I know I’ve been sharing lots of fall, and even holiday, launches lately but when a batch of cheerful pastel polishes shows up in my mailbox, I’m not going to let them still around until next summer. Plus, if a polish is pretty enough, I’ll wear it year-round no matter what the colour is. The Sally Hansen Botanical Gardens Collection Summer 2015* launched this June and contains 7 lovely shades with adorable floral names. I have 6 of them to share today, and there’s also a light yellow, Mum’s The Word.
Sally Hansen Au Nature-al is a sheer polish with peachy brown tones to help your nails look themselves…but better. I went with 2 coats to help hide some of my yellowness and I definitely think it makes my nails look healthier. Still, my personal preference is for bright, opaque, shades instead and just cover my nails up altogether.
Sally Hansen In Full Blue-m is a dusty blue cream with a strong grey lean to it. I really love this shade, but the formula was quite thin and runny. However, I am willing to put in a little more effort for a unique shade and it was basically opaque in 2 coats, so I think it’s still worth it.
Sally Hansen Aflorable is a bright, baby pink polish with a cream finish. I did find it quite streaky, probably because of all the white in the base, so while it evens out a bit with 2 coats I ended up going with 3 (and the last one was thick) to cover up any patchiness. I really like the end result, but unlike In Full Blue-M for me this shade wasn’t unique enough to be worth the hassle.
Sally Hansen What In Carnation is a lilac cream, and obviously the shade I was most drawn to at first because…purple. It also had a very thin and runny formula that really wanted to flood the cuticles. I went with 3 coats which was almost opaque but still a bit uneven. I’d probably need 4 coats to get a finish I really liked because of how thin the polish was.
Sally Hansen Poof Be-Gonia! is a dusty coral cream, which I really liked. It’s kinda like red for but for summer, and it would also look great as a pedicure. I could almost get away with 2 coats but it was a bit uneven, so I went with 3.
Sally Hansen Pardon My Garden is a very white-based mint green which has a slightly thin formula. The shade is a bit sheer and uneven with 2 coats, so I went with 3 (again, going a bit heavy on the third coat) to get opaque coverage.
The Sally Hansen Botanical Gardens Collection Summer 2015 definitely isn’t my favourite collection from a brand I really love. There are some great pastel shades, but in general I found the formula of the polish to be too thin and uneven. My picks from the collection, In Full Blue-M and Poof Be-Gonia! are both a bit temperamental, but pretty enough to be worth it. What do you think of the Sally Hansen Botanical Gardens Collection?