Sally Hansen Color Foil: Minted Metal

Does anyone else remember the original Sally Hansen foils? I bought one way back in 2001 and have always regretted not buying more of the colors. When OPI put out their ultra chrome polish, Push and Shove, earlier this year I did a comparison post to my original SH. I loved the ultra chromes so much I was really wishing someone would put out a new line. This summer my wish came true and SH came out with a collection of foils in a ton of different colors. I ran out and bought a few of them right away and then later was lucky to be offered the chance to review a few more so I have almost all of them now. First up is one of the colors I was sent to review- Minted Metal.

Since I had one of the bottles from way back of course I couldn't help but compare the formulas. There is a slight difference, but I don't know if that's because of the age of my old bottle or just differences in the ingredients. The new ones have a tendency to pull up the polish a bit if you're not fast enough or go over the same areas too many times, but overall this polish was fairly easy to apply. It also shows ridges and imperfections in the nail, but this shows up much more on camera than it does in real life. I took the advice on the bottle and didn't use base coat which I actually loved since it saves a bit of time polishing. I did use top coat, however, and it really doesn't dull the finish at all and helps the polish last longer. I got a good solid 3-6 days of wear out of each manicure depending on how hard I was on my hands/nails that week. The finish really is as foil as you can get without using actual nail foils. There's definitely a noticeable difference between this and a regular shiny polish so that makes it well worth the splurge for me.

In my next post I'll talk stamping with the Color Foil polishes. Check back later this week to see my results.

Chrome Check

After I posted my review of OPI's Push and Shove I heard a rumor that Lay Down That Base, the base coat that comes with the polish will turn any metallic polish into an ultra-chrome so I had to try it out. I picked out a few metallic polishes, painted on a coat of Lay Down That Base and took a few photos. It looked chromey enough, but I didn't have anything to compare it with. I took off all the polish, put on my regular base coat and polished all the nails again to get my control group. Let me just say that it's really hard to do the same hand pose half an hour apart to get an accurate comparison. I have a renewed admiration for ladies like Sarah at Chalkboard Nails who somehow manages to nail the exact same hand pose in every picture. 

I'm not sure that the difference was big enough to support the claim that Lay Down That Base can make a metallic into an ultra-chrome. Take a look and see if you can tell which is which.

 The top picture is with the special base and the bottom is my regular base coat. Both pictures show two coats of polish. From index to pinkie I used: LA Colors- Dazzle, Orly- Rage, Zoya- Richelle and Maybelline Color Show- Bold Gold. One thing to note is that the first three polishes might be too foil-like for this experiment. Bold Gold was the smoothest and actually applied the most like Push and Shove. My overall opinion is that Lay Down That Base may have added a little extra shine and smoothed out a few more imperfections on my nails, but it wasn't a big enough difference from regular base coat for me to say that it made the polishes ultra-chrome.

OPI Push & Shove Review

 This is a pretty momentous occasion here at Nerdy for Nails. I may be one of the cheapest bloggers around. I rarely buy something from a current collection because they end up on clearance so quickly and then I can afford twice as many. I also didn't own a single OPI up until now because I always seem to have a $2 bottle in a similar color so I can't justify their prices.

Push and Shove from OPI's Gwen Stefani collection is the polish that changed my mind. The swatches were gorgeous... and I had a gift card. As it turns out I did, indeed, have a cheaper version of this already in my collection, but I regret nothing. It's a beautiful polish despite its attitude. Read on for my full review and check back tomorrow to find out what mysterious 12 year old polish gives Push and Shove a run for its money.

The Push and Shove Duet Pack comes with Lay Down that Base. The base coat dries slightly rubbery and helps the chrome polish stick. I did a coat of my regular base first to help smooth out any imperfections in my nails.

Coat #1: Is this a crackle polish or am I suddenly incompetent at painting my nails??

Thankfully the second coat evened out most of the crackles and flaws. Despite the instructions on the package that say to apply two thin coats, I added a third coat on a few nails that were still patchy. This ultra-chrome polish catches the light beautifully and looks almost like foil on your nails. 

The application is a bit more difficult than a normal polish because it dries quickly and pulls up the polish if you accidentally paint over a partially dried section. I found I needed to wipe more polish off the brush before painting than I normally would to keep the coats light enough. I also had to fight my instinct to go back and smooth out any thick patches. The results are certainly beautiful enough to forgive any difficulties with the application.

I got some shots outside in the sunlight that show just how shiny this polish is.

And the question that was burning in my mind: how long will it last? The package itself says "Do not use top coat. Like all limited engagement events, Push and Shove is intended for One Night Only wear." I'm already getting good at ignoring instructions with this polish so of course I put on top coat. It didn't noticeably dull the finish which was great. 

I painted them on Saturday night and they looked great all through dinner with friends and baking cupcakes Sunday including washing dishes with no gloves (I really wanted to test it). I think I chipped the middle finger in the shower Monday morning at that started the worst for that nail. This picture was taken three days later on Tuesday night and as you can see there's the chipping on the middle finger and tip wear on the rest, but not nearly as bad as I expected.

What do you think about this one? It was different enough for a mainstream polish that I had to try it. I know ultra-chromes have been around for a while on the indie scene but I haven't seen any on the mainstream side lately. I hope ultra-chrome will be the next big thing like texture. I want more in all the colors!