Fab or Flub?: Does Sally Hansen product nail the velvet-look polish trend?
For this week’s Fab or Flub, I decided to take a look at Sally Hansen’s new Velvet Texture nail polishes.
Similar to the matte nail polishes that have been popular, these claim to give manicures a plush, velvet texture without the mess of loose powders (i.e. Ciaté‘s Velvet Manicure kit).
As someone who loved the matte trend, I can’t say that I was initially sold on the idea of velvet fingertips. The idea of velvet made me think of the crush kind that I remember from a dress worn on kindergarten picture day, and it didn’t seem like a texture I would want on my nails.
Still, I decided to give it a shot and see if I’d enjoy it as much as I did the matte trend.
First impression
When I first purchased Sally Hansen’s Velvet Texture Nail Polish ($5.99 at CVS stores), I found it extremely hard to decide what colors to buy. Some of my favorite nail polish shades tend to be on the fall/winter color spectrum, and this collection was right up that alley.
After much deliberation, I settled on Lavish, a burgundy shade, and Lush, a slate-colored shade.
Instructions on the bottle say to apply one regular coat of the polish, followed by a very thin coat. For the sake of the review, I decided to follow the instructions to the letter on one hand and go for a heavier second coat on the other.
Applying the first coat to my fingernails on both hands, I noticed that the formula went on very smoothly and wasn’t streaky. This made it easy to get an even look on each fingernail.
After that, I got out my phone to see how long it would take for the formula to dry and was surprised by how fast it did so. Based on my clock, it only took five minutes for both hands to dry completely.
Since I tend to get pretty impatient with this part of the process, I found this a definite plus. Moving on, I added the final coat to each hand (one thin and one thick). Immediately, I noticed that the hand I’d chosen for the heavier application looked muddy and caked. The other hand’s nails looked great.
Fab or flub?
After wearing Sally Hansen’s Velvet Texture Nail Polish for a couple of weeks, I found that it is a fab-ulous nail polish with flab-like lasting power.
Simply put, I loved this nail polish. I loved that the formula was easy to apply, and I found its fast-drying capabilities to be very convenient. Most of all, I liked the way that it looked on my fingertips.
Did it have a true velvet texture? In my opinion, no. Instead, it appeared to have more of a grainy, matte leather finish. Whatever the texture, I thought it gave my nails a look that was both edgy and sophisticated. A perfect way to make a statement during the cold months of winter.
Unfortunately, as much as I liked this product, there were some issues with it.
On about the second day, I noticed that it had begun to chip. The dilemma I’ve found is that you have no choice but to forgo a top coat if you don’t want to ruin the nail polish’s natural texture. I did some minor touch ups, but eventually had to take off the nail polish completely and reapply it.
I love the polish so much that reapplying it more frequently seemed a small adjustment to make, but I can see where some people might view the process as a bit tedious.
This story was originally published January 19, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Fab or Flub?: Does Sally Hansen product nail the velvet-look polish trend?."