CVS is my hangout spot. I am in there maybe once every other week. I be racking up them Extrabucks! lol

I was so excited about my new purchases, I posted a picture to Instagram.

Anyways, I was in CVS about 2 weeks ago and saw that there were some new Sally Hansen nail stuff. There was so much to choose from but I decided to get the Sally Hansen Big Matte Topcoat and the I Love Nail Art pen in White.

I will start with the Nail pen. I wanted a nail pen to make designs a little easier than with a brush. Sally Hansen’s I love Nail art pen formula is very watery. It takes a couple of passes to make the line opaque. I was expecting the formula to be like nail polish but it is more like a water color paint. (I just checked the website and it says that the pen is water based, so there’s why.) To that end, this pen would be good if you wanted a watercolor, painterly type of design on your nails.

The tip is round and stiff. I don’t know why I expected the tip to be softer like a brush, when it clearly says “pen” but I did. The tip is hard to the point that the actual directions say, you have to wait until your nails are completely dry before you try to use the pen. If you don’t, you will damage the base color of your nails. The pen comes in other colors including yellow, red, black and blue and a few also come in fine tip.

Now on to the matte topcoat. I’ve been searching for a matte topcoat forever and finally got my hands on one! I’ve seen the matte nail polish trend all over Pinterest and I have been dying to try it. I literally gasped when I saw it in the display at my CVS. Last week, I tried it over my Orly Ancient Jade polish and it actually works! It does exactly what it says. Instead of the high gloss finish of a regular topcoat, it mattifies it; no shine at all. I can definitely see me using this all the time.

Orly Ancient Jade with accent nail design using the Sally Hansen I Love Nail Art pen topped off with the Sally Hansen Big Matte Topcoat

What surprised me, is this topcoat dries to the touch very quickly. This may sound weird but I also liked the feel of it. It made my nails feel really smooth.  I don’t know if any of you have ever felt pottery without any glaze or paint on it, but that is kinda what it feels like.

One thing though when you use the topcoat, make sure you don’t miss a spot when painting over your base color because if you do, you’ll have a shiny spot amongst the matte.

Before I tried the top coat, I had 2 concerns: 1. that this topcoat wouldn’t last as long as other topcoats and 2. when it was time to take it off will it be super hard to do so? Both of my concerns were put to rest. The Big Matte Topcoat lasts as long as a regular topcoat; about 3 days before it starts to crack. And it is not tough to get off your nail. Simple nail polish remover does the trick.

Let me know if you ever give these a try!

TTFN,

Elayna

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