It seems like nowadays a plain cream polish is just so boring.  Why have one solid glossy colour when you can add glitter, texture, or matte?  It all started with those nail polish strips, and now brands are coming out with different formulas of polish that amp up your plain ol’ manicure.

New from Sally Hansen, the drugstore brand has released two new lines dealing with texture.  There’s the Luxe Lace line and the Velvet Texture polishes. Luxe Lace is available in three different shades and is supposed to recreate a lace fabric-inspired effect. You can wear it alone or layer it over your favourite shade to create a lace effect to any colour.

I’ve seen this type of overcoat before from brands, but rather than lace, I’ve always thought of it more like a snowflake texture. The polish is made up of hexagonal and round pieces in a clear base.  I have it in the colour Eyelet, the white colour, and although I still do find it more snowflake-looking than lace, I have seen swatches of the other colours, and the black one in particular looks more like lace than the others.  To be honest though, unless someone knows it’s from the Luxe Lace line, I don’t think they would put two and two together and be like “hey, your nails look just like lace!” unless they quickly glance at your nails and then look away. I think its a bit of a stretch, but good on Sally Hansen for trying.

The other texture line that Sally Hansen has introduced is the Velvet Texture polishes.  These guys — again, available in three shades — have a plush, velvet look. I have the black shade, Velveteen, and to be completely honest, these are just matte nail polishes.  Essie tried doing something similar with their cashmere line, but marketing ploys aside, these are just nail colours that dry matte. With that being said, I did like this polish (it would actually be kinda cool to layer Eyelet from the Luxe Lace line on top – although it would get rid of that “velvet” look), and if you like dark colours, I would look into these. They aren’t fully matte, there is a little hint of a texture to them, not something like the Sugar line, so I can see where Sally Hansen was going with these. No need to top these either as they would lose their effect.  Overall wear was pretty good too, the colour lasted a few days before I saw chips (it also went on pretty opaque, so thumbs up for that).

Overall, I think these new textured polishes from Sally Hansen are a bit of a stretch, but I think they came up with some pretty cool concepts with the two lines. Regardless of whether I think they look like their namesakes, they still make for some pretty innovative polishes.

What do you think of the textured nail polish craze?

Please note, polishes provided by PR. All opinions are my own.

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