I have something a little different today. I wanted to share the base and top coats I own. I just want to say that I'm not an expert on base or top coats. I just have simple wants, and that's really the reason I started using base and top coats. When I was younger, I always thought base and top coats were a waste of money. Just because they are clear and cost the exact same amount as a coloured polish. I also thought it was some marketing gimmick.
I finally decided to buy a bottle of a base and top coat when I decided to wear darker colours. Before I was wearing lighter blues, pinks or some shimmery colours. So staining wasn't a concern for me.
Right now, I can honestly say that none of my friends use a base or top coat. Only people who get the occasional manicure use it. I found that interesting, especially if the person was going to use dark colours or glitters. The reason I received for not applying base or top coats is because it's too time consuming. Which can be true, but I guess it depends on the person.
Anyway, I will continue with my post.
Base coat benefits:
- Prevents nail staining and peeling
- Protect your nails
- Colour polish sticks on the base coats pretty well and makes your manicure last longer
Top coat benefits:
- Adds a shine to your manicure
- Prevents colour from chipping = manicure should last longer
I usually wear my manicure for a business week, so I paint my nails Sunday night, and usually take it off by Friday or Saturday. If I become tired of the colour, it can be earlier in the week. For me, I find no matter what type of top coat I use, my pointer and pinky are the first to chip. I guess I use my pointer fingers a lot in general because this is the same whether I am at work, or am on vacation. Usually it's the outter corner that chips on both hands.
Other things I usually do for top coats is, I try to wait until the polish has dried, just in case applying the top coat causes dragging or, some of the polish gets on my brush. Maybe for this reason, I have a bottle for glitter/shimmer finishes or for non-glitter/shimmer finishes (this is for Seche Vite only).
Revlon: Multi Care Base + Top Coat
I bought this bottle of Revlon in the beginning of using base and top coats. I was thinking how wonderful it was to have a two in one. As a base, it's very sticky, so that's pretty good. As a top coat, it's pretty sticky. I noticed that I wasn't really into using this anymore. Although it dried in a non-sticky way, I just noticed that it did get quite thick near the end, and I basically used it just to finish using it (this bottle is empty, yay!). There are other Revlon base and top coats that are not a two in one. I have tried the base, which worked fine but I never bought a separate top coat to try before.
Nicole by OPI: Base Coat Plus and Top Coat Plus
I bought these Nicole by OPI base and top coats during a sale. I thought it was such a good deal. The base coat is a sticky base. I have finished this now. If you have read my other blog posts with the nail colours, I have use this base quite often because I wanted to finish it. There was a period I was applying and removing polish quite frequently. Upon removal, there's no staining but I think overall, my nails are a little yellowed from all the polish I wear. This can be a normal thing. I don't think my nails have grown to be yellow because I can definitely see the line of brand new nail that is my nail colour and the growing out part that is a bit yellowed from all the previous applications. For creme polishes, this base wasn't bad, it would remove without staining. Glitter polish is very difficult to remove, so I don't think it's this base.
Does this pass the "I painted my nails right before going to bed and my nails were perfect when I woke up" test: No. After I made sure that my polish seems to be solid to the light push, I go to bed (like giving it about 30-60 minutes). Only to wake up with prints on my nails from my sheets. This would be fine if that was what I was going for. This has happened twice.
The base and top coat are available at most drug stores, Walmart and Target. Retails for around C$9-11.
UPDATE: Nicole by OPI has updated their base and top coat bottles. I think there additional base and top coats available. For example like a matte, and a fast drying.
Sephora by OPI (no longer available)
(I just noticed that I photoed the top and then the base coat)
I received these as part of my 500 point redemption at Sephora and it came with a mini colour. Since Sephora by OPI is no longer available, I'm only adding this for informational purposes. I'm not really sure if this will help anyone who liked the base and top coat for Sephora by OPI. I can only compare it to the Nicole by OPI.
The base coat was sticky. I think Nicole by OPI's base is more sticky than this one. I also want to add that I found that the top coat dried pretty quickly. Maybe the total dry time was about 10 minutes? Not bad.
Does this pass the "I painted my nails right before going to bed and my nails were perfect when I woke up" test: I don't know. I painted my nails late in the evening but it wasn't time for bed yet and they have dried.
Seche Base and Seche Vite
I recently bought Seche Base at Winners for C$6.99. I used it twice now. The base coat is cream and there's a bit of pearl shimmer. This has a very strong smell. I thought Seche Vite was strong, this is stronger.
Seche Vite is my favourite top coat. I have recommended this to one of my other friends who was complaining about dry time and she loved this! What I love about Seche Vite is that it dries very quickly and it gives my manicure a beautiful shine. Like super shiny and it makes my manicure last very long. I never question that I can give my manicure at least a week wear and my pedicure around three weeks. The thing about Seche Vite is, it has a very strong smell. It comes with a scary warning label for pregnant mothers in the State of California. My main problem with Seche Vite ( I'm sure many people have already mentioned this) is how it's beautiful at the beginning but as soon as you hit the middle of the bottle, it becomes very thick. So thick that when you apply it, there are top coat thread strings that follow the top of the bottle to your nail.
Does this pass the "I painted my nails right before going to bed and my nails were perfect when I woke up" test: Yes.
Does it offer a gel like finish: Yes and that is not part of the claim but to me, I feel like I just got a gel manicure. Other people have asked me too.
I buy Seche Vite from Winners for C$6.99, and it retails for C$10. I've read other reports about the middle bottle thick problem, so I don't think it's because I buy it from Winners.
Butter London
Nail Foundation dries matte on the nail. I wore a-England's Sleeping Palace, and I think I tried my best at painting my nails. After six days of wear, there was no staining.
The Hardwear dries really quickly. I think about two minutes after applying my polish it was pretty dry to the gentle touch. By five minutes, it was completely dry. By the second or third day I did see my manicure starting to chip. By the fourth day, my pinky had a bit of a bigger chip chunk come off. I haven't used Hardwear long enough to comment whether it thickens as it gets used. I will have to provide an update in the far distant future.
Butter London's Nail Foundation and Hardwear are pretty expensive as it retails for C$21.00 or as a set it is C$29.00. I bought mine as part of the Backstage Basics Sets which was $C46.00 with a nail colour, a small bottle of Powder Room nail polish remover and a file (I wanted to try the polish remover, so I thought this set was pretty good value but it's about the same as buying the base and top coat set, and colour polish).
Does this pass the "I painted my nails right before going to bed and my nails were perfect when I woke up" test: Yes
Does it offer a gel like finish: No and it's not part of its claims.
Essie
I am not currently using any thing from Essie at the moment for base or top coat which is funny since I have so many Essie polishes. I thought I would mention that I did previously used Essie's All in One Base. The All in One Base is a base coat, top coat and a strengthener. Which was great in protecting my nails from staining. The only thing is, it also didn't stick to my nails well. This is the first time that it was so easy for me to peel my polish off, even if I used Seche Vite as my top coat. Also it felt like my polish colour didn't want to stick to the base coat. If I wasn't going to paint my nails with a colour, I would consider using this. I haven't used any of the top coats from Essie but I might try that once I'm finished all my current top coats.
I hope this was helpful for you in choosing your base or top coat!
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