PURCHASED

Miss Sally Hansen will NOT be stopped, and she’s just been on a release kick lately. And I’ve gotten it into my little brain to review as many of them as I can, so now there are just various Miracle Gel and Insta-Dri bottle covering my desk. Works out for you, because there are a lot of reviews and posts on the way, so you’ll be able to peruse digitally first before deciding whether or not to grab one of these on your next Walgreens run. (They’re just always so tempting sitting in their cute little displays).

This current release we’re looking at is the collaboration with everyone’s favorite learning program, Sesame Street. There’s a lot of colors happening throughout those characters, so they’re perfect to give us a nice little fun color palette. I always get excited when Sally Hansen is releasing a new IP collaboration, as they often really commit to the theme and give us some interesting and unique finishes. (I’ll be thinking about that Crayola Glam Rock collection forever, as well as the Jelly Belly ones). So with cute characters promised, I was in.

These are from the Insta-Dri line, so they’re the 2nd tier of bottles in their lineup, both in size and price – but one that can vary wildly depending on the retailer. I’ve seen these at Target and Walgreens, and other drugstores for about $6, and they’re also available on Amazon for $9 each. There’s even this cute little set, as well as some duos from Ulta for a nice little bundle deal. They’re scattered all over, and I’m sure there are still some displays inside various stores.

There are 10 polishes total – I will say I am missing just one shade from my post. It’s called ‘Perfect Blendship’ – for Bert & Ernie – and it’s a clear base topper filled with blue, red and yellow bar glitters. But otherwise we’ll be looking at the 9 other shades – 4 creams, 2 shimmers, 2 more jelly-bar glitter shades and 1 topper.

So let’s get on into these swatches!

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Each and every cap features the Sesame Street logo wrapping around the side, and then a small outlined version of each matching character on the cap. The Sesame Street logo is printed right on the cap, while the character is on a little clear sticker on top. We love little details.

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We start right out with Grover and his shade ‘Am I Not Adora-blue?’. This is a medium, almost muted blue jelly base filled with bright pink-purple glitters.

This is a jelly formula, so it’s a touch more sheer, but it was still more pigmented than I was expecting. I was able to get this fully opaque with just 2 coats, and it was smooth to paint on overall. There is a touch of nail line visible, up close and in bright lighting, so it’ll depend on your own preferences. Especially if you’re using thinner coats, or have longer nails, you might want that 3rd coat.

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Next up we have one of the 4 creams in this set. This is ‘1 Polish, Ah, Ah, Ah’, obviously inspired by The Count. This one is a stunning warm pinky-toned lavender purple.

And I can say I was truly impressed with the creams in this set! You can see in my video swatch, this had a great 1st coat – with only the ridges in my nails peeking through, which I can get with any polish. A 2nd coat fully smooths out any last patches and unevenness – you can still see my ridges peeking in the final dried photo but the polish is completely opaque and even. Like I said I have very ridged nails, so if that’s something you also have and you’re looking to further smooth, you can use a 3rd coat or a top coat.

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Another cream shade, we continue onto ‘Turquesa Brillante’. This is inspired by Rosita, who I’ve learned after googling (it’s been quite a while since I was a child watching this show) is the bilingual muppet, so you know, this all makes sense, It’s a lovely bright aqua, minty shade, perfectly matching her fur. (My Duolingo Spanish streak has truly prepared me for this moment).

Just like the previous shade, this was nicely pigmented, with just a few streaks from my ridges peeking through after the 1st coat. A 2nd covers fully and makes it all smooth and opaque. This one felt a touch thicker than the previous shade, so my ridges are more fully covered and smoothed.

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Now we get to our first topper. This is ‘Zippity-Zap’, and it’s inspired by the character Abby Cadabby and it’s the sound she makes when casting spells! (I won’t lie, I got so deep into the rabbit hole of reading the Sesame Street wiki) Anyways, this is a clear base filled with various sized hexagons in matte shades of pink and coral, as well as blue – again matching Abby’s overall colors.

Of course, because it’s a clear base I chose to use it as 1 coat over ‘Turquesa Brillante’. The pieces pick up pretty well on the brush. For placing, I did dot the brush a touch to move and spread out the pieces – I also recommend laying the brush flat onto the nail to help “scrape” some more pieces onto the nails (you can see this more in my live swatch). You can of course add more coats for a more dense glitter look, but I enjoyed this fun little look.

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Now there are 2 of these almost “furry” shades in the set. They’re tinted jelly bases filled with bar glitters, giving that “fuzzy” look on the nails (do y’all remember when Sally Hansen had their ‘Sweater polishes’ in this style? I have very specific memories of using those in college).

‘Think BIG’ is the first of the 2 and I’ll give you 1 guess which character this is referring to. It’s a tinted yellow sheer jelly base filled with yellow bar glitters all through. And yes, it’s for Big Bird.

These are super interesting formulas – with that tinted base having more pigment and being thicker than I was expecting. I originally had put it over the orange cream shade later in the set, and it really changed the color underneath – so if you don’t mind that, it can be an option.

But then I chose to build it up on its own. I stopped with just 2 coats – you’ll see with the Elmo shade below why I don’t recommend more, and it creates this fun little unique look on the nails. I didn’t hate it, it was growing on me as I wore it. Very Big Bird all around. I know this will DEFINITELY not be for everyone, but I always love when brands commit to the theme and try something new.

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We bop on over from that shade, to a more well loved finish with our next cream. This is ‘Up to Snuff’ and yes it’s inspired by the beloved Mr. Snuffleupagus (I remember a school challenge where we had to try to spell that). And just like Mr. Snuffles, it’s a bright, yet almost dusty burnt orange shade. Perfect for the fall time as well.

Again a really nice formula for this cream which I was glad to see! The first coat is pigmented -having just a few streaks left over. Then the 2nd coat easily smooths it all out and makes it fully opaque and shiny on the nails. No complaints here!

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Now. We get to the 2nd “furry” shade with ‘Elmo Loves Hue’, obviously inspired by the most well known Sesame Street character. This has a bright red tinted base, filled with of course, bright red bar glitters.

And you can see, this one just looks a little more goopy than ‘Think BIG’ above. I’m here to show you my “nail fails” as well, what NOT to do with a formula, as I know those can be just as helpful. Again, that tinted base really changed any base I put it over, so I chose to wear it on its own. For this one I built it up with 3 coats, and I absolutely should have stopped at 2. With that 3rd coat, the finish was far too thick on the nails, and it was taking far longer to dry than it had for the 1st 2 coats. So keep this at just 2 coats and embrace that more sheer look. Do as I say, not as I did (for this one shade).

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We leave behind that thicker mess, and get back to another reliable cream. This is ‘C is for Color’ and it’s inspired by the beloved Cookie Monster. This is just a deep, rich blue cream, matching his fur instead of the cookies he’s always eating.

And again another gorgeous cream formula! That 1st coat was pigmented, almost fully covering. The 2nd coat covers any last streaks and evens it out, and makes it so saturated on the nails.

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And we saved my absolutely favorite shade of the bunch for last! This is ‘SCRAM!’ and it’s inspired by the all too relatable character, Oscar the Grouch. This is a bright yellow-y green jelly base filled with loads of silvery bright green shimmer all throughout, giving it so much sparkle and glow on the nails.

Since it is more of a jelly, that 1st coat is a touch sheer, but very even in color on the nails. That 2nd coat really layers up the color and shimmer, and brings it all alive. I absolutely loved this, and I was so glad it was so easy to work with all around. It’s so stunning!

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And that’s the set! As mentioned above, I do (usually) really love Sally Hansen’s collaboration collections – as we can see with ‘Think BIG’ and ‘Elmo Loves Hue’, they tried something a little different. Sure, not everyone loves them, but I want Sally to keep being weird, okay. Swing for those fences, give us strange new finishes. Represent a Muppet in a polish.

But overall, there were some solid formulas here – all of the creams were fantastic and smooth on the nails and ‘SCRAM!’ is just my favorite of them all. I felt the Sesame Street theme here, and I’m happy.

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Upcoming Posts
Holo Taco x Safiya collection • Salon Perfect Drop Dead Gorgeous collection • Mooncat Underworld collection • China Glaze Serpentine Halloween collection • Sally Hansen x Trolls collection

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