sally hansen miracle gel manicure review

what really caught my eye about this polish were the colors! the colors are bold and there are such a wide variety to choose from, i was instantly drawn to the display (marketing victim…i know).  just a little history on my nails. i wore acrylic nails for over 10 years…most of those 10 years i always got pink and white acrylic so my nails were a french manicure all of the time. after having our son i wanted to take a break from them…i was mainly afraid of scratching our newborn but i had also gotten to the point where going to my appointments were more of a chore than a joy. when our son was almost 2 i started getting the itch again for acrylic nails…mainly because polish does not stay on more than an hour. after much consideration i started getting the acrylics again. well i couldn't get the acrylics to stay on either…they were constantly lifting and it was more of a hassle than it was worth. a friend told me about the at home gel manicure kits…so i went and purchased one from ulta it was $120.00. i was so excited to try it and then... it sat in my closet for at least 4 months unopened…i do not think i was as excited about it after the ulta representative told me to make sure i had time carved out because you have to follow all of the steps as directed and that takes time…a lot of time...thankfully ulta let me return the product for a full refund. i tried acrylics one last time this year and then finally decided i was done…they weren't staying on and again not worth the time and frustration.

that is when i came across this product…  sally hansen miracle gel. at first i wasn't too sure about it. i tried it the first time the manicure worked great, lasted over 10 days. then i purchased a pink color and that manicure lasted 2 days (i am realizing now that was likely more of user error). i thought i was back to the drawing board in search of the "perfect" polish until i decided to give miracle gel one more try. i had the idea to not only use acetone to remove any oils but i also used a file and roughed up my nail a little. worked like a charm. polish lasted 2 weeks that time.

after recommending this polish to quite a few friends that had never even heard of it i thought my readers may like the skinny on this.  my friends loved it and i hope you will as well. 

my best advice…

remove all oils from you nails with acetone or alcohol then lightly roughen your nail with a nail file or the course side of a buffer block.

although the brush is pretty bulky try to put 2 thin layers of polish on your nail. I actually allow the first coat to almost dry completely before applying the second coat and then allow that to dry before applying the final gel top coat.

this product is totally worth the $15.00 ish investment to give it a try. target seems to be the cheapest as far as the stores i shop at. 

if you decide to use this product or you have used it let me know your comments. 

thanks for taking the time to read my review and i hope you have the same great experience as i did. 

after 10 days

2 day old polish including a day at the pool

my favorite shortbread cookie recipe

if you have followed me for any length of time you know i am not a big fan of sweets. when i do get a "sweet tooth" its usually for something not too sweet…like a shortbread cookie. this recipe is a simple 4 ingredient cookie recipe and oh so tasty.  you can enjoy these just as they are or drizzle them with pretty much any flavor of icing (lemon maybe)…or how about dipping half of the cookie in chocolate.  we actually drizzled these with a home made fresh strawberry icing. a little more work to make the icing but it was worth it.  i will post the strawberry icing recipe and when i do i will link it up to this post as well.


ingredients
2 cups butter
1 cup of white sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
4 cups of all-purpose flower


method
1. pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

2. cream butter and sugar until fluffy and stir in vanilla. slowly add in flour mixing well.

3. roll out the cookies or use a cookie press. we rolled these out and used a mini cookie cutter and made them into these cute frilly shapes. we baked these for 10 minutes or until a very light golden brown. baking times will vary depending on the size of cookie and oven. so if you prefer to do a larger cookie just do a test round and bake one or two to see how they turn out.

enjoy!!