In the Desperately Seeking Persistent Polish series, I wear a different nail polish for seven days, and take before and after pics to document the condition of my paws over the course of the week!
I keep thinking that I’m going to run into a dud one of these days from Sally Hansen Color Therapy, because, hello! — when do you EVER find a nail polish line where every. single. polish. you try consistently delivers the goods?
This week was definitely NOT that week, because Bronze Reflection was one of the best-performing shades I’ve tried from Color Therapy so far. I feel like I say that every week about Color Therapy these days (hey, Karen broken record much?), but when something’s worth raving about, I’m gonna rave about it!
Bronze Reflection, which lists for $7.99, is all the things I’d expect to find in a Chanel cult nail color (except for price, of course). It has finer-than-fine micro-glitter, and it’s startlingly complex. Just like *that*, it shifts from pinkish bronze to a cranberry tinged with rose gold to a buttery yellow brass. It’s like all of the colors of autumn leaves squeezed into a bottle. And to top it off, you can wear it sheer — and it’ll look purposefully sheer, and not patchy or poorly pigmented — or you can go completely opaque like I did in these pics. It’s SO flexible.
Here’s how it held up throughout the week:
Day 1
Day 7
I wore it with two coats of the same Smith & Cult Base Coat and Top Coat I’ve been using with all of the polishes in the 7 Days series.
Technically, I wore this mani for eight full days this time. Bronze Reflection is a beast!
Oh, and after a two-month exercise hiatus (Connor started preschool, and at least one person in our little family has been sick at any given moment the entire time, no joke!), I was finally well enough to get back in the gym this week, and I had Bronze Reflection on my nails. It was so durable that it lasted through three brutal HIIT sessions with free weights, pull-ups, triceps dips with Equalizer bars, and ungodly amounts of burpies and push-ups. It’s truly amazing 1) how quickly one falls out of shape, and 2) how brutal gym equipment is on your mani.
This line is SO good, you guys.
I’m torn as to whether I should keep looking for another long-lasting formula to love in the name of beauty experimentation, or stick to the Color Therapy line. What do you think? Inquiring nails want to know. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. T-G-I-F.
100% TGIF. 🙂 This is a super pretty color and I’m glad you’ve found a line of polishes to rave about! Especially one that’s affordable. You’re an experimenter, though, so I feel like you’ll keep trying new brands and new lines. It doesn’t take long to lose your fitness, that’s for sure. But I’m sure you’ll be back on track in no time. I’m happy to hear your household is getting healthier, too!
Hi Kim,
Yeah, it’s bound to happen. I’m feeling kinda glittery so maybe a fun glitter will be next. 🙂
Happy Friday to you!
Dying because I’m wearing this exact color on my nails as I type this! It’s wearing beautifully and I’ve gotten so many compliments on it. (I use the Morgan Taylor base and top coat FYI.) But the SH color therapy line is legit!
Hi Mary,
Nail twins! Isn’t it cool how it can look like a totally different color depending on the light? Glad to hear that you like this so much, yay!
This color is gorgeous! Must buy immediately. Is the line new I haven’t noticed it in stores near me yet? Maybe I’m not looking close enough.
Sami – These dark colors came and went at my local drugstore really quickly. I think I got the last bottle of this color. I did notice that Ulta still had them on-line.
Hi Sami,
The line has been around for a while and this is one of the new fall colors. Check around your local drugstores and Target. If you can’t find it it’s still online at Ulta.
I just picked up a couple colors from this line – super excited that they’re long lasting. I’m brutal on my nails, so this will be an interesting experiment!
Hi Stephanie,
Be sure to use a base and top coat. That’s totally key, I think, to making the most out of the durability. What colors did you get?
oh, yes! What a gorgeous bronze! thanks for the zoom in on the micro glitters, I see what you mean on the complexity. hooray for fall nails in browns and bronzes!!!
Hi Lorraine,
You’re welcome. I have another cream in this line to test but the next ones I pick up will for sure have a little something-something in them. 🙂 I “need” a green and a blue, at the very least.
Happy Friday to you, and I hope you’re enjoying this gorgeous weather!
This color is so close to Chanel Opulence which is new. But Chanel is $28. I swatched the Chanel in-store yesterday and come home and put this on a neighboring nail. The Chanel is deeper (not as sheer) and has a deeper cranberry base. Both of them shrank away from my nail edge when I put on my quick dry top coat.
Both Dear Hubs and Dear Daughter like the Chanel color better, until I mentioned the price difference. When I went to the gym this morning my trainer said she liked the Chanel color better, too.
I feel like gym equipment isn’t a bother to my nails, but dang do I have callouses on my palms from my workout.
Is it just me or do the SH Color Therapy have a strong, deep, funky smell to them? I mean beyond the way polish usually smells.
P.S. Studies have shown that fitness levels start to drop off as quickly as one week of inactivity, even in elite athletes.
Ooh, thanks for the comparison!
What kind of workout did you do this morning? I need to do cardio sometime this afternoon because I’m hoping that’ll get me back in shape quicker. I ran 2.5 miles yesterday and today I’m aiming for 3.
I did free weights (lunges, goblet squats, bench presses, dead lifts, enough different ab work to make me feel like puking) with my trainer in a new gym. The old gym lost it’s lease and the city put up multiple road blocks in the owner’s attempt to find a new space; like you’ll need more parking than is allowed and there is already another gym within a two block radius. So the owner decide to move the business to San Luis. I followed the female trainer I was working with to this new gym. I’ll be working out with her three days a week and I do cardio on my own the other three days. I’m hoping to convince Dear Husband to buy a stationary bike or rower for the garage on days when it’s too rainy to want to run outside this winter.
Other thoughts on the two colors. The Chanel is more metallic, the SH is more micro glittery. In part I think the micro glitter in the SH makes it appear lighter. Also that it doesn’t have as much color pigment as the Chanel. I’m thinking of layering the SH over the Chanel so I can get that deep, rich purplish berry base, along with the glittery/shimmer of the SH.
Happy Friday! Love this color! Have you ever tried CND Stickey base coat (that’s how they spell it and it drives me nuts)? My go-to combo the past 6 months has been that with an Essie gel polish and Essie’s quick dry top coat. Lasts me at least 10 days (although I’m not at the computer all day anymore)!