Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Does a topcoat of clear polish really help your manicure last?

Ok, so I have been working on this post for almost two weeks! I get so frustrated that it takes me over an hour to give myself a decent looking manicure, and it seems to chip the very next day! I have used topcoats before, but they were always the cheap ones. They didn't seem to do anything, which led me to wonder...is it because I didn't splurge for the brand name one, or because top coats are just pointless? So, I decided to try a little experiment.

I bought Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat, for 5.95 at my local drugstore-which is way more than I would normally pay for regular nail polish.
I gave myself a manicure using one of my favorite nail polishes by Revlon, without using a topcoat.

Looks good!!!

But by the end of the day, it looked like this:
You can see a little chipping at the top of my middle finger, and at the left side of my ring finger. Definitely not too bad, but once it starts chipping off, it goes fast!

By the end of the NEXT day, it looked like this:
Uggh. Time for a new manicure.

Then, a few days later, I gave myself a manicure using the same nail polish, but this time I applied the Sally Hansen topcoat.

 Looking good again!!

By the end of the day, it had started to chip just a little. It pretty much looked the same as the end of the non-topcoat day did.

 And, again, by the end of the second day...
Pretty serious chipping. Basically just as bad as the non-topcoat second day.
So, my verdict is that the topcoat didn't help my manicure last any longer. BUST!! I also tried as hard as I could to keep dishwashing, etc. at a minimum on these days so that the results could be as accurate as possible.

1 comment:

Design Blueprint said...

The best nail polish I ever used was Revlon Colorstay Always On Nail Enamel. Unfortunately it was discontinued soon after I discovered it.I don't know why... It stayed on for an entire week without chipping! They have a couple on ebay if you want to try to grab one.