Sally Hansen Satin Glam - Taffeta and Crystalline

Drugstore satins!  My wish for the year of the satin is starting to come true!  I'd been dying to find Sally Hansen's new Satin Glam line (that's right, it's a line and not a collection...it's not LE!) since I saw them on Nouveau Cheap.  I found them just before xmas, but I had to wait for the festive frenzy to cool down before I had time to start swatching them.  I've accumulated six of the eight shades so far, passing on Sun Sheen and Chic Pink, and I'll be posting them in pairs...partly because I'm still torn between desire to swatch AOT satins and my pink hate/orange dislike.  We'll see.  Taffeta and Crystalline are up first.  I have mixed feelings on Crystalline (you'll see), so let's look at Taffeta first.


Taffeta is a medium purple satin.

The finish is perfect!  The color's a bit lighter than I'd hoped, but the formula is good.  This is two coats and the slightly patchy areas weren't noticeable in person at all.

Satins are intended to be worn without top coat, but I wanted to see how Taffeta looked when glossy.

with top coat

With top coat, Taffeta is a fairly "standard" shimmer.

with top coat

Crystalline is a sheer white satin with pastel multi shimmer.

Believe it or not, this is four coats of Crystalline.  FOUR!  Ugh.  I'm...not thrilled with how it looks.  I don't know if any number of coats could ever build to decent opacity.  It doesn't make me look quite as corpsey as most white polishes, but I still wouldn't call it flattering.

It's frustrating, because the shimmer is great and the finish is perfect, but...the rampant sheerness!

I top coated Crystalline too, but...I can't say it changed my opinion at all.

with top coat

Thing is, when a polish is sheer I don't see failure...I see...potential!  Layering potential.  I had to try it out.  A satin shimmer top coat is very appealing to me.  I did sloppy test swatches over a few different polishes and it does work as a satin topper...but only over light colors.  It looks uneven and chalky over darker colors.  Still...

over Sally Hansen Chartreuse Chase

Hooray!  Even though I didn't love this combo (looks like easter grass), there's so much I can do with this.  I need to try it over a nude very soon.  The finish is really terrific!

over Sally Hansen Chartreuse Chase

Bottom line: Taffeta is gorgeous, even if it's not very "me". Crystalline is disappointingly sheer on its own, but works as a satin top coat over light colors.


I reeeeeeeeally hope Sally Hansen does more of these.  They've been known to add shades to lines like this in the past and I'd love to see some jewel tones.  Can you see now why I wanna try all the satins....even if it's 100% certain that I won't like Chic Pink?  I need to shake off whatever's making me so tired lately (might just be winter) and swatch my other four.  I've gotten so much awesome new stuff lately, and you'll be seeing my older polishes more.  2014 is off to a great start polish-wise and an icy, sneezy, sleepy start life-wise.  Poor Nichole has "the plague", but she also has weather that doesn't make her wince.  Is it spring yet?