Nail Art Hack: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens

Nail art is the trend that keeps on trending. I'm totally cool with that, since I've been doodling all over my nails since, like, fourth grade, and have no plans to stop. All that practice has afforded me a certain skill level, but sometimes it still feels like too much time and effort for such a short-lived "work of art."

Sometimes you just want something easier. A nail art hack, perhaps?

Enter Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. These pens come with either a round or fine tip, and allow you to more easily draw all kinds of designs on your nails. They feel almost like a paint marker, but the product inside is distinctly nail polish-esque. 

One major difference, though - these don't have that classic nail polish stink, which is a major plus. When I draw intricate designs with typical nail polish, I sometimes feel woozy by the end from all the time and polish it takes. 

This might be due to the pen's water-based formula, which is also what makes these so easy to use. Say you draw what was supposed to be a cute puppy face on your thumb nail, but it actually ends up looking more like a deceased raccoon - just wipe the design off (byyyye, poor lil raccoon!) with a wet cotton pad/ball/swab and start again! It won't interrupt the base nail polish, either. Nice!

To fully test these lil' guys out, I first painted each of my nails a different color, following a rainbow pattern. This way, you can see what the nail art pens look like over light colors and dark colors. To be honest, I kind of wanted to just stop here because I liked the plain rainbow look so much!

Alas, I bravely soldiered on. Before you begin, give the pen a good shake and push the tip onto some scrap paper or a paper towel a few times to get the polish flowing. Once you start drawing you'll see that enough product comes out to draw an opaque design, but generally not so much that it gets runny.

Some nails were just screaming for specific designs, like the pink nail becoming a watermelon, and the red nail becoming a ladybug. On others, I just chose the color I thought would work best functionally and aesthetically, then made up a design on the spot. That worked out mostly well, but please don't look too closely at either of my pinky nails ☺

Here's a simple idea: use a white nail art pen to draw a stripe near the free edge of your nail. Follow that stripe with a green nail art pen, drawing outside of the white stripe. Add some black dots for seeds and you've got super simple, yet adorable nail art!

Here's my final result! For just kinda messing around, I was really impressed with these. Some work better than others, but I love that some brighter colors, like pink, could draw over some darker colors and still be vibrant. 

The most important part: You MUST finish these with a top coat! This is not a drill, people! If you don't, the pen may wash or wear off very easily. Top coats: don't leave home without 'em.

Nothing is perfect, though (except you!) 

I found the pearlescent white to be too liquid, and difficult to use for that reason, though that may just be my tube.

The biggest flaw was unfortunately with the violet pen, which sucks because it's so damn pretty! I painted over orange and the violet later paled and bled a bit (seen below left) and over light blue, and the violet wore off in places (below right).

I'll definitely be reaching for these again. If you want to dip your toe (errr, fingertip?) into the nail art pen game, I suggest picking up a black one since it's so versatile, and just playing around with it. I honestly feel like you'll love it! PSA: If you buy at the drugstore remember to use a coupon! Always. ♥

p.s. these would be great for French manicures, too!

Have you ever tried these nail art pens? What's your biggest challenge with nail art? Have you seen any cool nail art designs lately? Share 'em!