How is this my first Sally Hansen posts? You know, after this, it definitely wouldn’t be my last. Look at these pretty little rainbow babies. When I saw images of this collection first come out, I knew I had to get my grabby fingers on them. So I did!

I had some saved up gift cards (I don’t even know how a Target gift card lasted so long in my wallet but it did) so I thought it was perfect to buy this collection that I had my eye on. These retailed for $4.09 on Target’s website (same price as their normal Insta-Dri polishes), and the shipping was super fast and well packed.

The bottles are the typical Insta-Dri bottle shape, and have the Crayola name on them, as well as the traditional Crayola design on the bottle. Instead of the traditional black cap as well, the cap matches the color of the polish inside. I really love all of the attention to detail in this collection, and I’m so glad to have them as a collector.

I found that all of these polishes had pretty much the same formula, so I’m just going to talk about it up here all at once, instead of just saying the same thing over and over. I found all of these had a little bit of a thicker formula. This meant you can get them opaque in one thicker coat. I did find the one thicker coat can get a little blobby on the nails though, so I didn’t prefer it.

Although, with the wider paddle brush, I did prefer to work in thinner coats and go slowly on my nails. I do have thinner nails so it did basically cover my nail in one swipe. It was a bit of a learning curve, but once I slowed down and concentrated on swiping thinner, more controlled coats, I made less of a mess.

The formula can really run down the brush and flood everywhere, so just wipe the brush off well before you start. I did also find that with the thicker formula, if you din’t have enough polish on the brush, the coat could almost skip and not flow evenly to the end of the nail, so make sure you have enough to really coat the nail.

A little bit of a learning curve with these to avoid making messes, but with the beautiful colors and hella opaque formulas, it was so worth it. These also dry quickly as well, (shoutout Insta-Dri formula) so even if you do the 2 thinner coats, it’s super easy, and quick. So yeah they’re thicker, but once you get the hang of these, they’re just stunning. I mean, just look at the colors.

Now, for the individual swatches, we’re going to go in numerical order, not rainbow, I know it’s a tragedy. But I JUST WANT TO PUT THE NUMBERS IN ORDER OKAY. LET’S JUST GET INTO IT.

The first 501 – ‘Wild Strawberry’ is one of 3 reds in the collection. This is the deeper, cool-toned red (I’ll have all 3 at the end so you can see the nuances in the colors because THEY’RE ALL DIFFERENT, I SWEAR). Since this a red, it can make more of a mess on clean up and removal so just watch for that. A beautiful, bright strawberry red.

502 – Sunset Orange is a bright Cheeto orange. And that’s a little what it looked like on my fingers when I removed it – another one to watch out for. Just don’t twist the color around too much, or just use another pad to really clean up the leftover. This reminded me of ‘No Tan Lines’ from the OPI Fiji collection – but with a better formula.

There’s no 503. There’s no explanation for this at all, and I was so sure I forgot one or missed it. Yeah I don’t get it either. Just forget about 503, 503 just doesn’t exist.

But 504 does! This is 504 – Carnation Pink. A bright, cool-toned pink with the same formula I mentioned above. Smooth and beautiful.

505 – Dandelion is a bright 2 coat yellow. WHAT a two coat yellow?! I was starting to think that didn’t exist. But it does and you did it Sally Hansen. I mean, just look at it. They got a yellow to be opaque and smooth in two coats (maybe 1 if you do it thick enough), and I couldn’t be happier. This is obviously all I’ve ever asked for.

506 – Granny Smith Apple is a bright grass green. This one was definitely a one coater – even with my thinner coats. Absolutely stunning.

507 – Cerulean is just. Oh, my heart. I can’t get enough of these shades of blue. I mean, just look at this. It’s so stunning. This seemed to have a little runnier formula in that it really ran down the brush, so just watch out for that and be ready to wipe it off. But look at that blue. STUNNING.

508 – Vivid Violet is the brighter of the two purples. This was another with a little thinner formula – just don’t manipulate it too much or else you’ll get some uneven patches. But another easy 2 coat formula.

509 is simply called White. Yeah, it’s white. But lemme tell you this made me want to wear white nails suddenly. I mean, look how tan I look! Finally a shade that’s paler than me! This could be opaque in 1 thicker coat – however, I did that and it was kind of a globby mess. So 2 easy thin coats and you get this smooth lovely opaque white. 2 coats makes it smoother too. It dries fast as well, so it could be good for a white base!

510 is the next red called ‘Scarlet’. This one is the more warm toned, orange-red of the bunch. Another easy 2 coat formula, and another messy one on removal. Just the deal with the reds, man.

The last red is 511 – Razzmatazz, and it has more of a pink tone to it than the others. In this one, you can see where I talked about if you don’t have enough polish on the brush it can skip a little – on the end on my middle finger it started to dry too quickly. This one was a little messier on clean up, so just take your time with it.

Next is 512 – Denim. Another cobalt blue that I just, ugh. I love it so much. IT’S SO STUNNING. AND THIS WAS 1 COAT. Might be my favorite out of the whole bunch, which is saying something because all of these colors were beautiful. But just look how it almost glows on the nails. I love this. I love this collection.

Last but not least is 513 – Purple Heart. This is right in between a purple and a blue. This was one that was also one coat even with thinner coats. A beautiful saturated indigo, perfect for fall coming up.

So here are your 3 reds next to each other. (L-R) Wild Strawberry, Scarlet, Razzmatazz. Next to each other you can see the subtle differences in them. Wild Strawberry and Scarlet are very close, but there’s more orange to Scarlet. (Obviously I need them all).

So that’s your Crayola collection! Overall I think Sally Hansen had a hit with this collection, and really didn’t slack on the quality of it. Though they’re thick, if you go with those 2 thinner coats, they’re all stunning and dry so quickly for a bright colorful look any day. Definitely one of the most exciting collections this year!

What’s your favorite color?

I also (finally) got the China Glaze Summer collection, so swatches of that will be coming soon! (It’s still summer, dang it). Stay tuned!

 

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