is Wishnets, which is a black fishnet design against a red backdrop. This one was interesting…I didn’t care for the color combination too much, but if I ever change my mind about that, I can easily replicate this look using my Konad.

The last design I didn’t get is Hot Wired, which is a black barbed-wire design against a bright lime green backdrop. I actually was anticipating getting this design as well as the other two, but in person, I felt like the barbed-wire look didn’t come across as well as I had hoped for. It also felt like something I could easily replicate using my Konad.

And now onto the fun part: what I did buy! =D

The first design I bought is Spun For You (such a cute name for such a cute design!). This design features a black spider web over a sparkly, metallic silver backdrop. I LOVE the color combination of this design. I’m so glad they didn’t put a black spider web over just a plain white backdrop. The metallic silver gives this design some added dimension, which I love. Now though this design may be able to be recreated using a Konad, I don’t own a stamping plate that has a full-nail spider web on it. So this was unique to my collection.

The second design I bought is Ghoulie Girl (another adorable name). This design features both white and orange ghosts over a black backdrop (though the backdrop is barely visible since this design is LOADED with ghosts!). This design is my favorite out of all five that were released in this limited edition collection, and I also think this one will be the first to sell out. This design is by far the most intricate out of the five that were released. There is no way that this could be done free-hand, or even using the Konad. I LOVE this one.

In the package, you get 16 nail polish strips (in various sizes), a mini orange stick, a mini nail file, and an instructional guide. The instructions are very easy to follow along with, so I don’t think that should be of concern to anyone. The 16 nail polish strips are packaged in two separately sealed packages with 8 nail strips each. Now there is a good and bad side to this. If you have medium-length to short nails, you can actually double-up the nail strips (meaning you use one nail strip for two nails). I’m able to do this with my length nails without a problem. What I do is just cut the nail polish strip in half using scissors and then use one side for a finger on my left hand, and one for my right hand. By doubling-up the nail polish strips, you actually only have to open one packet (containing 8 nail polish strips), and you can use the other packet for another application. This means you get two applications for the price of one (because technically these are supposed to be a one-time-use product).

Now I’ve been getting SO many questions about what I think of the Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Strips. Personally, I think they’re a very good product. This is perfect for those who don’t have time to sit and paint their nails and wait for them to dry. Since these are just nail polish strips, there is no dry time. These are also very easy to remove with regular nail polish remover. It melts away just like regular nail polish. This product is an easy way for even regular consumers to get cute patterns on their nails without having to go to the salon and pay outrageous prices.

As much as I like these polish strips, there are some cons to this product as well. Though it claims to last for “up to 10 days”, I’ve never been able to keep mine on for longer than seven. After that, it starts peeling and chipping, and it just looks like a mess. Also, I find that these last MUCH longer WITH a topcoat. Though the instructions claim you don’t need to apply a topcoat, I find that these peel within a day or two without one. This is particularly unfortunate because it invalidates the fact that there is “no dry time”. If you have to apply a topcoat to the nail polish strip, you have to wait for it to dry. There’s no getting around that.

The last, and probably the most annoying, of the cons is the fact that these nail polish strips dry out if you don’t use them within a matter of hours. As I said earlier, these nail polish strips come in two separate packets of 8 strips each. If you don’t have short enough nails to be able to double-up on your application, then you have to open both of the packets. So this means for 10 nails, you are using 16 nail strips. You would not be able to save the strips once you open the package that they’re in, because since they’re made of real nail polish, they will dry out and they won’t stick to your nails anymore. That makes me sad and I feel like that’s pretty wasteful.

Overall, I really like these Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. I find they last a decent amount of time on your nails and they look super cute. I do wish the price was reduced a bit, because $10 for a one-time-use product seems excessive. But since I’m able to get two uses out of it, it seems more worth it for me. But either way, I HIGHLY recommend these Halloween designs. They’re unbelievably cute AND limited edition, so jump on them as soon as possible! I promise, you won’t regret it. ;)

Love you guys and I'll type to you in my next post! <3
Eshani a.k.a. TotalMakeupJunkie101