Sally Hansen Surprise!

Another Ross find - a box of Sally Hansen polishes with a couple of neat surprises!

The first surprise was Diamond Strength Love in Bloom.  I really liked this polish - I know that there's still VNL, but it's a beautiful jelly with sparkle. 

I thought it would look great with a French mani, but I didn't want to do a traditional white.  I used China Glaze's Velvet bow for a dramatic red tip... that kinda makes it look like a bloody zombie manicure...  maybe I'll revisit this one for Halloween?

 There were three pink polishes in the box, as well.  Normally, I'm not huge into pink.  I think it's overload from Them Younger Days when my mom would *only* allow me to wear pink.  I'm such a rebel, it's taken me 20 more years to wear pink on my own terms.

The first polish, Tuff Buff, from the 10 days no chip polish line, was ... meh.  thin, streaky, plain. Might work for a traditional French mani.

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I then did a Ruffian with the next pink in the box, Sand Lots, from the X-treme line.  This polish I liked a little better.  It's still a little old-fashioned with its shimmer, but it's a soft, pretty pink.

On the tips, I used the last pink, Diamond Strength's The Suite Life.  Nice sparkle.  If I had a need for a conservative mani, any of these three, or all three together, would work well.  I think the sparkles would look good over any color.

You can almost just see the three layers of the different polishes on my thumb.  They're basically the same pink, with three different finishes.  Mix and match!

The unexpected bonus in the package was a polish I've wanted to try, but is ridonkulous on E-bay - the Nail Prism!  This is Lapis Amethyst, which goes for anywhere from $10-$15 right now.  It was part of this set for about $6.  So. Much. Win.

In the first pix, I tried different layering combos.  The thumb has 3 coats of just Lapis Amethyst.  The index is one coat over Essie's Bangle Jangle (lavender), the middle is over China Glaze's First Mate (navy blue), ring is over Sinful Colors Black, and the pinky is over Sally Hansen white tip.

 The blue and black undies were similar, but I liked the blue for this mani.

 So, here's a coat of First Mate.  It's gorgeous on its own, for sure.

And then with the Lapis Amethyst on top.  Wowza.  And, I couldn't even bring myself to change it at all.  No stamps, no decals, no tips.  Very rare for me these days!

Happy hunting for your HTF polishes!