Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Review & Swatches (#CSMTKO)

For today's Mani Monday I'm going to review a few Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure shades that I received from Influenster Voxbox to review. This isn't my first experience with this line (prior review here), but it's the first time I've tried out their cream shades. You can check out all the goods and info here.

To continue reading the review and see swatches, click the link below.

This polish claims to have seven different benefits, all in one bottle. These benefits include:

• Base coat
• Strengthener
• Growth treatment
• Color
• Top coat
• Chip resistant
• Gel shine finish

Combine all that with a Flawless Finish Brush and you have the perfect, salon quality mani.

Based on the study conducted, apparently 375 women prefer Sally Hansen over Revlon Classic or Essie polish. I can't find any data on how many TOTAL women were polled, but here's the info if you want it. The qualities that were reviewed (and Sally Hansen scored higher on) were:

• Color coverage
• Speed of application
• Streak free application
• Brush
• Saving time

Now that I've tried all the colors I'm generally impressed. As I mentioned earlier, I hadn't tried any of the cream formulations, so it was a nice thing to try out. The large application brush does make it easy to cover a larger surface area quickly, but it does lead to coloring out of the lines easily as well. My nail beds are not that wide, and I keep my nails short, so I had to be careful with application. All shades were able to build up to proper opacity in varying number of coats. The finished application was streak free and even. Even without top coat there was high shine, and it actually did last for a long time on the nails with only minor tip wear. I did test it with top coat, but since I always wear the same top coat, wear time compared to other polishes will be an equal test. Also it does leave a nice gel-polish like finish even before the top coat is applied. I didn't particularly find the polish to provide any extra "treatment" or growth ability. My nails still peeled a little at the tips.

Now for the colors.

Pat on the Black is a blackened raisin cream color. Once applied on the nails it appears to be a much darker color than in the bottle. It reminds me a lot of Essie Luxedo. This color didn't last as well on the nails and didn't leave as nice of a finish. It might have been application error so I plan to try it out again. I'll readdress this once I do. Application was opaque in two coats.






Jaded is a cream "Tiffany Blue" color, a green based turquoise/jade shade. This is similar to Essie Turquoise and Caicos. Much like that shade, this required three coats before it became opaque. I don't know what it is about this type of shade that doesn't lend itself to easy opacity. In any case, it's still a pretty color, and this lasted on my nails for 8 days before it chipped to the point that I had to take it off my nails. Even then it wasn't that bad. I just don't like my nails to be super chipped. Note: At day 6 there was a little baby chip on the corner of one nail. Just not very noticeable to create an issue for me.






Red my Lips is a traditional bright, fire engine (blue-based) red cream. On my nails, my warm undertone makes this pull slightly towards the orange/tomato red end of the spectrum. I'm rather picky about reds, and I'm not too sure how I like this color on me (but it's growing on me). Application was a breeze, and it was opaque in two coats. I'll update you on total lasting power. It's day 4 with this on my nails, and thus far it looks great. It's acting just like Jaded so far.





Swatches

Following nail swatches of Jaded is with three coats and topcoat.

Flash Pic

Shade Pic

Natural Light Pic

Two coats of Red my Lips for the following swatches. I took these after 24 hours of wear, so it's not quite a "fresh" manicure.

Natural Light Pic

Shade Pic

Flash Pic

Note: I thought I took a swatch pic of Pat on the Black, but apparently I didn't. I'm still testing how long my Red my Lips last before applying and testing out Pat on the Black again, so it'll be a bit.

Example of how Jaded wore over eight days. You can see that until day 6 there is only minor tip wear. However, on day 6 I had a little corner chip on my middle finger, which by day 8 became a little larger and prompted me to change my polish.

Day 2

Day 4

Day 6

Day 8

Bottom Line: All the shades applied well and two of the three lasted a long time for me. With over 50 shades available in the line and new limited edition shades that come out periodically, there is a shade for everyone. The price point is a little higher for a drug store brand, but it is comparable to other "high end" polishes and worth the price tag in the way it performs.