Insta Dry Nail Color

Sally Hansen Insta Dry Nail Color [193 - Slick Slate] Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - September 28, 2025

Oh lord, another Sally Hansen. Welp... this is the Sally Hansen Insta Dry Nail Color, shade 193/Slick Slate.
 
 
 
In my quest to try out one of each range of Sally Hansen nail polishes, I have arrived at the quick-drying range. Slowly, but surely, I am making my way through them and, well, things could have been better so far. I have had a bad time with most of the Sally Hansens that I tried, but still I persevere. Some may call that stupidity, I call it my Taurean bullheadedness/determination. Anyways, this is definitely not the colour I was hoping to get. Originally, I was angling for either Grape Shifter or Sprinkle Sprinkle... I don’t know, I was in a sort of glitter mood, I guess. Perhaps it is better I ordered a plain glossy shade, after all, glitter can be a nightmare to remove! Out of all the colours Notino had available, this one stood out as being the most delectable. Delectable, because it looks like dark chocolate, so of course I would order it! It somehow slipped past me, probably because it is very dark and I try to avoid using very dark nail polishes because they are known to stain nails. And I hate that. So I guess we will have to see what this Sally Hansen is like, huh? Perhaps it will actually be better than the previous ones? Foolish one stop checking your mailbox...
 
 
 
Packaging: woah, this bottle is triangular! You don’t see that every day! This helps this nail polish stand out from most others, and it does make it easier to store since you can fit three of these bottles very tightly next to each other. Very cool! The bottle itself is giant, but it is fairly lightweight. The cap matches the colour of the nail polish, which is a cool touch. Usually, caps are a different colour, so this is a nice change of pace. The text is white, which is a smart choice with such a dark colour. However, the name of the shade (which is on the top of the cap) is black... they were this close! Not all information is on the bottle; if you are looking for the ingredients list, for example, you’ll have to search online for it. 
 
 
The overall design is simple but decidedly modern, as is evident by the triangular shape of the bottle and the angled bold text. The cap closes extremely tightly, and it becomes even harder to open once you actually start using the nail polish, because it takes all of 5 minutes for there to be a layer of dried polish on the neck, but I’ll come to the formula in a little bit.
 
 
Source: www.sallyhansen.com
 
Ingredients: vitamin E for at least a tiny bit of nourishment. 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is in general similar to most other nail polishes, though it is extremely sharp and stings the inside of my nose. The expiration date is 30 months after opening.
 
 
 
Colour: Ooh, what a beautiful colour! I had mixed feelings about it before I applied the polish but it seems I had no reason to feel that way because man, this is sooo gorgeous! Although, the name has nothing to do with the actual colour, let’s be real. This has almost no blue pigments in it, so how could it ever be slate? No, to me, this is a dark chocolate or even milk chocolate kind of colour, which is perfect for a chocoholic like me, haha! As soon as I applied it, I fell in love – it is so perfectly choccy! And it is so dark and dramatic and just looks gorgeous on pale skin! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
However, after doing some research, I found what colour this one is most similar to, which is Pantone’s Plum Truffle, although this one seems to be slightly more brown and a bit less vibrant. Still, a gorgeous dark cool-toned brown/dark taupe kind of colour, perfect for autumn! There is something a tiny bit plummy about it, isn’t there? Very interesting, very stunning colour, I adore it!
 
 
 
 

 
What a tiny little brush! It is so cute! It is short, not too wide and has rounded ends, so that it applies nail polish as evenly as possible. And it does just that, which is a welcome change from all the other rubbish Sally Hansen brushes. This brush is actually really enjoyable to use! It applies the polish super evenly and it has no issues coating the entire nail with 2-3 swipes, so you can be done with your nails very quickly. I cannot describe how big of a relief this is; to go from struggling to apply nail polishes to actually having fun while applying polish. That said, this brush can be pretty messy; I tried to be precise, but I still ended up having some nail polish outside my nails, on the cuticles. This is all due to the fact that this brush picks up so much nail polish that it is actually insane. 
 
 
 
And it’s not that there’s that much on the brush itself, the polish being on the body of the brush is the problem. I tapped off the excess but there were still huge globs of nail polish on the body of the brush; there was so much polish there that I had multiple close calls with dripping. And then it actually dripped, but, luckily, it dripped on my desk and not on my clothes. This is a huge issue that is hard to fix by tapping off and can lead to accidents. But since the brush itself is so good, I can overlook this. Because man, compared to the previous Sally Hansen nail polish brushes, this one is top tier. Messy top tier, but top tier nonetheless. 
 
 
 
 
Ooh, I cannot believe I will say this, but I really like this formula! It is thick, but it feels ever so slightly dry, so instead of being all goopy and runny, it is creamy and honestly? Feels kinda luxurious, which is a weird feeling to have with Sally Hansen nail polishes. This is by far my favourite formula so far, it spreads so evenly and so easily, it really makes painting nails a breeze! Also, it is not runny, so it is easy to avoid making a mess on the skin around the nails. I don’t know, it is just such a good formula. And I tested it – it really does seem to dry within 60 seconds! I touched one of my nails before applying a second coat and I did not leave a fingerprint on the polish. Amazing! Though I would still suggest using nail polish drying drops just in case.  
 
 
It says on the back of the bottle to just apply one coat and let it dry. Well, you know, you could actually do that! It is opaque with one coat, though the colour isn’t quite as intense as it should be. And it is ever so slightly uneven in some places, but honestly? It looks good! And this is a shock to me, because the previous Sally Hansens were all various shades of rubbish. I contemplated leaving just this one coat, which had, by the way, already dried by the time I was done looking at it in detail, but I decided to add a second coat because that’s what I always do. It’s only fair to judge it using the same application as all the rest, no? And well, the second didn’t do much, but it certainly helped. It made the colour much more intense and it fixed those tiny uneven spots. 
 
 
 
 
Aha, now it looks right! Now it is intense and dramatic and dark and so, so good! Not a trace of any uneven spots and it is completely opaque. Just don’t apply a third coat; while it doesn’t feel too thick with two coats, there is really no point in applying a third one, it won’t do anything and just might cause the polish to start chipping sooner. Two is perfect, in my opinion. The texture is highly glossy, in a glassy kind of way, not gelly. Very pretty!
 
 
 
 
 
Longevity is another positive surprise! Wow... is this Sally Hansen the first actually good one? It is fairly chip resistant, able to survive 4 days before showing signs of chipping. This is orders of magnitude better than most other Sally Hansen nail polishes. And I am so happy that this chocolatey colour lasts so long! That means I can enjoy it for longer! But it is not immune to chipping; I noticed some smaller chips on day 4, but even by the end of day 4, they had gotten larger. Not significant, not really, but they were larger than before. It’s day 5 when it really started to chip in large amounts.  
 
 
 
 
 
Even before a hair wash, I had large chopped off parts on a few of my nails, so you can imagine that, after a hair wash, it was much, much worse. Some nails were half-chipped off, while others stayed in remarkably good condition. While this isn’t excellent objectively speaking, it is still much better than most other Sally Hansens, but the bar is set very low there. So yeah, I am pretty happy with the longevity, all things considered! But chipping isn’t the only form of damage, what about scratches? Ah yes, this is a bigger issue, as I found a couple of larger scratches the morning after painting my nails and it continued to collect more and more scratches over the next few days. 
 
 
 
 
 
These scratches were never bad enough to make the shine muted, but, I mean, they shouldn’t really be there. Still, they are fairly hard to notice so it isn’t that bad. I would highly suggest applying a top coat to prevent this kind of damage.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Another good thing: this nail polish is very easy to remove! It barely needs any rubbing before it is completely removed, which is good for the health of the nails. But there is something bad as well: this nail polish stains nails yellow. I cannot say I did not see this coming, but it’s always a disappointment when this happens. Ah well, there had to be some serious issue after so much good, right? For balance.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In conclusion, well, colour me surprised, this is actually a competent Sally Hansen! Who would’ve thought, eh? I am so happy that it was specifically this chocolate brown nail polish that was finally the one good one. That said, it is not perfect, it still has some flaws. Like, say, the fact that it gets scratched up easily. Or the fact that it isn’t really too chip-resistant. So, obviously, longevity has some issues, but for the most part, this one hell of a good nail polish – and I cannot believe I am saying this. The brush is incredible; it applies the nail polish evenly and is quite precise, allowing you to apply a good, even coat without any fussing about. Seeing as how Sally Hansens tend to have issues with being uneven, this is a marked improvement! However, although they suggest applying only a single coat, that one coat isn’t perfectly even. There is a little bit of patchiness here and there. But if you apply two coats, everything is fixed. The colour is intense and dark, it is completely opaque (to be fair, it was already opaque with one coat), and it is evenly applied. The formula is... weird? Weird. It is hella thick but it feels luxurious, all creamy and just, it just feels good to use. And it is so easy to use! It is odd how thick it is without being all goopy. But, because it is so thick, it is borderline impossible to not have it drip everywhere – which is why I have a neat new dark brown stain on my desk. Speaking of dark brown, this is not slate by any definition I know of. So the name makes no sense. What this is, is a dark cool-toned brown with some purplish pigments in it. It is awesome on pale skin! It just pops so nicely, and it looks so, so dramatic. I love it! It reminds me of both milk and dark chocolate, which, if you didn’t know, I cannot live without. It’s just a shame that this nail polish starts to chip massively after a few days, it looked so promising and then it started chipping off in huge patches. And it made my nails more yellow which is a bummer. But overall, it is a pretty great nail polish – and the quick-drying effect actually works! It was actually almost dry after just a minute; that said, I would still suggest using some kind of nail polish drying drops to really make sure it is dry – oh, and a top coat, to prevent excess scratching. So, yeah, I am quite happy with this nail polish, despite it having some issues. Lord knows it is leagues above any other Sally Hansen, so I’ll take this small win. And lastly, yup, I will recommend this nail polish – what a surprise to hear myself say that, wow...
 
 
 
Rating: 7/10
 
 
Would buy again? YES
 




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