Recessionista find: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail varnish

Never one to miss a bargain, I had to check out Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear nail varnish after reading Lauren Luke's recommendation of it in Black Out. There are few things worse than cheapo nail varnish, but cheapo black nail varnish is generally the absoute worst- just streaks of see-through grey striping your nails in random layers, as if you just spent the entire day potting plants with pritt-stick on your fingernails. No wonder you only paid a dollar, when it takes an entire pot to produce a decent colour, in seventy-eight coats, right? But Lauren says that Black Out required just one coat! This sounded like the sort of miracle every Recessionista dreams of- but was it really true? 

Well, not quite- you really need two coats to get it deep and smooth enough to look good. However, I have never known a nail varnish that was OK with only one coat, and these are two nice thick shiny coats, which is something you don't expect to find for a couple of dollars in Target. Next up was the dark maroon Chanel Vamp copy, called Flirt. Two coats again, but honestly, I could not tell it apart from my much-loved, long-used Vamp. Flirt felt exactly the same to put on, and looks exactly the same dry. (And it's just as hard to get off.) But it costs about a tenth of the price. Back in Target, I picked up another 4 pots in different colours, and tried to get the Black Out for my teenaged daughter. It was sold out already, but there was one last pot of Flirt, so she will have to make to do. You have been warned.

Comments

[Jibril]

Hi!
Try makeupstore cake eyeliner together with the mixing liquid. I have really greasy skin and eyes and it STILL stays on. Lovely!

[Nancy Rommelmann]

I, too, am partial to the dark colors, steel gray and steel blue and black, all of which show every chip. I don't really mind, but I have had -- of all things -- men comment on the state of my nails. As in, your nails are looking like hell, girl. Since I can't do my own nails well at all, I leave the dark, two-coat manicures to the pros, and will occasionally give myself one-coat of super-sheer shell pink or pale blue, which can chip all they want and look none the worse.

[Alice Bachini-Smith]

Good tip- I'm wearing black right now, and it's four days old, I ran out of cotton wool to take it off, and hell is not the word. It looks like half-decayed zombie. Definitely a short-term thing to do by yourself, I agree.

[Nancy Rommelmann]

That's funny. I had on black last month, and about three weeks in (you can imagine), my husband said, "It looks like something chewed off the ends of your fingers."