My quest for quick dries continues! I took a brief hiatus for a while, settling on my ever so faithful Revlon Liquid Quick Dry. It has since been all used up, and because Target refuses to stock them, and the other place that I know of that has them is like 20-30 minutes away, I went on the hunt to find another method of fast drying.

Sally Hansen Dry Kwik Nail Color Dryer is a simple quick dry that is used just like the Revlon Liquid Quick Dry. Just brush it on your nails, and it'll be dry to the tough in as little as 60 seconds. It does do this, and as expected it dries completely faster than not having anything on at all.

Comparing the two, there are a few things that I like about the Sally Hansen bottle than the Revlon. They're pretty close as far as quality, and both give very similar results. The Sally Hansen Dry Kwik isn't as greasy as the Revlon Quick Dry, although still pretty runny on its own. I also like the brush more on the Dry Kwik even though the two brushes separate when too much pressure is applied. Lightness is key. For comparisons sake the Revlon brush tends to get stuck together, but I have no idea why. All three of my bottles have done this.

Overall I really like the Sally Hansen Dry Kwik. It's effective, doesn't make too much of a mess, and easy to find in stores (major plus for me). Do I recommend it? Yes! More so than the Revlon Liquid Quick Dry, which I have sworn by for years. Ladies, and gents, I may have found my holy grail quick dry. The hunt is still on for the quick dry top coat though, unfortunately. It looks like Seche Vite may win out in the end despite that pesky warning label.

Sally Hansen for Easter

I used one of the Sally Hansen strips that I picked up on clearance last year. I originally intended on wearing some with butterflies imprinted on them (also picked up on clearance, yes I've been holding onto them for this long), but these were such a pain, I decided to stick with these for the week. I used the gel from the insta gel strips to make them last longer, and so far they're holding out. The pattern reminds me of a picnic blanket.

I don't know if they got old, or I got a bad batch. The first pack I tried gave me the biggest headache. The clear strip that you're supposed to pull off kept getting stuck to the nail polish strip, causing me to rip about 7 of the 10 strips. One of the ones I did manage to get off lost it's stickiness almost immediately. Basically my pointer finger, and my pinky are the only ones that have the strips from that pack on them (left hand), and my pinky I had to fight with to save it. The other pack was fine, no issues with it at all. It worked normally. I want to say it was a bad batch. Logic tells me that both packs would be ruined. I'll let you all know if the butterfly one is like this. This means that the strips could have an expiration date, but I personally don't think that's the case.

I fought way too hard to just let them come off after a few days. Taking them off is not going to be fun..

Anywho, I hope you all have a fantastic Easter! I'll probably blog before then, I haven't had much to say lately. Nothing to review, no beauty hauls, nothing really. I have a book haul that I could do, but I'm trying not to bog the blog down with book stuff. I've been good with two a month, and the occasional review.

What are your plans for Easter? Anything special going on the nails? Last year I did a little layering manicure.

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Sally Hansen Insta-Dry is still insta-drying | a review

I am still on my quest to find my holy grail top coat. I went into Target hoping to get a new bottle of Revlon Liquid Quick Dry, but they didn't have it so I decided to try out a new top coat. I chose Sally Hanson Insta-Dry. I guess you could say that I had high hopes for this polish. I head so much about how great their top coat is, I couldn't help but want a lot out of this particular top coat.

- Con It's not so instant on it's drying. I know what you're saying, "It's not supposed to be instant", and you would be correct. BUT It honestly takes about the same time as a regular top coat did to dry. So no, I would not classify this as a fast drying top coat. I still found myself using my liquid quick dry to speed up the process. 

- Pro It is long lasting. The first time I used it I noticed that on the fourth day of wear I started to notice minor chipping. 

- Pro It has a big brush. You know that classic OPI brush that everyone lusts over? Yeah, that only better! It has curved ends which make it really easy to create a perfect round line around the cuticle. 

- Pro Super shiny finish. This polish gives a super shiny and glossy finish when it does finish drying. I would put this in similar fields as Seche Vite, and that's actually saying a lot. 

- Neutral It is kind of grainy over glitter. If you've tried out a lot of top coats, you know that this isn't uncommon. The top coat just isn't thick enough to smooth out the glitter. It does bring is close. Much better than some other topcoats that I've tried. Not quite as good as Seche Vite. 

- Con If the final coat is not dry enough, there will be color transfer on the brush. It doesn't effect the paint, oddly, but you will see some transfer. Normally a minute is safe to start adding a quick drying top coat, but I would wait at least 5 minutes before applying Insta-Dry on your nails to be safe.

- Con Bang for your buck. It was about $6, and it only has .31 fl oz. That's kind of sad. At the rate I paint my nails, it wont take me long to go through this one. 

Final Thoughts While this clearly isn't the best top coat out there, it's still a pretty darn good top coat. Ignoring the fast drying part of it, I would say it's one of the better ones that I've tried. If you're looking for a fast drying polish, this one isn't for you.

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Brights and Dots

I saw a design similar to this on Julep's Facebook page. I loved the idea! I looked at all of my bright colors and chose the ones below. I then tried different dot designs before choosing the single straight line as my favorite. Then I chose the colors! My dotter was a dull pencil.

Julep Helena, Julep Anne, OPI What's With the Cattitude, Sally Hanson CSM Model Behavior, Essie Cute As a Button, Mark. Fuschia-istic, Essie Play Date, Mark. Ibiza Sol Tango.