Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fall 2013 Nail Polish Swatches & Review
We’re just a couple weeks away from the official start of fall and as much as I love summer weather I feel like we’ve been gypped with all the rain and cool temps. At this point, I’m over it and ready for boots, sweaters and jewel-toned nails. Enter, the Sally Hansen Fall 2013 Insta-Dri nail polish shades.
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fall 2013
At first glance I wasn’t sure what to expect from these colors. Some of them appear rather frosty in the bottle but, as evidenced below, their looks are quite deceptive. I’m pleasantly surprised by the nail juice inside and I think you will be too.
Formula & Application: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish is 5-Free (Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor). It comes in a tall, tapered, triangular-shaped bottle topped with a plastic, slightly curved cap. Due to the height of the bottle, the flat brush stem is very long and can collect a LOT of polish so make sure to wipe it well.
The flat, curved brush is similar to the one found in the Complete Salon Manicure line. It’s wide but firm so it doesn’t spread out much which is good for more narrow nails. Though it can still be too wide for petite hands and tends to have a lot of inconsistency in cut so you don’t always get a perfect curve along the cuticle. This is a very polarizing brush. When it’s cut well, I love it. When it’s misshapen, it gives me agita.
All of these polishes have a nice, smooth flow and great pigmentation. Though they’re not quite one coat coverage. I used two coats with all of the shades, except Chop Chop Copper. It needed three coats. Also, the point of Insta-Dri is that you can apply it, with no base or top coat, and run out the door BUT a couple of the shades dried a bit flat and benefited from a layer of top coat. I swatched all the shades with top coat.
Sally Hansen Chop Chop Copper is a bronze-y copper foil sprinkled with pink micro-glitter. This one is a bit sheer and doesn’t quite deliver on the color punch and depth the bottle promises.
Sally Hansen Chop Chop Copper
Sally Hansen Jet Set Jade is a stunning blue-green smooth shimmer. It even has a bit of duo-chrome to it so from certain angles a flash of indigo appears. If you remember the old Insta-Dri shade Jumpin Jade, this is a bit more muted and blue in tone.
Sally Hansen Jet Set Jade
Sally Hansen No S-pear Time is an olive green foil-esque shimmer. The bottle color really doesn’t do this color justice. The silvery foil flecks mask the richness of the shade.
Sally Hansen No S-pear Time
Sally Hansen Pink Fast is a hot fuchsia smooth foil glitter. Like No S-pear Time it has a lot of silvery foil in it that add to its metallic appearance yet they don’t subdue the overall hue.
Sally Hansen Pink Fast
Sally Hansen Quick Jeanius is an explosion of indigo gorgeousness on the nail. It delicately walks the line between blue and purple and the silvery shimmer you see in the bottle melts into the background, amping up the sparkle factor.
Sally Hansen Quick Jeanius
Sally Hansen Red-io Active is a lit-from-within cherry red shimmer. When it first goes on the nail it looks like it’s going to be brush stroke madness but, once dry, it’s just a vivid, pearly shimmer.
Sally Hansen Red-io Active
Bottom Line: In spite of the issues the long stem on the Insta-Dri brush poses, these colors are too beautiful to be overlooked. Jet Set Jade and Quick Jeanius are obviously my faves but No S-pear Time isn’t far behind. And even though I’m not normally into reds, seeing the boyfriend’s eyes light up over Red-io Active makes it hard for me to pass it off. Chop Chop Copper’s lack of opacity and pigment payoff earn it a thumbs down from me and as pretty as Pink Fast is, it’s not flattering on me.
The new Sally Hansen Insta-Dri shades for Fall 2013 are available now, in limited release, at drugstores and mass retailers nationwide. There are two additional shades I didn’t receive, Style Steel (rose gold) and Current Trend (purple shimmer). They retail for $4.99/ea for a .31oz bottle.
These colors are featured in a display as part of a collaboration between Sally Hansen & Rent The Runway, including a giveaway for a year’s supply of Sally Hansen nail polish and $1000 RTR gift card. Visit Facebook.com/SallyHansen to enter.
What do you think of these new Insta-Dri colors? Which ones do you plan to pick up? Are you an Insta-Dri fan? Will these new shades change your opinion of the line?
Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for Sally Hansen. Affiliate links appear via skimlinks. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
All the colours are so pretty, but I love the look of Red-io Active the most! Quick Jeanius is a close 2nd.
It surprised me. Something about its glow drew me in.
Amazing colors. Wish I had a job to get money just to buy them.
The indigo and the forest green ones are to die for! Beautiful *.*
They did a fab job with these new shades. I hope some of them become perm
I want all of them!
Good thing they’re so inexpensive, right?
This is probably one of the best polish reviews I have read in a long time. I love the way you described each color and the pics are fantastic. Thanks for the great info
Thank you so much Katie! That’s so kind of you to say.
these are seriously gorgeous! I’m in love with the pink!
Totally!
They are so pretty
I love Red-io Active! I saw these at my Walgreens, but wasn’t sure about them. I also hate the bottle, but I might have to bypass that and get it.
It’s worth the bother, trust!
Just loving Chop Chop! The perfect bling for Fall
I’m in love with all of these!!
I’m kind of on the fence about Red-io Active even though I love the name; I think it’s a bit holiday-y. Quick Jeanious is gorgeous but Jet Set Jade has my heart! Pink Fast kind of remind me of Big Bang from Urban Decay’s Apocalypse set, but I think Big Bang reads warmer, less fuchsia–definitely a hot pink color.
You can’t deny the gorgeousness of Jet Set Jade
I saw these at Walgreens the other day and after studying the color in each bottle, I came home with the red one. I liked its finish better than the others and, just from looking at the bottle, you can see that glow you described perfectly as “lit from within.” Now, after looking at your swatches, I’m lusting after the green and blue too. Good thing the Walgreens is so close to my home. (BTW, I’m expecting in the mail the gorgeous teal and blue from YOUR collaboration with Sally Beauty for their FingerPaints collection. I can’t wait to get that teal especially on my nails!)
Oh how fun! I hope you love them. Let me know what you think once they arrive
I love Jet Set Jade! Gorgeous! And Chop Chop Copper is really pretty, too!
Jet Set Jade is a MUST!
Sally Hansen Quick Jeanius is my hands down favorite of the bunch. I love the whole blurple nail color.
Me too!
I like all of them!
Lovely! I want them all!!
Just when I thought I didn’t need another teal! Wow its gorgeous
I think that one, the green and the blue will be finding their way into my shopping basket soon. Thanks for another stellar review! I too plan to pick up a couple from your collection at Sally’s, the teal, Sage and purple will all be mine 
You’re welcome and thank you for supporting my collection.
Red-io Active and Quick Jeanius are so pretty! I just can’t seem to warm up to olive green polishes, though. Green (I mean the greens in the olive green-chartreuse-hunter categories, not mint or turquoise) and yellow are the polish colors I have a hard time liking, though last night I did finally find a yellow I liked enough to purchase!
Oh, what yellow was that? I agree, they can be hard to pull off. Overly warm shades don’t work on me but I love yellow so I’m always on the hunt for the perfect one.
These are beautiful, perfect for fall!
I picked up a couple of these after seeing your swatches. I used chop chop copper over Revlon hot chocolate as a base. That really gave a lot of depth to the Sally Hansen.
Oh that sounds like a gorgeous combo. Thanks for the suggestion.
I don’t usually go for the insta-dri but that jade color is gorgeous.
It really is. I was so impressed with this collection as a whole
I love them! These are also my go-to stamping polishes, the new gold insta dry looks great!
Great to know they’re good for stamping!
I have been seriously coveting these new shades from the Insta Dri collection.. I’m a die-hard Insta Dri gal
I probably have about 25+ different colors from over the years LOL! I’m a mom to a 20mth old and Insta Dri works for me since I don’t have a lot of time and it usually doesn’t require more than one coat for most colors in the collection 
I bought the Quick Jeanius of the ones you have shown here (they were out of the Red-io Active–the one I’ve been dying to get).. I will go to Walgreens to see if they have it LOL!
Thanks for your review, because it has changed my mind about the ones I was questioning in the bottle…probably buy the Jade and maybe the S-Pear!
Hi Mary! I’m happy my review was so helpful. I hope you find Red-io Active
I picked up the Chop Chop Copper tonight, and though sheer, the second coat for me did it. It’s great on really pail skin. I’ve got a lot of pink in my skin, and this just works. I loved all the colors and will probably grab a darker one for the toes! These are my go to shades for the pedicure.
That’s great to hear. I’m so glad you like it. I wish it worked better for me but I’m happy it worked for you.
Is jet set jade a dupe for china glaze tongue and chic?
No, they have different finishes and JSJ has a blue flash in it that Tongue and Chic is lacking
‘No S-pear Time’ reminds me of a slightly brighter version of Rimmel’s ‘Rags to Riches’, one of my favourite nail polish colours. I’m sorely tempted to buy ‘Jet Set Jade’ now, too. (Can you tell I love green polishes?)