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Photo: Coty/Sally Hansen
Photo: Coty/Sally Hansen

Sally Hansen is an American beauty brand, first founded in 1946 by Sally Hansen herself. Since then, the brand has become a household name, famous for its dedication to making innovatively-formulated, affordable beauty products for real women. Beauty that really works.

SO MUCH MORE THAN NAILS

The founder, Sally Hansen, was a fearless beauty entrepreneur, innovator and style icon. In a time when women ran households not companies, Sally defied husbands, parents, and society in general, to create the life and the beauty she wanted for herself, by herself.

Launched with just two nail products, including the iconic ‘Hard As Nails’, the award-winning brand now has over 300 shades, is distributed in over 55 countries worldwide, and is the number one nail brand in the U.S.A. amongst other countries. But Sally Hansen is so much more than just nails, with products spanning 5 beauty categories: nail colour, nail care, sunless tanning, hair removal, and beauty tools.

About SALLY HANSEN 

For a long time, the story of Sally Hansen was a mystery. There was no website write-up. No book. No framed portrait proudly gracing the lobby. No one to confirm if she had even existed at all.

There was the legend of course, of a glamorous and fearless entrepreneur, a self-made woman whose ideas were far ahead of her time.But there was also rumors of a party girl (who allegedly ran off with her chauffeur).

So, who was the real Sally? What was her story?

In 2014, a team of investigative journalists was hired to uncover the truth. And after months of failed leads, and hours spent sifting through city hall archives and garages piled with forgotten files, her story is finally ready

1908: THE BEGINNING

Sally's fearless, independent spirit soon led her to leave her job working for the family business and pursue her dreams of becoming a dancer.

Sally left for Hollywood, California, where she would become a successful dancer and choreographer, landing roles in productions like "Beverly Smiles", "Peggy Ann", and "Spring is Upon Us".

In the midst of the roaring 1920's, she and her dashing, bon vivant husband, Adolf Hansen, would become fixtures on the Hollywood social scene, hosting a stream of star-studded parties at their glamorous Spanish-inspired villa. A villa which Sally, herself designed.

1920's

EARLY CAREER

Blonde, petite and fashionable, Sally was famous for her avant-garde style, and her progressive views.

Her sassy and frank voice found a powerful outlet with her column in LA Times, 'Your Candid Mirror', for which she wrote over 91 articles.

So much more than beauty advice or gossip column, "Your Candid Mirror' was a loudhailer for the voice of a strong, independent, self-made woman. A woman with opinions far ahead of her time, who believed in empowering women in beauty, in business and in life.

1930's

HOUSE OF HOLLYWOOD

"I WAS ALWAYS BREAKING NAILS. THAT'S WHY I HAD SUCH AN INTEREST IN PRODUCTS THAT REALLY STOPPED NAILS FROM CHIPPING AND CRACKING."SALLY HANSEN, BOSTON GLOBE, 1961

After her early dance career, Sally took over her parents' cosmetics business, with the help of her husband and brother, reinventing it as House of Hollywood and transforming it into a successful business. This marks the beginning of Sally Hansen, the self-made woman and entrepreneur. Sally wanted to build a line of affordable, innovative beauty products for real women. Beauty that really worked.

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