March 1, 2010

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Mochachino

I thought we'd have a little test of the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri promise today. If you don't know already, the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes are supposed to be able to be applied with only one brushstroke, be opaque in one coat, and dry in one minute. And now onto the test:

Mochachino, one coat, no top coat, no flash

Claim #1- Can be applied in one brushstroke.
I have pretty narrow nail beds, so I was able to apply the polish in one brushstroke on most of my nails. My thumbs are too wide to comfortably do one brushstroke though. In the first set of pictures, I did apply the polish with one brushstroke. It was fine, but I really prefer the coverage of my usual three strokes.

Claim #2- Opaque in one coat.
This polish was pretty opaque in one coat. Not bad at all as you can see from the pictures. It does look a little thin with only one coat, but if you were in a real rush, I think this would be acceptable coverage. You can see how much better it looks with two coats in the second set of pictures.

Mochachino, one coat, no top coat, with flash

Claim #3- Dries in one minute.
This is pretty accurate as well. The nails were dry to the touch in one minute. I probably wouldn't have gone running around touching things after just a minute. But good enough to gingerly get into your car and drive if you needed to run out to an event. When you add the second coat, the dries time increases a bit, but not too horribly.

Mochachino, two coats, with top coat, no flash

So how do I feel about Sally Hansen's claims? Overall, if I were in a real rush, I would find the whole one brushstroke, one coat thing to be very useful. It would make my nails look presentable in a short time. However, for every day wear, I much prefer two coats, plus top coat, and my usual three stroke application, as seen in the pictures below. You can see in the above picture how much richer the polish looks with two coats. And even with two coats, the drying time was pretty fast, so this still makes for a quick mani. I think this color is really gorgeous too! However, as you can imagine, your results will vary with the color you choose. Light colors will be harder to get even and opaque in only one coat. But if you haven't tried the Insta-Dri series, they're available in a wide array of colors to suit every taste, so give one a try!

Mochachino, two coats, with top coat, with flash

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes are available at drugstores and your local Stop and Shop.

5 comments:

Paige said...

That is a nice color on you!

Skulda said...

That is a nice colour!!

Never Enough Nails said...

Thanks ladies! I like it a lot actually, and the fact that it applies quickly and dries quickly is a big plus!

Unknown said...

What a pretty polish! And thank you for the awesome review - I had purchased a couple of these on the buy one get one half off walgreens sale a few weeks ago, but was ready to return them b/c I wasn't sure that I wanted to deal w/ the brush shape. But if they really dry fast and if the polish only needs one or two coats, I'll keep them. :) But now I want this color too!! :)

Never Enough Nails said...

Teresa, the first time I used one of these (Lightening was the first one I bought), I kinda hated the brush shape. But you get used to it, and I actually kind of like it now. It really covers the nail quickly and evenly.
EK has a couple more of these that I might persuade her to review on her vacation next week. She has Jumpin Jade (a very nice green!!) and some really dark purple color.