Throwback Thursday! Sally Hansen — Mandarin Mantra (Beyond Perfect Protein Nail Color) Swatch & Review

Collection: Sally Hansen ~2004, Beyond Perfect Protein Nail Color

Today’s Throwback Thursday is quite an oldie! It’s from at least 2004—which was the oldest data I could find for Sally Hansen’s long-discontinued Beyond Perfect Protein Nail Color line. (Unusually, Sally Hansen appears to have altered the spelling of “Color” on the bottle depending on where it was sold! Presumably American bottles I see online say “Color”, while my Canadian bottle says “Colour” and has additional French translation.)

Mandarin Mantra (22) is a super-juicy, sparkly orange in a semi-sheer formula. It’s packed with just the right amount of frost-like shimmer to make it sparkly but not frosty in a dated way. The shimmers are orange, but with hints of green and gold.

Cara Cara oranges are my faves at the supermarket!
“Citruspalooza in Southern California.”
Image: shockinglydelicious.com

I’m a huge lover of orange, so this is actually one of my favorites! I think the best thing about this polish is that you can use it sheer with a single, perfectly even coat, or double up on coats and wear it as a nearly-opaque shade.

I loved the Beyond Perfect line: the colors applied so evenly, and for once, Sally Hansen came out with elegant packaging! Plus, the brush is excellent, and quite Essie-like. It’s beyond me (hehe) why Sally Hansen persists with 500 lines of polish, each in awkward-looking packaging and offering varying levels of quality, when they made Beyond Perfect 12 years ago and discontinued it a few years later.

Anyway, if you can get your hands on a bottle of this old polish, I’ll be envious!

Sally Hansen Beyond Perfect Protein Nail Color contained 0.4 US fl oz / 11.8 mL. Due to it being from 2004 (or perhaps earlier), it’s most likely not 3-free.

Sally Hansen’s website states that Sally Hansen and her husband developed a Hard as Nails nail treatment in the late 1950s. (This begs to differ! How odd. There isn’t even a Wikipedia page on the woman or the brand!) Anyway, Sally Hansen, the company, was purchased by Coty Inc. in 1997 when the cosmetics giant acquired Del Laboratories, which owned brands like Sally Hansen, La Cross, and NYC (New York Color). Coty itself was founded in Paris, France in 1904, and is owned by a German holding company and headquartered in New York, NY, USA.