Sally Hansen "Ooh la la Ombre" Poppy Purples kit Review and Tutorial

This past winter, I picked up all three of the Sally Hansen "Ooh la la Ombre" polish sets during a sale.  There were three kits: purples, pinks, and green-blue based themes.  I bought doubles of the purples and gave them all to my sister as a present, why?

Because each set, which comes with three polishes each and retails at $9.99, all came out to 99 cents!

CVS receipt for 4 Sally Hansen Ombre kits

While I couldn't help myself, I also did not need all that new polish.

I did keep one set for myself, the "Poppy Purples" because the 2014 Pantone Color of the Year is "Radiant Orchid", and I thought this set fits perfectly in that color scheme.  

I've always had trouble creating ombre designs even without the help of a kit, so I thought I'd give it another try.

The back of the box has the instructions, and as you can see, it shows a picture of a makeup sponge to apply the polish in a gradient fashion.  However, the kit does not come with any sponges.

The three, full-size polishes in the "Poppy Purples" kit includes "Lovely Lilac", "Vigorous Violet" and "Grape Going!"  All are part of the permanent Sally Hansen Insta-Dri collection, and usually retail at $4.59 each, so buying each in the ombre kit saves you money even if you don't use them together.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes (L-R): Lovely Lilac, Vigorous Violet, and Grape Going!

For the ombre, you will also need a few more supplies not mentioned on the box:

• makeup sponges
• a water cup, to dip the makeup sponge
• paper towels, for cleanup
• Vaseline petroleum jelly, to line around your nail and allow easy cleanup
• Q-tips, to apply the Vaseline without potentially messing up your nails
• Clear top-coat polish

First, I applied one coat of "Lovely Lilac" as a base.  It is the lightest color in the ombre.  On its own, the polish is a beautiful orchid purple and definitely lives up to the Insta-Dri name: it dries fast!  I would definitely wear this color on its own.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Lovely Lilac"

Dipping a Q-tip into the tub, apply Vaseline on the skin around your nail and on your fingertips.  This allows for easy cleanup after you sponge the polish on your nail.  You just have to wipe away any excess polish that gets on your skin with a paper towel.  This is a great trick for any nail polish art that is potentially messy: water marbling, stamping, and ombre smudging.

Line your nail with Vaseline petroleum jelly for easy, wipe-away polish cleanup 

The box instructions say to dip your makeup sponge into water and paint on your next 2 darker colors, which in my kit was  "Vigorous Violet" and "Grape Going!"  The dilution of the polish with water is to allow the polish to smudge seamlessly.

Dip sponge in water.  Apply two lines of gradient polish.

 

And dab the sponge onto your nail bed.

This is what my nail looked like after I wiped away the excess polish that spilled onto my skin.  The ombre is visible on the nail, but very segmented visibly.  You can see the lines where each polish was applied to the sponge.  While the polish is still somewhat wet, add a layer of clear top coat.  This will help smudge the polish lines together and create a seam-less color gradient.

My ombre nails vs. the nails on the box.

 

This is what my nails looked like when I finished my hand - not exactly as smooth as the picture.  The formula for "Vigorous Violet" was nice and thick for the medium cream polish.  The darkest color "Grape Going!", however, was not my favorite to work with.  The pearl shimmer polish was thin and runny, and the coverage was very thin.  I had to be careful sponging the color on my nail, and had to do so very softly, or else the sponge would pull the colors underneath.

I wasn't very satisfied with my gradient, and like I said, I've had trouble creating ombre nails in the past.  So I decided to throw more fun into the mix and added a lined glitter topper.

 

Sinful Colors "Tinsel & Shine" glitter topper

Instead of another top coat to seal the glitter, I added a layer of Wet N' Wild "Deception" jelly polish to smooth out the gradient, and I think it helped salvage the manicure.

Wet N' Wild "Deception"

 

This is my final product after a session of using and tinkering with the Sally Hansen "Ooh la la Ombre" kit.  For me, it was not something I would purchase at full price, but I just couldn't resist at the sale price.

I'll attempt an ombre again, but hopefully this tutorial helped someone!  Practice makes perfect!