SALLY HANSEN

Gift Guide 2015: Sally Hansen and Make A Wish

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Here’s a great way to get the holiday giving underway. Sally Hansen and Make-A-Wish Ireland have teamed up this year to give someone on your list, and a child aged 3 to 17 years, lovely treat. Buy the specially-branded Miracle Gel Duo and the charity will receive €0.50 for each sold.
SALLY H MAKE A WISH
The duo is priced at €14.95, which is a fiver of a saving for you, and the monies raised for the charity go towards making wishes come true for terminally ill kids. You can find this thoughtful deal at all good pharmacies nationwide. {Don’t ever shop at a bad pharmacy.}

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The tree ornament came with my press sample and isn’t part of the deal, which is a pity because it is pretty cute.

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Red Alert! Things That Are; Not Just Lippy

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Because I like red. Loads.

SALLY HANSEN Right Red Fred
It’s been ages since the World Famous Super Model Thumbnail™ has made an appearance on this page. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Right Red Fred {RRP€8.95} is warm red, and that is the brand’s vaunted one coat > meaning, one coat will get you salon coverage. Perfect for us lazy arses who are bad at polishing their nails.

RIMMEL As You Want Victoria
Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lipstick in As You Want Victoria {€6.49} is purely luscious. It feels as soft as a balm, but the pigment! Not what you’d expect from something stuffed full of moisturising vitamins. It isn’t the absolute best for long-wearingness, but blot a couple of times and reapply and you’ll get some mileage out of it.

ARMANI red
And here she is again! Giorgio Armani Nail Lacquer in Four Hundred {€24} is a one coat application as well, and a bluer red, which I tend towards. It is so shiny, you’ll be tempted to eschew a top coat; do use one, if only to make it last even longer.

LOREAL
I have been going-to my L’Oreal Paris GlamShine Stain Splash in Juliet {€12.29} since I got it, and it may be the first lippy installment in I Used It All Up. As shiny as gloss, as light and yet not nearly as drying as stain, this is a spectacular red, and the look will last through hours of talking and drinking. I did quite selflessly put that to the test — anything for you lot.

LOUIS VUITTON Capucine £3250
There is a smaller version of the latest It bag, Louis Vuitton Capucine {£3,250*} that does not look as if Michelle Williams could fit her entire self in it, with room to spare for her keys and cell phone. This snap of the page of Vogue is likely as close as I’m going to get to this, but oh! The silhouette! The brazen redness of it! I die.

FITFLOP FLAME
‘Why is everyone staring at me?’ I wondered grouchily — then I looked down. I had forgotten I was walkin’ around in my FitFlop Super T Sneaker in Flame {£34.99 via clogg.co.uk}. Red shoes make peeps very starey! {These are, in fairness, very much an orangey red…} I had a pair of red patent leather Doc Martins that inspired New York drivers to shout ‘Nice shoes!’ out their windows as they passed.

I got these in a larger size than my usual, as my previous pair of Super Ts still has not broken in properly. I am not super mad, as it’s not really that FitFloppy in terms of support, not old school FitFlop, in any case. Still, it gives good sole, and had I bought the Gogh Moc Snake clogs in Snake Jam (red) instead of Choclate (self explanatory), they’d be featured here to much greater acclaim. Nice wedgy sole, great to walk in, and they make my ankles look skinny!

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*AHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

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Ride, Sally Ride! Hansen Makes it Through 40 Minutes of Unrelenting Flatwork

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Forealz.

POST LESSON 1

When I got back from horseriding, I totally forgot to even check my manicure, because what would be the point — way to keep a positive attitude, Suze! {Or, I just forgot to look.}  When I remembered and I looked, I said, out loud, ‘Holy amazeballs!’ No, I didn’t, but I think I did gasp in admiration.

Okay, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure — maybe I do buy into your legend after all.

POST LESSON 2

I mean, seriously: we went and went for 40 minutes straight. Not like I’d ever take my gloves off to give my fingernails an airing, or whatever, but the havoc said gloves wreck on the varnish is usually appalling. Hey! Maybe this means I was keeping hands as still as I ought to be! That would also be worthy of a ‘holy amazeballs’ expostulation.

I am desperately excited about every aspect of this result. Honestly, go here and compare!

Amaze.

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Got Yer Spring Right Here: Sally Hansen Totally Tropical Complete Salon Manicure Exotica Collection

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VITAMIN SEA
Oh, herlooooooooo.
PALM TREAT
Nothing like a pop of colour to pick you up. That’s Vitamin Sea as the accent nail, and Palm Treat on the rest.

Gotta love Sally Hansen for always having fashion forward colours at a dead reasonable price. Other ‘flavours’ in the Exotica Collection include Sgt. Preppy {a dusty pink}; Evening Glow {a bright orange}; Shore-ly! {beige-y sand}; Tahitian Sunset {melon}; and Go Bananas {uh, yellow, unsurprsingly.}

I had my colours applied by visiting celebrity manicurist Jessica Hoffman, a fellow Yank, though a London-based one. I watched her and hoped to learn, but I think you have to be born with patience? Which I was mainly not? At least when it comes to painting my nails. And I made sure that I waited long enough for them to dry, helped along largely by Jess’ application of Sally’s Insta-Dry Top Coat, which protects against chipping.

I’ve already dinged ’em though, so I’m still not convinced as to the completeness of the salon manicure. And I’m going horsing tonight, so we’ll see how they hold up to that.

But for right now? I can practically hear the leaves unfurling on the chestnut trees, and whatever the flowers are, that come after the daffs and the croci, they are just about ready to bloom!

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€8.95/£6.99/$7.49

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Blog Imitates Life: In Denial About The Christmas

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Yeah, so I’ve got a bunch of plans, as usual, about a theme thing for Christmas shopping, and — well, too many plans, I guess, and I can’t settle and figure it out. You know, just post, for cryin’ out loud!

It has to be right, at least in my mind.

There will be plenty of stuff for the women in your life — your mum, your sister, your cousins, your pals — there is going to be a special category for nieces! — and there is stuff for dudes, too. Also: aunts/uncles, and your parents as a duo.

Oh, I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Until such time, I will leave you with this: the World Famous Supermodel Thumbnail™ sporting Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Cha-Ching! Suitably festive!

Seriously, though, some truly excellent stuff coming this way, including some of the most amazing hampers I have ever seen.

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Sally Hansen Gem Crush comes in eight shades and retail for €8.95

Sparkletacular Twinkly Toes from Sally Hansen

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Love!

Here’s Gem Crush Nail Colour from Sally Hansen, a flock of new glitter varnishes. Behold, the perfectly named Blingtastic.

I don’t bother with a base coat on my toes, and I expect that this will go on much more smoothly with one. The mass of glitter makes it sparkle like Rockefeller Center at Christmas, but it also makes it difficult to apply as quickly as one might wish. You’ve got a couple of coats to do here until you get total coverage.

Once total coverage is achieved, though, the look is spark-tacular. Sparkletacular? Eh, whatevs. Shiiiiiny!

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Gem Crush come in eight shades and retail for €8.95.

Colourful Claws: Ten Shades, Ten Thoughts

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First off: I am mainly rubbish at applying nail varnish, so take that into consideration, plz.

Also: my splitting nail, herein dubbed ‘Auld Schplitty’ is the really stubby one on my left hand, ring finger, so do give it some slack for being so abbreviated.

I had vowed to paint all the nails because I was feeling out of sorts, and then something happened, I don’t know, I had a sambo or something, and then I felt in sorts; then, I didn’t feel bothered to do the nails, but I had said I would, so I did, hurriedly, and well, yeah. Not the best manicure ever.

Surely the most colourful, though! Bright side.

The following replicates, as near as dammit, my first thought upon completed application of each colour.

>LEFT HAND {Clockwise from thumb}
LA Splash Glitter Nail Lacquer in Fire Siren
OMGGGGGGGGGGG awesomest glitter ever ever ever.

L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche in Wild Purple
Gloopy. This is not — yeah, too thick.

Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Cherry Jubilee
Ooh, love — bit thin, maybe?

Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Ruby Tuesday
Eh — this brush, so small. Too fiddly.

Lancome Vernis in Love Long Lasting Nail Polish in Madame Tulipe
Perfect! Perfect — one coat, flat brush, yesssss.

>RIGHT HAND {Clockwise from pinkie}
Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Frenzy
Best. Neutral. Ever. Deffo needs two coats, though.

Yves Saint Laurent La Lacque Couture in Taupe Retro
Bit thin. Three coats? Yikes.

Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Lucky Penny
Another Avon, don’t care: shinnnnnny!

Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire
Yeah, the brush is too small. So streaky!

Lacura Beauty in 171
Now, that’s excellent pigment. kinda thick, though…?

OVER TOP OF THEM ALL: Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat. This = great.

Underneath, I did an extra coat of Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener. I wonder if it is what is making most of the varnishes look crackly? Because there are fault lines showing up on almost all of them. This is not a good look.

The keepers? Chanel, Lancome, Avon, and especially: LA Splash. Wowweeeee it is fabbbbalis. I feel some fear about removing it, though, and will be following the advice found here, via CherrySue, Doin’ the Do.

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I still have my toes to do, and I’ve got a whole range of Avon Nailwear Pro+ with which to do them…

Post-Olympic Slump: I Haz a Sad. Is There a Cure?

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I’m not even supposed to be sitting here: the Dublin Horse Show kicks off today, and I really am supposed to be there. But even I am not about to go out in this hurricane.

Dammit. The show is my yearly visit to what is, for me, a mash up of Heaven/Nirvana/Valhalla < the latter minus the burning bark. Not that I can be at all spendy, but I really do need new jodhs. And a couple of pairs of those cotton gloves with the sticky bits on the palms.

The show is also meant to be a way to get over the great void left by the Olympics, which is of greater depth than I would ever have guessed. I have become less interested in the event the younger the athletes have gotten. Like, when you’re a child, even as unathletic a child as I was, you can still dream, you know? Not so much, the older you get.

Although! There was yer man Ian Millar from Canada: 65 years old and still jumping! Yeah, well, never mind, not much of argument, as I wouldn’t even feel able to hold the lead rope of any of those Olympic horses. So whilst the dream is well past its sell by date, I got all into the Games this year, and it took me a few days to realise that I really did miss them.

Sigh. I actually have work-work to do, which is grand, but I just feel so blah.

I think I will paint all my nails. In individual colours. I have many, many nail varnishes all of a sudden. I have a shedload from Avon, I’ve got to try & test a bunch for the newspaper, amongst which are samples from Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Lacura, Lancôme and L’Oréal Paris. Also, just got a couple from Max Factor, and also from new-to-Ireland brand LA Splash. And I can finish it all off with a Sally Hansen top coat.

Yes. Can’t think of a better use of my time. Apart from the work-work, of course. 

BRB.

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Snap! Judgements: Clean Your Face and Smell Good

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Among other things.

Snap! Ah, the sheer joy of opening up something from Chanel. It’s not just that the signature black-with-gold box is so evocative — I think it’s the little black velvet sleeve that everything comes in? It’s little a little tiny posh sleeping bag. After having enthused over the elegance of the packaging, I gave my face several well-placed swipes of the Luminous Bronzing Powder in Sable Beige (€42.70). It seems a bit… subtle, which is not my usual self-tanned-mode, but it takes more to be a Chanel Woman than simply having the stuff around the house. Am I up to it? Time will tell.

Snap! My supermodel thumbnail is threatening to get an agent. While she dithers, I gave her a dose of Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Treatment (€10.95). This claims to do all the things that my manky, manky nails need to demankify themselves. It’s meant to smooth the ridgeyness, strength ’em, grow ’em, and when applied as a top coat, protect ’em, too. Initial application looks good, and the ridges have been noticeably minimised. I need to grow ’em a bit before we move forward with this product.

Snap! Are you getting married? Aura by Swarovski Collection Mariage Eau de Toilette (€56) is really pretty. It looks pretty: very shiny and with a lacy detail, and the Swarovski crystal on top, oh wow! And it smells pretty: powdery, but not too light, it’s actually got a bit of a bite to it, like, ‘Okay, dude, I am pretty, but I am also fierce, in case you haven’t figured that out by now!’ I am imagine this little internal monologue happening just when the bride arrives at the altar, and the groom turns to her, and he picks up this thought psychically, which would be amazing. You light like to get this if you want to get married, and the dude who infers all the above and totally gets it, then he is the man for you.

Snap! The round gold thing is Maybelline 24 HR Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow in Eternal Gold (€7.99). I love me some sparkly, and this is sparkly, and when I opened it and rubbed some on to the back of my hand, I thought: You know, I’d like to use this as a highlighter. And so I did! Blended some on the cheekbone area (because I don’t have discernable bone structure) and it worked. It was good on the lids as well, but I am looking forward to using this all over my face, like an escapee from Cirque du Soleil. Will get back to you re: 24 hours.

Snap! I just used this VOYA Cast Away Facial Wash (€26) in the shower, so I can’t really say at this juncture whether it effectively cleanses away all the make up and grime one applies and collects on one’s face (hopefully in that order!) It’s a nice soothing gel that feels cool, literally and figuratively. I felt it was a bit slippery, and almost lost the palmful of product down the drain. This is unique in my experience, and those prices, be careful!