Seche Vite Topcoat Challenge - Day 5

It's day 5, and things are looking dire. This will be my last day with this particular manicure as I don't feel it's fit for wearing in public anymore.

While my left hand is holding up well with just some light thumbnail chipping, my right hand is a mess, with significant tip wear and chipping on several fingers. Overall though, it's less chipping than I experienced with Poshe using this same nail polish.

Left:


Right:


At this point, Seche Vite is definitely in the lead for longevity in this topcoat challenge. Next up: OPI Rapidry.

Seche Vite Topcoat Challenge - Day 4

On day 4, the chips are even more apparent, especially on the unwrapped nail on my right hand. I'm seeing some signs of tip wear on several nails now, and most of the nails on my right hand have at least some light chipping.

Left:


Right:

Poshe Topcoat Challenge: Day 4

At the end of four days, my right hand is definitely suffering. The initial lack of tip wrapping on my middle finger is showing badly, my thumb has started to fray, and my index finger came out horribly after I had to wash some dishes this evening. My left hand's faring better, but the huge gouge from the dishwasher incident at work looks horrible!


Left hand:


Right hand:


Overall I'd say Poshe held up pretty well. After four days, the worst of the chipping was caused by a lack of wrapping, and an incident that would have taken off any topcoat! For $7, I'm pretty impressed, and I enjoyed wearing this holo purple a lot.

But it's definitely time for a change!

Next week: Seche Vite.

Poshe Topcoat Challenge: Day 3

It begins!

Left hand:


Right hand:


At the end of two days, things are starting to fray. An unfortunate run in with the dishwasher at my office took a huge chip out of the middle finger on my right hand, and the lack of tip wrapping is taking a toll on the right hand. Otherwise, things are holding up nicely! I'd say if it wasn't for the lack of wrapping and the stupid dishwasher, we'd still have a perfect mani.

Poshe Topcoat Challenge: Day 1

This week's contender is Poshe! A bit of an underdog. Loved by some, but I hadn't heard of it til I saw it at my local Sally Beauty. Retails for ~$7




The methodology:

I cleaned and buffed my nails, then applied three thin coats of Hits No Olimpo in Dioniso. This is a great sparkly purple linear holographic polish, and something I figured I could stand looking at for almost a week.

Application was quick and easy - this topcoat is not as thick as Seche Vite, nor does it smell quite as bad. The shine factor's definitely there, and it dries very quickly!

Here are my nails right after I finished applying Poshe:

Left hand:


Right hand:


Side note: isn't that purple linear holo fantastic? I LOVE the way it looks!

Now we wait and see how this goes...

Topcoat Challenge: Redux

Looking over my topcoat challenge pics, I realised I was not happy with the method I used to test. So I'm going to do it all over again, in a slightly different manner.

Instead of applying a different topcoat over each finger, I'm just going to apply a different topcoat each time I do my nails, and take pictures of how they wear over the course of the next few days. This should better show which topcoat works best on my nails. I'll re-score the polishes based on application, smell, finish, and lasting power.

In the meantime, here's a random picture of a Claire's polish I picked up this weekend: This is Night Sky, a holographic and navy blue glitter in a clear base. It's absolutely beautiful, and cheap! It's also sold as Icing Epic Winning. I used it for a glitter gradient on top of OPI Princesses Rule! I have Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop on my middle finger, and China Glaze Wicked Style + Konad special white polish dots on my pinky, in case anyone's curious :)

Topcoat Challenge, Day 2

This is turning into a nightmare. The chipping is extremely bad, and my nails look like a hot mess. The Seche Vite is peeling in a nasty way, almost coming entirely off my middle finger.

Left hand:



Right hand:



Chipping:

1) OPI, 4 points
2) Sally Hansen, 3 points
3) Poshe, 2 points
4) Seche Vite, 1 point

Totals:

OPI: 22 points
Sally Hansen: 20 points
Poshe: 18 points
Seche Vite: 15 points

After taking these pictures, I decided to call it quits on this stage of the experiment, and call OPI the winner after round one. For round two, I'll reverse the order of the topcoats, putting the winner on the finger of the loser, to see if that makes any difference to tip wear. I also need a break from black polish!

Topcoat challange: Day 1

At the end of day one, we definitely see how important a topcoat is! My thumbnails on both hands are badly chipped, while my other fingers have some small chips, but aren't too bad. Poshe seems to show the most chipping so far.

Left hand:



Right hand:



On the shrinkage front, both Poshe and Seche Vite show noticeable shrinking from the tips, with OPI and Sally Hansen holding strong.


Chipping:

1) Sally Hansen & OPI, 4 points
2) Seche Vite, 3 points
3) Poshe, 2 points

Shrinkage:

1) Sally Hansen & OPI, 4 points
2) Poshe, 3 points
3) Seche Vite, 2 points

Totals:

OPI: 18 points
Sally Hansen: 17 points
Poshe: 16 points
Seche Vite: 14 points

After day 1, OPI is the leader with 18 points.

Battle of the Topcoats

Inspired by a post over at /r/RedditLaqueristas.

Going through my box of polish implements yesterday, I realised that I had a number of different topcoats. Looking at them, I couldn't think of which one I'd call "the best", so I figured it was time for a challenge!

If you're impatient, you can skip to the end for the summary.

The contenders:



Seche Vite: By far the most popular topcoat on beauty blogs. It retails for ~$8.




Poshe: a bit of an underdog. Loved by some, but I hadn't heard of it til I saw it at my local Sally Beauty. Retails for ~$7




Sally Hansen Insta-Dri: This is the most accessible of the polishes, available at drug stores all over the place. It's also the cheapest of the bunch at ~$6, cheaper on sale.




OPI Rapidry Topcoat:  the Salon alternative. Easy enough to find as OPI products are stocked in a lot of beauty salons and places like Trade Secrets. At full retail price, this is the most expensive of the bunch at $10.

Control: No topcoat.

The polish:



I decided to use something with a bit less shine so I could evaluate on the shine of the topcoat as well as longevity. I also wanted something that I could handle looking at for as long as this experiment lasted! I normally change my polish every 1 - 2 days, so this was tough! I ended up picking YSL Matte Black from the Duo Terriblement Noir. Plain black tends to be one of my favourite colours, goes with everything, will show every single chip, and the matte finish should put the shine factor of these topcoats to the test!

Application:

Cleaned and buffed nails, swiped with polish remover. Applied one thin coat of Deborah Lippmann Rehydrating Basecoat, wrapped the tips, and let sit for one minute. Then applied one coat of YSL Matte Black, again wrapping the tips, and did some initial clean up. This is the result:



This is a beautiful black, with a finish that reminds me of fine leather. The actual polish is beautiful, but the angle brush that it comes with makes me crazy. Here it is next to a brush from the China Glaze Electropop collection:



It's extremely short and wide, on top of being angled in a strange way. All that to say, applying this polish took a fair bit of work and clean up!

I then applied one coat of topcoat to each nail, mirroring on both hands. OPI Rapidry on my pinky finger, Sally Hansen Instadri on my ring finger, Seche Vite on my middle finger, and Poshe on my index finger. I left the thumb bare as a control.

Left hand:



Right hand:



I'm so not used to taking pictures of my right hand! This was incredibly awkward!

Top coat application: 

OPI: Definitely the thinnest of the bunch. This applied easily with no visible bubbling, and self-levelled nicely.

Sally Hansen: Slightly thicker, this was also very easy to apply. It self-levelled and had no bubbling.

Seche Vite: The thickest of the bunch, I ended up having to redo these nails due to bubbling in my initial application. Luckily I have two bottles of SV, so I re-did it with my new bottle. The older bottle will get a bit of thinner tonight! Application of this was trickier, and it tends to have a learning curve, but it does level nicely! It also has the strongest smell of the lot, which may be an issue for some.

Poshe: leaning towards the thinner side, this was also very easy to apply and self-levelling. Smell wasn't as strong as Seche Vite.

Dry time:

All topcoats were dry to the touch in minutes.

Shine level:

The OPI Rapidry is the least glass-like of the four, with Sally Hansen coming in next. Seche Vite and Poshe are, for all intents and purposes, identical when it comes to shine level. All four are pretty shiny and I doubt anyone would notice much of a difference unless they were obsessing over it.


Summary of Initial Application, Day 0:

Application:

1) OPI, 4 points
2) Poshe, 3 points
3) Sally Hansen, 2 points
4) Seche Vite, 1 point

Seche Vite loses due to its strong odour and tricky application.

Dry time:

no clear winner. All topcoats dried quickly, so each gets 4 points.

Shine:

1) Poshe & Seche Vite (seriously, these were pretty much identical), 4 points
2) Sally Hansen, 3 points
3) OPI, 2 points

Totals:

Poshe: 11 points
OPI: 10 points
Sally Hansen: 9 points
Seche Vite: 9 points

After initial application, Poshe is the leader by 1 point.

Tomorrow, I'll evaluate shrinkage levels, shine after fully curing, and if there are any chips!