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.

Comparison Post: b&w toppers

 An easy way to spruce up any solid nail color is to add a glitter topper.  But not all glitter toppers are created equal.

I had to compare Hard Candy's "Black Tie Optional" (#651, retail $4)  from the Crystal Confetti line of their nail polishes to Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear nail color in "Strobe Flash" (#510, limited edition).

I purchased "Black Tie Optional" a while ago when Hard Candy revamped their polish line.  I had a wonderful experience with this topper, but it's been several months since I've used it, and the clear goop that suspends the glitter has evaporated down, which makes me sad.  This polish is not good for storing long-term.

After Christmas, I managed to find the entire limited edition Fall 2013 Xtreme Wear glitter toppers on sale at Target for $1.05 each and picked up the whole line because I am a polish hoarder.  Despite the clearance find, I was not impressed with the Sally Hansen topper.

The Hard Candy topper adorns my thumb, pointer, and ring finger.  The glitter application is dense after 2 coats, and includes more micro-glitter and bar-glitter.

The Sally Hansen topper is on my middle and pinky finger, 2 coats.  There is much less micro-glitters and application is sparse.  I dabbed the brush on a paper towel before applying and had to fish for the larger pieces of glitter.  I really was not impressed.

Kind of a cookies-n-creme color scheme.  Delicious!