The Budget Babe | Affordable Fashion & Style Blog

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Holiday 2012




Just in time for the holidays, Sally Hansen has released their limited-edition Salon Effects Real Nail Polish strips in 5 fun, festive prints: Holi-Daze, Snow Way, Checkin It Twice, Shiny New Year and Simply D-Vine. These make great stocking stuffers! Find them at Target, Walmart, drugstores or ulta.com for about $9.99 each. Click through to see all the designs. My favorite is Simply D-Vine (the black and white) - so chic.

Off the Rack: Target x Neiman Marcus Collection




On Monday, a full two days after the December 1 launch of the Target x Neiman Marcus holiday gift collection, I ventured to my local Target store to see what was left - and not surprisingly, everything was still on the shelves. In multiples. I say "not surprisingly" because I had been watching the inventory levels on Target.com and noticed just about every item was still available. This was no Missonipocalypse, so I'll give Target props for orchestrating a sane launch and imposing shopping limits (purchase quantity is limited to 5 per same item and items must be returned by January 15). But if the buzz on my Instagram feed is correct, the real reason things aren't selling out is the high prices. It's hard to rationalize spending $59.99 on a white canvas tote in the middle of winter even if it says Oscar de la Renta. And while the $79.99 Altuzarra tray was admittedly luxe, my money could go farther on other Target homegoods from say, the Threshold brand (love that line!) Call me a budget shopping vulture, but I'm hoping some of these items will go on sale, like the Tracy Reese dessert plates (beautiful but they don't say "dishwasher" safe - the box does, the actual plates do not. Hmmm.) This collection definitely has its gorgeous moments - the ivory Marchesa dress for girls looks so chic in person - but I had to walk away empty-handed, spending my money on pumpkin spice oatmeal and Fage yogurt instead.

How about you, what did you buy from the collection? Thoughts on quality, pricing?

Keep reading to see lots of real-life photos of the collection.