Vintage Sally Hansen haul! (no swatches)

Hello to whoever's out there! I recently ordered 9 vintage Sally Hansen polishes from eBay. Altogether it came to $50, but I would almost call that a steal! These are some sick polishes from back in the day. Let's get started!

So first up we have the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Special Edition glitters. I can assume that these were released as a collection, and from the little information available on the web, I've deduced that these came out between 1996-2000. No one's sure as to the precise year these came out, but that's the estimated range. I bought 6 of these, and unfortunately I couldn't capture them all in one photo. They look so cool when lined up next to each other, but oh well. Here's the first 3.


L-R: Laser, Nuclear, Cyber

As you can see, the concentration of glitter is quite different from polish to polish. It's obvious that Laser has the least, while I'd say Nuclear has the most.

Here are the next 3 Special Edition glitters.


L-R: Sonar, Magnet, Techno

Okay, Sonar is basically the reason I got interested in this collection in the first place. Look at that pretty teal! Interestingly, its front sticker is placed very high on the bottle. I would correct this, but I really don't want to peel off the sticker!

It should also be noted that this collection comes from a time when holo was not mainstream. Most glitter polishes were silver or gold with the occasional colorshift, but definitely not holo. So I can only imagine these were revolutionary when they came out! That chunky holo glitter is just beautiful.

Up next is Sally Hansen New Lengths in Tangy Beet Frost.



You may not be able to tell from the photo, but this is giving me some serious Gobi Grape vibes. It's definitely a much darker purple than PMAGG, but it's got that same warm coppery shimmer that makes it similar. We'll see how it actually looks on the nail though!

Next is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails with Nylon in the color Make Out.



Check out that evap! Woo-wee. (And yes, that is evaporation, or at least I hope -- seller says their products have never been used.) I initially thought those little glitter particles were holo, but alas, they are not. It looks like maybe a mix of iridescent and gold. I'm not quite sure! But to the untrained eye, this definitely gives off a holographic effect.

Finally, we've got Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in the shade Amber Ruby!



Look at how preeeeeetty. I know for a fact this was revolutionary at its time. The Nail Prisms collection was a mixture of holo and duochrome polishes, coming out in 2002. While the market today is overflowing with these types of polishes, these were extremely exciting concepts in the early 00s. I gotta say, I'm excited for this one. I don't have too many duochromes in my collection, so this will be a nice addition.

Okay! That's all for today. Unfortunately I just don't have the energy to swatch or take photos right now. I've had a busy week - I'm in the midst of getting a job, attaining my GED, and learning how to drive. I know, it's not incredible stuff, but I'm finally getting my life together and it's a lot to handle at once. Anyways, until next time...

OPI in "Peel Me a Gobi Grape"

(NOTE: This was written late at night on Saturday, January 12th. The photos are from Monday, January 14th. If there appears to be any wear or shrinkage to the polish, that's because it's a couple of days old, and Seche Vite is known to shrink polish around the edges.)

Hey guys! So, if you read my previous post, you'd know that I finally got my hands on the most beautiful, amazing VHTF polish. OPI's Peel Me a Gobi Grape, or PMAGG for short, comes from their very hard-to-come-by 1998 Painted Desert collection. Yes, you read that right - 1998! This polish is 21 years old. It's older than me! It's definitely not the oldest polish I own, not by a long shot, but it's still kind of amazing when you think about it. I'd say it's the rarest and most valuable polish in my collection, though.

Anyway, I got this polish from the fantastic eBay user prettythingsforyouandme*123. She's a veteran eBay seller who's been on the site since 1999 and specializes in rare/HTF polishes, especially OPI. She made the listing special for me and sent it out real quick in a box marked "fragile". I seriously can't thank her enough for it!

On to the actual polish now: this is BEAUTIFUL. I mean, seriously. It's everything I ever dreamed of and more. It's gorgeous in low light too, but under the OttLite is where it really shines. That lovely medium purple paired with that dreamy copper shimmer is just... AH! I wish I had the words to explain how pretty it is! I was worried that it might not look as good in person, but that was such a silly fear. It's absolutely byoutiful in person, maybe even more so than in photos. I really wish I was able to explain how perfect it is.

Here are some pictures. I couldn't accurately represent this color. For whatever reason, my camera just wouldn't pick up on it correctly. In person, it's generally lighter than in the photos. I took photos in several lighting conditions to show the subtle nuances of this polish. It will be shown in 2 coats with Seche Vite on top. Please refer to the note at the top if anything looks a little "off" to you!



Here it is in the plain daylight of my room.



There it is with flash on. For whatever reason, the OttLite made absolutely no difference when paired with daylight.



There's an up-close of it. I made the photo a little larger so you could see the detail more easily.





Here it is in the sun. I think this shows off that copper shimmer the best! And yes, that white-and-brown fluffiness in the background is my cat. :-)





Finally, here are some bottle shots. Look at the font on that bottom label!

Isn't it so preeeetty? Augh, I love it so much already. The closest thing I already have in my collection to compare it to is China Glaze's "Mink Frost". That one's definitely more of a brownish/mauvish color, and it's got gold shimmer instead of copper, but the vibe is the same. This, though, is obviously a lot prettier to me. How many times have I said "pretty" so far? Who knows. The best dupe I could find for this is Contrary Polish's "Desert Fruit". I think it was created as a homage to Gobi Grape. C'mon... "Desert Fruit"? "Gobi Grape"? It's gotta be a reference! I don't have that, though, so I can't tell you how close it really is. Judging by photos, though, it's pretty close.

Finally, I'll address the elephant in the room: this was before the time of B3F. OPI made their big switch over to a big-3 free formula in 2006, which is obviously after this polish was produced. Yes, in 1998 no one really cared about the fumes they inhaled while prettying up their nails. I still don't really care, seeing as I don't seek out B3F polishes and I even choose these vintage ones with outdated formulas - in the end, the amount of fumes you inhale is pretty negligible. That being said, the smell is a little funky, but it's definitely not the worst I've smelled. I'd say my old China Glazes circa 1999 are far more potent than this.

The formula of this is also remarkably good for a polish this old. As mentioned above, it took 2 coats and the coverage is great. It was also a good consistency, too - on the thinner side, but not too runny. This good formula could be attributed to the fact that this polish was unopened before purchase. Yes, I realize that the value has now plummeted since I used it, but I'm not looking to give it away any time soon!

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm still really happy that I acquired this amazing polish, and I'm very satisfied with it. Until next time...

I'm getting the VHTF polish of my dreams. [text only, long post, ranting, pretty incoherent... yeah.]

So, I haven't been obsessed with nail polish for very long at all. I'd say it started in May of last year, so around 8 months I've been doing this. Additionally, I haven't been an avid collector for very long either - that probably started around October. Either way, I've become very embroiled in this hobby, going from a collection of 100-ish polishes that weren't even mine to somewhere in the ballpark of 240-250 at the time of writing (I had to buy a Helmer for them all). I have polishes from so many different brands: Essie, China Glaze, Sally Hansen, Covergirl, Maybelline, Revlon, Milani, NYC, Sinful Colors, L.A. Colors, FUN Lacquer, NYX, Brucci... the list goes on and on. One brand that I don't have a lot of, though, is OPI. Many nail fanatics seem to have a giant collection of OPI going, but I've only got 7 at the time of writing. Yes, I have your classic Big Apple Red and Lincoln Park After Dark, but I've got a couple more obscure shades like Fee Fi Fo Plum and Towel Me About It. It's not that OPI is a bad brand or anything - I quite like their polishes, it's just that they're a little expensive and many of their shades don't really grab me.

The same cannot be said for Peel Me a Gobi Grape. PMAGG (I'll just call it that for brevity's sake) comes from the 1998(!!) Painted Desert collection. The entirety of this collection is rare, but some colors pop up on eBay more than others - notably Red Rock n Roll, which I see listings for quite often. That is a beautiful red, but it's honestly nothing special. PMAGG, on the other hand... oh my gosh. It's the most beautiful medium purple color that has a copper shimmer. In the sun, this polish is DIVINE. If you know me and my polish collection, then you know that I've got a million bajillion purples already (mostly courtesy of my lovely mother, whose favorite color has always been purple and so she used to hoard purple polishes). I theoretically shouldn't want any more purple. But PMAGG is the exception. It's breathtaking. And it may be the most HTF polish of the collection.

Well... I can't say that. I wasn't even able to find a picture of Great Victorian Violet from the same collection. But PMAGG is still incredibly rare. Listings for this pop up once in a blue moon, and I haven't been able to catch any of them. Checking the "sold items" box on eBay only yields 3 results. This is a seriously VHTF polish. More than Glacier Bay Blues or La Boheme or Standing Room Only. This is for real.

So, a week-ish ago I was feeling a sudden pang for PMAGG. That little hole in my heart was suddenly a gaping pit. Why couldn't I have that beautiful purple-copper goodness for myself? Woe is me... 

My random longing for the almighty Gobi Grape led me to eBay, where I've done countless searches and re-searches before. It always yields nothing. But I had a new idea: what if I contacted someone who previously sold a bottle, and see if they've got another lying around? At first it seemed a little dumb, but it slowly made more sense. Maybe some savvy long-time eBay user had an extra or two in their stash, waiting for something to do with it. That wasn't so far-fetched of an idea! I decided to apply that "sold items" filter and see what I got. 3 listings. I messaged all of the sellers.

One never replied. Thanks for the help. Harrumph! (It's not really that big of a deal. You'll see why.)

One politely told me that she did not have any more and that she had other rare OPIs I could check out if I was interested. I tried to send her a message of thanks but it wouldn't let me for some reason.

The final seller told me something I never thought I'd hear from someone.

She had 2 bottles in her inventory. She was going to take a look at them and see what she could do.

I was ecstatic! Finally, my sweet PMAGG... mine at last! I told her that sounded great. Then I didn't get a reply for a week...

I was a little bummed. Had she just forgotten? Or maybe she had remembered wrong, didn't have the polish, and didn't have the heart to tell me. I figured I'd just message her again and see how things were.

Turns out, she sent me a message but it just didn't go through! Yes, she has PMAGG and she'll give it to me at a slight discount due to the confusion. She thanked me for getting in touch and told me she'd be on it Monday.

It's Monday now. I've got the eBay listing open and I'm ready to buy it. Is this what winning the lottery feels like...?

I just bought it. Hitting that "buy now" button was just... Never in my life did I think I'd be so ecstatic about a bottle of nail polish. But I am. It says it'll be here by Friday. Unfortunately I've got a job interview Saturday so I can't wear it right away (not gonna roll up to the interview with purple nails!), but the moment I get home you KNOW I'm slapping it on my nails.

Of course, such a rare polish does come at a price. I did have to pay $40 for my Gobi Grape. But this is actually a pretty good deal considering its rarity. Others in the Painted Desert collection go for the same, if not higher. Currently there's a bottle of Kalahari Khaki on eBay for $129. HTF nail polish can get pretty pricy, so $40 is actually pretty good.

Now's the anxious wait for the shipping notification email and the constant looking at the tracking number. I get like this when I've got nail mail on the way. It'll probably ship out tomorrow. It's coming from Massachusetts so it probably won't take the full 4 days either... I recently got a shipment from MA and it came in 2 days so that's my estimate.

You know, I'm going to be anxious to even open it. It's like a time capsule. Rare 21 year old nail polish, never opened... and I'll be the one to break the seal and use it. Obviously that small act of opening the bottle will mean that the value of it will immediately plummet, and down even further once I use it. But I don't need it to have value for collectors! I'm the collector, and I'm gonna use it until the last drop! Well, maybe not the last drop. I'll probably use it until it's 25% full and then stare at it forever.

I don't know, you guys. I'm really excited. I've been wanting and searching for the polish for a couple months now and I'm so glad I'll finally have my hands on it. My collection is home to many other rare polishes, but they're not ones anyone cares about. Not that everyone is trying to get their hands on Gobi Grape, but it's definitely more significant than something like China Glaze's original Cloud Nine. There's not even a single swatch of that online (except for mine), but no one seems to care. But Gobi Grape is something people care about. Even if it's just in ancient nail blog posts, people care(d) about this polish. And now it's mine.

I should really wrap this up. Not like anyone's gonna see it anyway, but this could scare off a potential reader. The average person does not like massive walls of text. Until next time... (when I'll be reviewing Peel Me a Gobi Grape...)

China Glaze OMG Flashback Collection

Happy New Year!!!!

Another year over, and a new one's just begun...

Yes, Happy New Year all! Isn't it so strange that we're in 2019? It sounds so futuristic... maybe that's just me, as I'm perpetually stuck somewhere in the late 90s, but seriously. Time just keeps on flying!

Anyways. Today I have for you China Glaze's OMG Flashback collection. I know I'm a bit late on this one, as it was released in Spring 2018, but what better way to ring in the new year than with a little ~*Holo*~??

For those of you who aren't aware, this collection is a re-release of colors from CG's 2008 OMG collection (with an updated formula). These polishes have been in high demand since their release a decade ago, and CG was so kind as to re-release them for those of us who weren't in the polish game back then, or who just missed the holo-y goodness of the originals! All of them are linear holographic polishes. Also, this is only a re-release of half the original collection. I guess they chose the most popular colors. 

This is actually the first full nail polish collection that I've ever bought. Since I'm quite new to the nail polish world, I haven't been around for too many collections, but the ones I've seen just don't really grab me. Essie's winter collection? Meh - I have 2 colors from that. CG's recent Grinch collection? I haven't bought any. But the OMG Flashback collection is just so funky, so beautiful, so HOLO that I just had to have them all. It's a pretty small collection too, at just 6 polishes, so acquiring them all was fairly easy and didn't break the bank. 

However, I did have to do some digging to find them all. Since it's not a new collection anymore, you won't find them on the regular shelves. That's when clearance sections come in handy. I found 2 in the Ulta clearance and 2 in the Sally Beauty clearance. The other 2 I was forced to buy online because I couldn't find them elsewhere, but still. Anyways... let's get on to the polishes! Just something to keep in mind: the holo is much more pronounced in person than in the pictures.

First up in two easy coats is BFF, a medium pink/magenta linear holo. This is a really beautiful color but it's very bright, so maybe keep this reserved for parties and particularly colorful outfits. I love me some bright pink polish, but you may end up feeling a little bit like Barbie with this on. 

TTYL, which also went on in two coats, in a salmon colored linear holo. I really think this is a lovely color. It's so versatile because from far away, it looks like a typical boring shimmer polish... but up close, the holo really pops! For that reason, I say you could maybe get away with this in a less-strict workplace. Either way, I really like this one!

DV8 is an extra-vibrant teal linear holo that goes on in two coats. Of the original collection, I think this was the most well-received. I've seen multiple posts from 2010-2014 (when nail blogs were at their peak) describing how people found this while dusty hunting, or just how they wanted it. I can see why... this is frickin' GORGEOUS! It reminds me of a mermaid's scales. 

This blue linear holo beauty is 2NITE. The camera definitely washes it out and makes it appear more grayish, but in person it's definitely more of a cornflower blue. I really like this one because it's unique. It's such a calm color with a holographic twist. I've seriously never seen anything like it, but I love it. This is 2 coats.

IDK, a soft purple linear holo, applies easily in 2 coats. I think this is such a beautiful color. It's the same as 2NITE - such a mellow color with holo thrown in. Colors like DV8 and BFF are a little bit aggressive in how bright and showy they are. Don't get me wrong - I love them. But it's so interesting to see these cool, muted tones with that little touch of whimsy. 

Finally we have the titular OMG, a classic silver linear holo that goes on in 2 coats. This is what you think of when you hear the word "holo". Unfortunately I can't say much about it because it's been done soooo many times, but it's still very lovely!

So, that wraps up the OMG Flashback collection. One thing I found odd (but good) about this collecton is the drying time. All of these polishes dry really quickly - like, supernaturally quickly. I don't think I have anything else in my collection that dries so freakishly fast. I'm thankful for it, but like... WOW! 

I believe that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this overview. If you happen to stumble across this blog and you like what you see, don't be afraid to leave a comment! Maybe tell a friend! I don't know... as of now, I don't believe anyone but me sees this blog. I hope for that to change. Anyway... Happy New Year!!!