Thursday, August 14, 2014

on 10 comments

Sally Hansen Color Foil swatches and review

So these are a bit of old news for those in the USA, given they came out in about May, but I only just got them this week and I'm so in love with these polishes I had to share my swatches. 

I was totally bummed when I read that Sally Hansen Australia was not going to stock the Color Foil range in Australia.  As soon as I read that info, I jumped online and purchased the whole collection.  I was originally only going to buy a few colours, but in the end I just got them all, as there was probably only one or two I didn't think I needed.  It turns out I was smart to buy them all, cause I love each and every one of them.

After reading reviews about his collection, and seeing other swatches I knew exactly what I was getting myself in for.  These chrome polishes are very similar to the Layla Mirror Chromes and OPI Push and Shove in that they will show every ridge, bump and scratch on your nail. Therefore you are going to want to get a very smooth base.  There are three ways you can do this:
  1. Use a special aqua base coat such as the base coat that comes with OPI Push and Shove or Nfu Oh Aqua base coat.  As long as you wait long enough for the aqua base to dry you can get a decent finish.
  2. Use gel polish as a base.  Gel polish cures to a very high shine and applying these polishes over a gel base works perfectly. Gel polish is usually quite thick which means it covers up ridges and nail marks very nicely creating a beautiful shiny and smooth finish.
  3. Buff your nails to a high shine.  This is what I did. I used my double sided buffer from Layla, which was specifically designed to buff you nails to wear their Mirror Chrome polishes.  I really like this file because it's not very rough.  The rough side is only just rough enough to smooth out ridges and the buffing side just polishes your nails to a high shine.  I do admit, I'm pretty lucky that my nails don't have many lines or ridges to start with, nor do I suffer from peeling, so buffing my nails was pretty quick and easy for me to do.
I don't recommend trying these polishes over your regular base coat, it's just going to lump up and pull if you go over the same area twice, so just don't bother as you wont get a good finish. All these swatches are two coats with no base coat or top coat.

Cobalt Chrome






Leaden Lilac






Liquid Gold






Minted Metal






Pink Platinum







Purple Alloy





Rose Copper





Titanium Flush







Yellow Gold






Stirling silver





I did a very quick comparison with some other popular silver chrome polishes. Layla Metal Chrome is a darker silver compared to OPI and Sally Hansen, and Metal Chrome also dries to the smoothest finish.  Both OPI and Sally Hansen dry with the same very slight brush marks (really only noticeable in swatch photos) and are basically dupes of each other.  Essie No place like chrome looks much more shimmery than the other three chromes, but it's formula is by far the easiest to work with (and it also works beautifully for stamping)






One reason that I love this collection so much is that it compliments the Layla Mirror chrome collection so well.  My biggest disappointment with the Layla Mirror Chrome was the colour range.  They were all shades of dusty pinks with only one cool toned blue shade.  This collection on the other hand has a nice balance between warm and cool colours. The cool colours in this collection are so stunning! Plus, there is two golds, the Layla Mirrors had no gold polishes!

Just a couple of other notes about these polishes.  They come in an opaque bottle that is painted in a high shine chrome finish. These bottles look gorgeous and the colours the bottles are painted in is a very close match to the colour the polish dries to.  Just make sure you give the bottles a good shake before you apply it, because the pigments do tend to settle and separate.

I'm planning to use these for some stamping, but I'm imagining that just like the Layla polishes, I will have to work very, very fast with the scraping and stamping, because they dry so quickly.

Have you got any of these polishes, or do you think you will pick any of them up?

10 comments:

  1. OMG where did you get these from? I covet these, I have a mighty need and all that sort of stuff ;) So jelly (and stunning swatches as per usual- I don't think I've ever seen a dodgy one from you).
    Love these, want these, need these.

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    1. I could only find them on ebay, but it was probably still cheaper than Australia retail if they did decide to sell them here. They are truly amazing, and if you like shiney nails, you needs these.

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  2. Beautiful! I was also really bummed when I found put these babies wouldn't be coming to oz.. I might have to order them all!!

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  3. I love all of them...what pretty colors!
    http://ifashionandbeautyblog.blogspot.com/

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  4. I only ended up getting two of them (liquid gold and sterling silver) since my nails peel all the time and I can barely wear mirror finish polishes! I am so jealous of your smooth nails :-(

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  5. I just received five of these in a swap and I'm thrilled. They're gorgeous!! :)

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  6. These are gorgeous! I highly doubt we'll be getting these in Scotland :-( Great advice too you have achieved a wonderful finish on these! I have Push and Shove and have put off wearing it so far! I'll get around to it one day soon - after I buff the nails though lol :-)

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  7. Your swatches are just so fantastic - the best I've seen! I'm so glad you were able to get all of them. They are so unique, I think.

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  8. Your nail plates are so smooth and perfect - great swatches! I'm so happy they have gold chromes - FINALLY!!!!! I need my hands on these . . ebay I go!!

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I live in Canberra, Australia with my husband, Mr Ten and Miss Eight. My blog is all about nail polish, and a few other bits in between. You can contact me at morenailpolish@iinet.net.au