My Picks from Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fall '13

Sally Hansen's fall Insta-Dri display mostly got eclipsed by the all of the attention the fall Complete Salon Manicure (for Prabal Gurung, Tracy Reese, and Rodarte) and Xtreme Wear shades got.  They're definitely worth a look, if you come across them.  It's been a couple of months since these eight new LE shades started showing up in drugstores, but I still see them pretty often, so your chances are still pretty good.  I bought five of the eight new shades at CVS, but I've seen them at Rite Aid too.  Because they've been out for a while and didn't get a flurry of attention, I've seen them marked down at most Rite Aid stores in my area.  Those markdowns vary from location to location, but it makes looking for these polishes even more worthwhile, if you like the look of them.  I think you might!


No S-pear Time is a metallic olive green with little bits of silver.

My favorite gets to go first!  There is so much to love with No S-pear Time.  It's a one-coater, metallic without being brushstrokey, and this color is just too great to bear.  I almost can't handle how awesome it is.  I was chatting with a friend while swatching and completely derailed the conversation in my amazement at this green.  I showed it to Zeus and he fell in love with it too and wants a bottle for himself.  It's such a perfect metallic green that I might need  a second bottle myself.  I did a quick test and it seems to stamp pretty well, but no surprise there.  A lot of Insta-Dri's do.  The color's really the knockout part here though...

I don't love it as much when it's mattified.  It still glows, but it loses some of its oomph.

Style Steel is a rose gold foil with a scattering of larger coppery pieces.

Nothing really remarkable about Style Steel, but it has a good one-coat formula.  I didn't do a stamping test with it, but I'd be amazed if it doesn't stamp well.  I feel like I have something similar, but I couldn't think of what it might be while I was swatching.  Orly Rage, maybe.  Maybe not.

Quick Jeanius is a deep blue metallic shimmer with silver microglitter.

Another one-coater!  Always happy to find more of those.  I'm a blue lover as a rule, so I obviously like Quick Jeanius.  The silver twinkle is lovely and keeps the metallic finish from looking frosty.

Chop Chop Copper is densely packed with copper and pink-to-green duochrome flecks in a beige-tinted base.

This is four coats and you can still see my nail line.  It was a shock to find something so sheer in this collection...but you won't catch me complaining here.  Being sheer makes Chop Chop Copper versatile.  I might wear it over a nude or maybe a gold foil sometime, but I also want to try layering it over a dark green.  It's gorgeous enough on its own, glowing and bright.  You don't get as much of the green tones on the nail as in the bottle, but the impact is still strong.

It's part of a fall collection, but I think it would be just as good for xmas.  Aside from layering ideas, I also want to do a glitter gradient with it.  I might be wrong, because I haven't swatched any of them yet, but the finish reminds me of CoverGirl's new Hunger Games Glosstinis.

Red-io Active is a metallic scarlet.

I saved the problem child for last again.  Where do I start?  I'll start with the good news about Red-io Active.  It stamps well.  Beyond that, things went downhill between me and it.  It applied well enough, in two coats, but then it bubbled.  It's worse than it looks in my photos.  It's also got some brushstroking issues.  The color doesn't flatter me either.  I think it makes me look a little gray.  It would be a total flop for me if not for the stamping.  It's a shame.  I know it's raved about on the Nail Board, but I just don't like it.

Bottom line: Huge yes to No S-pear Time and Chop Chop Copper.  I also like Style Steel and Quick Jeanius.  No S-pear Time, Syle Steel, and Quick Jeanius are all one-coaters.  Red-io Active was a complete flop for me (aside from stamping potential) and I didn't buy Pink Fast, Currant Trend, or Jet Set Jade.


Are you loving the metallic trend as much as I am?  In a year that's been flooded with textures, I'm really happy to see one of my favorite finishes getting some of the leftover attention.