My Picks from Sally Hansen + Tracy Reese Fall '13

Fall!  Even writing the word feels like coming back to where I belong and it felt great putting it in the title.  It's technically still summer, of course, but Labor Day's over and that's fall enough for me.  Best of all?  It's time for something I love from one of my favorite brands...and for my favorite season!  I practically sprinted to CVS when I heard that the new Designer Collection was out, and I wound up buying six of the ten new shades.  So many of my favorite polishes come from previous Sally Hansen designer collaborations.  Gilded Lily was my first from this fairly longstanding series and it made me look into previous designer collections.  Over the past year I've wound up with quite a few...Opulent Cloud, Raven's Wing, Arabian Night, and Bewitched, among others.  I got so many of this past Spring's shades that I split the swatches up by designer.  Tracy Reese, Prabal Gurung, and Alexander Wang each got their own post.  This seasons shades were so tempting that I'm doing it again.  I got all three of Prabal Gurung's shades this time around and one from new collaborator, Rodarte, and I'll have those swatches up very soon.  Today it's Tracy Reese's spotlight.  She's teamed up with Sally Hansen for a few years now and she's been the inspiration for some really spectacular polishes.  This season she's got three bold creams.  I didn't get Perfectly Poppy, a...well...perfect poppy red.  I was tempted though!  I might still succumb.  (Update- I did! Click here.)


New Wave Blue is a blue-green cream.

Good news and bad news on New Wave Blue.  Good news first, it's beautiful.  If there's such a thing as a "subdued bright", this is it.  Terrific for fall in general, but a great transition color for anyone who's not ready for vampy colors and earth tones.  Now the bad news, I didn't love the formula.  Two coats are nicely opaque and went on with relative ease, but I had bubbles show up as it dried.  Nothing drastic and ruinous, but there if you look up close.  The extra-bad news is...it stains.  Fiercely.  I have to re-swatch Rodarte's Stocking Nude because I didn't realize how blue New Wave Blue had tinted my skin and cuticles (and nails too, in places) until I'd applied the nude.  It is lovely though, isn't it?

Malbec is a deep, dark plum-toned purple cream.

I can't help but sigh and grin.  Rich, vampy purples like this might rival my love of blue.  I don't have nearly as many because, kinda paradoxically, purple is my favorite color and I'm pickier about it.  I like my purples plummy, not grapey, and despite being named for a variety of wine grape Malbec is definitely on the warmer side.  Malbec's formula is a cream, but bordering on crelly.  I used three coats just to be absolutely sure of the coverage, but two should really be fine.  It gave me none of the bubbling hassles of New Wave Blue.  The excellent formula makes a very very good polish into an excellent one.

I can never really pick favorites when it comes to polish, but I have a ton of love for Malbec and it's up there with Angel Bite and Private I on my non-existent list of favorites released this year.  What can I say?  I have a 'type'.  I feel like there's a dupe out there, probably by OPI, but I don't think I have anything else quite like Malbec....and I have a fair number of similar shades.  It's exactly on the purple/plum border, so everything else I looked at while briefly hunting for dupes was decidedly warmer or cooler.  It never looks black on me either, which earns it even more respect and love from me.

I asked my partner what color he thought it was, while we were sitting on the couch.  The lighting there is awful.  He said something like "black...no...wait...dark, but not black".  I'll take that as confirmation.

The Complete Salon Manicure formula claims that you can skip base and top coats.  I always apply both anyway, to reduce staining and color transfer onto walls and paper.  Malbec caught my eye while I was cleaning up my application.  It's just so...glassy.

no top coat (also mid-cleanup, because top coat is part of my process)

It's shinier without top coat than some creams are with it.  I wouldn't trust it (and my clumsy self) not to leave purple stripes everywhere, but if you want shine Malbec has it all on its own!


Update- I wound up buying Perfectly Poppy not too long after this post.

Perfectly Poppy is a warm red jelly.

Completely, amazingly, absolutely, breathtakingly, perfectly perfect!  Unbelievably glassy and just the ideal jelly.  Not a streak in sight.  One coat covers evenly, but I used three for depth.  I'm in total awe. I just wish my nails looked better under something this sheer.

As good as the L'Oreal Miss Candy jellies were, Perfectly Poppy has them 100% beat.  It's probably the smoothest jelly I own.  And...the glassiness....

Bottom line: MALBEC!!  Sorry, but I want to shout its name from rooftops.  Endlessly shiny vampy perfection.  New Wave Blue is a great color, especially if you've still got a toe clinging to summer, but it may bubble and stain.  I'd recommend it for the color, but with a caution.
Update- If you like jelly finishes at all, do yourself a massive favor and get Perfectly Poppy.


Sally Hansen's been one of my favorite brands for maybe a decade or more and this season is full of reminders why.  This is just the start of a brewing love-fest from me.  So much more to come!