Seche Vite Topcoat

Hi everyone! For awhile now people have been asking me what topcoat I like the best. Now I am trying to use up the other topcoats in my collection, but Seche Vite is by far my favorite, and it is a favorite of many. It is the fastest drying topcoat that I have ever used, it dries so shiny and it really protects the polish well. The only thing that I don't like about it is the smell, but it is slight and worth getting over for the benefits of the topcoat. I really only try to use it if I have to do a quick manicure, but it will be the only topcoat out of the 7 or so that I already own that I will repurchase. What is your favorite topcoat?

China Glaze Matte Magic

Hi everyone! I have had this product for a really long time, but I never did a review on it! So I will do it today. Anyways, this stuff is great! It is pretty much exactly the same as the Essie matte topcoat, only it was cheaper and the packaging in my opinion is cuter, although it doesn't contain as much product. This was discontinued, but if you hunt around I am sure that you may still be able to find it. I stocked up on three bottles of it myself, I never want to run out. Granted the matte trend has long since sailed, but it is still a nice way to spice up a manicure once in awhile. If you participated in the matte trend, what was your favorite matte topcoat or matte polish?

Essie "Matte About You" Topcoat

Can I start by saying that this is my new favorite nail product? I have been sporting matte nails ever since I got this, and I almost didn't get it. I found the last one at Ulta that was shoved into the OPI section lol. I could not believe how chalky-matte it turns my polishes! Matte is such a fun way to wear polish! This is also a very cost-effective topcoat. I could have gone out and spent a small fortune on the OPI mattes, even though I own three of the colors released with that collection, but instead I bought this and can turn all of my polishes matte!

This topcoat applies very smoothly and evenly, and dries within a minute. After a day or two the finish does tend to go more on the satin side, but overall this topcoat is my new favorite! If you want to sport matte nails you need to run to a store that carries it and get it! It runs for about $10.

OPI DS Topcoat Review

After the fiasco that is OPI's regular topcoat I tried this one in hopes of it being better. I got this one for free with a DS polish that I really love. This topcoat is ok. It dries faster than the regular topcoat, but I found that it chipped a lot faster. I had serious chipping within a day of wearing it, and I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary that would make it chip faster. All in all I will finish it up, but I wouldn't get this again unless it was free with a polish that I had to have.

Yay For Hauling!

Hey everyone! Today I am sharing my nail haul from the past couple of weeks. I got lots and I am already in the process of swatching! I got 2 Sinful Colors glitters; Pearl Harbor and Hottie, the Essie Matte About You Topcoat (last one in the store!), OPI Brights Power, Green-wich Village, Bogota Blackberry, and Russian Navy. I can't wait to create new fun looks with the glitters and matte top coat! Reviews will be up later in the week for most of these!

DIY Satin Finish!

Ok, so last night I was doing a french mani because I felt like it; I haven't done one in awhile. Now I have places to go and things to do, so I was blowing on my nails in a futile attempt to get it to dry faster, and I looked down and my nails were not very shiny! How cool is that? So I used a different top coat on my other hand and it worked too!

Now on the hand pictured I used my Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Strengthening Top Coat. It is a thicker top coat. On the other hand I used my OPI Top Coat, and with this one it did not work as well as the Sally Hansen. I think that the key to this is the thickness of the top coat, so pile the top coat on!

Now what I did was blow warm air onto my nails while moving them back and forth, and it fogs up the top coat. The fog stays in the top coat when it dries; thus it imitates a satin finish. It is not matte in my as some light still reflects and it doesn't look chalky. So I am calling the finish satin. Now this doesn't last forever; it started to fade after a few hours. But, I found that blowing on the hand with the Sally Hansen refreshed it; such was not the case with the OPI.

Sooo....are you going to try this? If you do, please let me know how it goes! Tell me what top coat you used, and if it even worked for you. I would love to know! Oh, here is the picture with the mani glossy so that you can see the difference. I used OPI You Don't Know Jacques as the nail color and OPI Bogota Blackberry as the tip color.

OPI Top Coat

I got this topcoat for free for buying two OPI nail polishes at Ulta, and I must say that if I had bought this I would have been really disappointed.

It's not a bad topcoat overall, it gives a thin, shiny finish and is alright about helping to keep my polish from chipping. It is the drying time that sucks. The first time I used it, I got bedsheet marks. I do my nails right before I go to bed, and I have never gotten bedsheet marks from my Sally Hansen top coat. The next times that I have used it, I have needed to give it at least a half hour to dry.

Don't get me wrong, I like this top coat better for nail art because it isn't too thick like the Sally Hansen is. I will use this up, but I will never buy it again.

OPI Nail Envy Original

I researched this and I combed through reviews on Makeupalley. I finally bit the bullet and shelled out $18 for a 15 ml bottle of strangely colored gunk at my local JCPenney Salon. It was so worth it! I am still baffled at how strong my nails are, they barely bend! And that is really saying something considering the sad state of my peeling brittle nails that couldn't grow out more than a few millimeters.

It is called OPI Nail Envy Original, and it is my new favorite product. The little fold up pamphlet in the box claims that this stuff can be used as a base coat and as a top coat, it makes for a good base coat. My nail polish chips a lot slower, although I still get tip wear. This stuff is pretty shiny too, not as shiny as the Sally Hansen topcoat in my previous post, but pretty close.

This stuff kinda smells though. Like nail polish that really needs to be thrown out. It does come with the awesome Pro-Wide brush though, which is very nice. All in all a fantastic product, I am surprised that I don't hear more about it. I have to use so little of the stuff that it will last me at least a year. I love this stuff! :)

Sally Hansen "Hard as Nails" Strengthening Topcoat

This is a review for a topcoat that I have been using for awhile now called Sally Hansen Hard As Nail Strengthening Topcoat. It comes in a 13.3 ml bottle and I picked it up on sale for about $5. I really like this topcoat; it leaves my nails ridiculously shiny. I don't think that it really strengthens that much, but it does pretty weel for a topcoat. The one problem that I have with this is that it makes my nail polish peel. Like in big nasty chunks. It also doesn't resist chipping as well as I would like, but I love how shiny it makes my nails! The brush is really great too, it is a lot like the OPI Pro-Wide brush; it is a flat stacked brush. All in all a decent cheap topcoat, although I don't think that I will repurchase it. I may have found better, but you will have to wait a few days for that review! ;)