Sally Hansen Xtreme wear: Review & Swatches

Last week I went shopping with a friend.  He was shopping for a suit for a wedding party that he's going to be in at the end of May and i joined him to help him in his search for a student-friendly suit.  (ie.  a cheap one that's not ugly)

We scoured the clearance racks at Sears and after searching for matching jacket and pants that both fit that were single breasted, not pleated in the pants, and not torn half way down the back of the jacket there was a mild victory!  It wasn't amazing, and frankly speaking I don't know much about men's formal attire and what's in and what's not.  It was fine and really cheap.  So we got the jacket and pants then went on the hunt for dress shoes, of which i definitely know even less about.  I mostly remember seeing some of my other classmates dressed up for presentations at school in shiny black dress shoes that made their feet look really flat and wide and kinda pointed too.  ...is that trendy?  ...for men's shoes to be tapered?  

Anyways.  While waiting for his boyfriend to pick us up from one mall to drive us to the other as the hunt for shoes continued, we hung out in Walmart. ...thus the segue into my nailpolish haul.  I don't know why i can't seem to resist the Sally Hansen Xtremewear polishes even though they never wear very well for me...  oh wait.  i know why.  the colors are prety damn kickass and they're priced super cheap, with a great brush.

At the Walmart that I shop at, the Sally Hansen Xtremewear polishes are always $1.99 regular price.  so how can i turn that down?  Even if they don't wear very well on their own, i can use them for nail art too right?  

The brush shape, however, was a let down this time.  (along with the disappointment of the change in the lid -which is probably tied to the brush shape)

The brush i'm used to for this line is one that is slightly wider than normal (not OPI wide, but sill noticably wider than the standard brushes).  The lids i'm used to are a simple slightly tapered cylinder.  

The majority of the polishes i got recently had a different brush and handle.  The brushes were the standard round shape (very disappointing) and the lid was not tapered on one end, but instead was tapered in the middle.  and the taper was far more noticable, which i don't personally like.  i don't like it when my fingers are forced to slide into a particular spot on the handle because of the taper.  blah.

well, at least the colors were great.

Individual reviews will be under each of the swatches below.

DEEP PURPLE: What a gorgeous purple with mirco shimmers.  Reminds me of Virtuous Violet by Nicole by OPI.  (wish i was organized enough to do a swatch comparison) 

Pigmentation was pretty decent, but definitely needed 2 coats to get opaque.

BLUE IT:  definitely going to take over the favorite blue from Blue Me Away.  but then again they're in very different categories.  This one is a gorgeous saphire blue with micro shimmers (as with the majority of colors from this line).  

Pigmentation of this one was great.  Only needed one coat (granted, a thick one) to get a nice opaque color.

OCEAN VIEW: mid blue/teal color with micro shimmers.  

Pigmentation is mediocre, but not the worst of the group.  needed two coats for sure, but the color is worth it!

MARINE SCENE:  here it is with one coat.  Horrible pigmentation!  This is one coat.

MARINE SCNENE:  I'd love to say that this photo was with two coats, but it was actually with three.  Yes it's fine with just two.  the nail line disappears with two coats, but the beautiful vibrancy and depth of the color isn't truly shown until the third coat is applied.  such a bummer.  ...but it'll be great for doing gradients and as an overlay!

CHERRY RED:  first of all:  can you believe that I don't actually own a flat bright red?!?!?!  How did this happen??  wow.

ok, but seriously.  this is cherry red with one coat.  two coats is great, but not entirely necessary.

Pigmentation on this one kicks buttttt!

However, as with most of the Xtreme wear polishes, the wearability continues to disappoint. The visible chip on my ring finger was after less than 30 hours of wear.  (and seven of those were during sleep!)  
typical disappointment for the wear of this line by Sally Hansen.  
Not sure why the heck that is...   especially since all the other lines i've tried form Sally Hansen always wear so well..  


--odd.