So I am a firm believer in the power of a good topcoat and as such I am constantly on the lookout for the perfect one. I will take you through some of my various picks over the years I have rated them according to affordability as well as performance.
Eventually the walmart near me stopped selling love my nails and I moved over to that other budget friendly go to brand. Wet and Wild. Unfortunately it really only served me well when I was wearing the standard two coats of polish, but if I was wearing more (which I often do with nail art) it would sometimes take up to six hours to fully dry and even then I would often find pillow marks in my manicure, and nothing is more aggravating then that. However if you don't do nail art and you stick to the standard two coat manicure, allowing each coat to fully dry then this will work greattttt for you. The best part is it's only 99 cents!! It is long wearing and really protects against chips. Click here to purchase Wet N Wild Wild Shine Top coat
But as I've gotten more and more into nail art I started looking for the perfect quick dry top coat so I moved over to Out the Door Quick Dry top coat from Sally Beauty Supply which comes in an enormous 4 oz bottle (as compared to the .31-.43 oz you get with most brands) and retails for about $10.99 so you actually get alot for your money. HOWEVER....this topcoat, although dried quickly also made my polish chip just as quickly. I'm talking 2-3 days on me when manicures can easily last 6-8 days with no chips.Click here to purchase out the door quick dry topcoat
So it was back to the drawing board, and back once again to my trusty Wet and Wild. I took a complete nail polish break in 2010 as my nails had become quite brittle and damaged but when I began doing nail art again I knew I had to find the perfect quick dry top coat, and boy did I find it. If you know nail polish you're probably thinking seche vite but no.....it's actually NYC in a New York minute Quick Dry Top Coat in "Grand Central Station" this quickly became my holy grail topcoat. It is very very comparable to Seche Vite (yes I have used that too) for a fraction of the price. It retails between $1.80-$1.99 at most Target's and drug stores. It is a thick almost gel like polish that dries to the touch within 1-2 minutes and dries completely in about ten minutes leaving my nails smooth glassy and perfect with this topcoat I can easily wear a manicure for 6-8 days with no chips! It will even fix a little smudge in the polish if you have made a mistake. FYI Rite Aid quite frequently has this product on sale for 40% off $1.99 so look for the sale and stock up. Incidentally that sale is going on right now and I bought the last two on the shelf today. I pray they never discontinue this product!!!!! Click here to purchase NYC in a New York Minute Topcoat
The last topcoat I have personally tried out is the infamous Seche Vite which for alot of nail bloggers is THE holy grail topcoat. It retails at a whopping $9.99 which I would never in a million years pay, the only reason I tried it was because I found them for $2.00 at a local swap meet when I was visiting my brother this winter in Bremerton California. Incidentally they also sold China Glaze polishes for $1.50 there......just how much are these salons jacking up the prices anyway? One of those things that make you go hnm. Anyway I bought a few bottles to try having heard all the fuss and wanting to see how it compared to my NYC topcoat. Besides the absolutely putrid smell of seche vite they actually turned out to perform quite similar. They had a similar consistency and left my nails with the same patent leather shine. The only thing I will say is that strangely Seche Vite seemed to cause the polish at the tips of my nails to almost fade off ever so slightly. In other words instead of laying a smooth coat over the whole nail and protecting it it almost caused the polish on the very tips to fade off slightly. But if you are not as OCD about your nails as I am you might not notice. Anyway overall it was very similar to the NYC so much so that I cannot fathom spending $9.99 for a product that gives the same result as a $1.99 one. Plus the smell of Seche Vite is truly horrific. click here to purchase Seche Vite Top coat
This week I ran out of my beloved NYC and both Rite Aid and Target near my house were sold out so I searched for the next best thing hoping to run into another love. Unfortunately I chose Sally Hansen Insta Dry. I would strongly urge people not to use this as it is more then double the price of the NYC and in my opinion does not perform nearly as well. At a mere .31 oz too it has the least amount of product of any of the brands I've mentioned in this post. It dried far from "insta" and my nails still felt tacky almost ten minutes later and felt streaky even with its extra wide paddle like brush. You work hard for your money spend it wisely and don't buy this! Click here to purchase Sally Hansen Insta dri topcoat
I hope this is helpful. Give the NYC polish a shot. What do you have to lose? It's only $1.99 and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Love My Nails=$2.50
3 1/2 stars
As a teen I used Love my Nails brand which is still sold in most walmarts and was surprisingly good, giving me that smooth glassy sheen I was looking for. These days it retails for about $2.50 but was about $1.50 back in my day.Click here to purchase Love My Nails Topcoat
Wet and Wild=$.69-$.99
4 starsEventually the walmart near me stopped selling love my nails and I moved over to that other budget friendly go to brand. Wet and Wild. Unfortunately it really only served me well when I was wearing the standard two coats of polish, but if I was wearing more (which I often do with nail art) it would sometimes take up to six hours to fully dry and even then I would often find pillow marks in my manicure, and nothing is more aggravating then that. However if you don't do nail art and you stick to the standard two coat manicure, allowing each coat to fully dry then this will work greattttt for you. The best part is it's only 99 cents!! It is long wearing and really protects against chips. Click here to purchase Wet N Wild Wild Shine Top coat
 |
| Wet and Wild Top Coat One only $0.99 at most drugstores |
Out the Door Quick Dry Top Coat=$10.99
2 starsBut as I've gotten more and more into nail art I started looking for the perfect quick dry top coat so I moved over to Out the Door Quick Dry top coat from Sally Beauty Supply which comes in an enormous 4 oz bottle (as compared to the .31-.43 oz you get with most brands) and retails for about $10.99 so you actually get alot for your money. HOWEVER....this topcoat, although dried quickly also made my polish chip just as quickly. I'm talking 2-3 days on me when manicures can easily last 6-8 days with no chips.Click here to purchase out the door quick dry topcoat
 |
| Out the Door quick dry topcoat. $10.99 sold at sally beauty supply |
NYC in a New York Minute "Grand Central Station"=$1.80-$1.99 *1ook for Rite Aid 40% off deals!
5 bigggg starsSo it was back to the drawing board, and back once again to my trusty Wet and Wild. I took a complete nail polish break in 2010 as my nails had become quite brittle and damaged but when I began doing nail art again I knew I had to find the perfect quick dry top coat, and boy did I find it. If you know nail polish you're probably thinking seche vite but no.....it's actually NYC in a New York minute Quick Dry Top Coat in "Grand Central Station" this quickly became my holy grail topcoat. It is very very comparable to Seche Vite (yes I have used that too) for a fraction of the price. It retails between $1.80-$1.99 at most Target's and drug stores. It is a thick almost gel like polish that dries to the touch within 1-2 minutes and dries completely in about ten minutes leaving my nails smooth glassy and perfect with this topcoat I can easily wear a manicure for 6-8 days with no chips! It will even fix a little smudge in the polish if you have made a mistake. FYI Rite Aid quite frequently has this product on sale for 40% off $1.99 so look for the sale and stock up. Incidentally that sale is going on right now and I bought the last two on the shelf today. I pray they never discontinue this product!!!!! Click here to purchase NYC in a New York Minute Topcoat
 |
| NYC Quick Dry Topcoat in "Grand Central Station"
$1.80-$1.99 at most drugstores
|
Seche Vite=$7.99-$9.99
4 starsThe last topcoat I have personally tried out is the infamous Seche Vite which for alot of nail bloggers is THE holy grail topcoat. It retails at a whopping $9.99 which I would never in a million years pay, the only reason I tried it was because I found them for $2.00 at a local swap meet when I was visiting my brother this winter in Bremerton California. Incidentally they also sold China Glaze polishes for $1.50 there......just how much are these salons jacking up the prices anyway? One of those things that make you go hnm. Anyway I bought a few bottles to try having heard all the fuss and wanting to see how it compared to my NYC topcoat. Besides the absolutely putrid smell of seche vite they actually turned out to perform quite similar. They had a similar consistency and left my nails with the same patent leather shine. The only thing I will say is that strangely Seche Vite seemed to cause the polish at the tips of my nails to almost fade off ever so slightly. In other words instead of laying a smooth coat over the whole nail and protecting it it almost caused the polish on the very tips to fade off slightly. But if you are not as OCD about your nails as I am you might not notice. Anyway overall it was very similar to the NYC so much so that I cannot fathom spending $9.99 for a product that gives the same result as a $1.99 one. Plus the smell of Seche Vite is truly horrific. click here to purchase Seche Vite Top coat
 |
| Seche Vite $9.99 at Sally Beauty Supply |
Sally Hansen Insta Dry=$4.50
3 starsThis week I ran out of my beloved NYC and both Rite Aid and Target near my house were sold out so I searched for the next best thing hoping to run into another love. Unfortunately I chose Sally Hansen Insta Dry. I would strongly urge people not to use this as it is more then double the price of the NYC and in my opinion does not perform nearly as well. At a mere .31 oz too it has the least amount of product of any of the brands I've mentioned in this post. It dried far from "insta" and my nails still felt tacky almost ten minutes later and felt streaky even with its extra wide paddle like brush. You work hard for your money spend it wisely and don't buy this! Click here to purchase Sally Hansen Insta dri topcoat
 |
| Sally Hansen Inst Dry Topcoat $4.24-$4.99 at most drugstores or Target |
I hope this is helpful. Give the NYC polish a shot. What do you have to lose? It's only $1.99 and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
2 comments :
I bought the sally hansen Diamond Flash fast dry top coat. NOW I'm not happy paying 5$ a bottle BUT it did dry within a few min. I did dishes right after doing my nails (yeah I shoulda rethought that and done dishes FIRST but hey...) anyways not a mark on my nails! It leaves them nice and glossy. I am starting to chip off now but it's been a week and I'm no good at taking care of my nails LOL. Thought I'd tell you about it to try too :-)
hmm thats good to know. i actually looked at getting that one before i got the sally hansen insta. i guess i should have paid the extra 80 cents ;)
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