Nail Polish Stress Test: Sally Hansen Silver Scallop

I try to buy nail polish on sale as much as I possibly can. However, every now and then I’ll come across something that catches my eye in the store. The thought of someone else buying my polish before I can get it on sale will bother me; at that point, I’ll just go for it. That’s the story behind my buying today’s subject: Silver Scallop.

Silver Scallop is from Sally Hansen’s Pearl Crush line. The collection as a whole is pretty, but this one really stands out on the display. It’s a gray tinted base with duochrome shimmer that changes from pink to green. It also has big iridescent hex glitter and glitter shards in it.

Application is…challenging. The instructions on the bottle say to dab on one coat, wait a minute, then dab on a second coat. That makes sense in that the big honking pieces of glitter clearly aren’t coming out of that bottle without a fight. However, when I followed the instructions, I ended up with a total of three pieces of glitter on my nails, and a mani full of air bubbles.

I decided to try applying it using the traditional method. I got maybe six pieces of glitter, and the polish looked good, so I rolled with it. I used three coats, plus my usual layer of Seche Vite.

The glitter itself is fascinating. It doesn’t look like it should, but it does lay flat on the nail. Depending on how the light hits, it can either look awesome like water droplets, or super trashy.

Silver Scallop definitely won’t stamp or water marble. It’d be easy to blame it on the glitter, but the reality is it’s just too sheer.

So, how did it hold up?

It did great! Totally didn’t expect that. It lasted three days, and even then, I had to look for the damage. The color made chips hard to spot, which is always a good thing! I lost most of the glitter while I was at work, which didn’t particularly bother me.

Just for fun, I tried sponging it on to see if I could get more glitter that way. My conclusion? Don’t bother. This also makes the finish look awful, and in my opinion, more glitter doesn’t help here.

Verdict: Excellent

I didn’t expect this polish to last as long as it did! The problem here is with the glitter. Maybe if they’d used the same type but smaller, it would have worked out better. Maybe they’re going with the idea that you don’t get a fistful of pearls out of an oyster, so you get the proportionate amount of glitter here? I couldn’t tell you. I kinda wish they had the glitter in its own clear base.

With that said, even if the concept has flaws, the polish is sound.