Here I am with yet another not to good review of a top coat.
For one reason or another I cannot resist trying new top coats. There are several that I truly adore; Essie Good to Go, RUSH 60 Seconds and inm Out the Door. As it turns out all of those are similar. They are a thin consistency and are fast dry top coats.
One evening when I was at Ulta I was browsing and came across the essence display. There were several new (to me) products that caught my eye. One was this top coat. I’ve never tried any top coats from essence and the bottle was cute and the claims seemed promising. I was excited to give a new top coat a try.
The back of the bottle claims that this top coat adds a glossy shine and leaves a gel like finish. The formula is, as expected, on the thicker side. When it is initially applied the finish looks great. It’s very glossy and does have a sort of a gel like appearance. Unfortunately, the problems arise as this top coat (slowly) dries.
No matter how carefully I applied this top coats I would always end up with bubbles. The bubbles do not show up immediately but begin to show as the top coat dries. The top coat also quickly begins to lose its shine as the top coat dries.
As if the bubbles and the dull finish weren’t enough this top coat seems to NEVER dry. Even a day after application the polish will still dent. Pretty fail all around.
That being said, I do find this works well over glitter polishes. But even still, I don’t think it’s worth having around just for that. NYC Extra Shiny Top Coat is a great glitter only top coat and much cheaper!
This top coat was $2.49 at Ulta for .27fl oz.
There are more photos below the jump.
Alli
Katie
The Daily Varnish 
This one is really awful… If you’re looking for a gel-look topcoat that dries as fast as SV you should get the Essence Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer 😉
I’ve never seen that top coat! My concern really isn’t dry time (I mean it needs to dry eventually but it doesn’t need to dry immediately) but I’ll keep my eyes out for that one. I love trying different top coats!
This one is not bad, btu i find the Better than gel nails top sealer (black packaging) by Essence is way better. It’s def my go-to top coat. Have you tried it before??
2 resounding endorsements for the Gel Nails Top Sealer. I will definitely be giving that one a go! Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Well if you have access to Essence i would def keep my eyes open. 🙂 Since i found it, i barely use any other top coats.
Try the Dior Gel top coat. I wore it for 8 days before I got a tiny chip. It was so small I had to point it out for others to see it. The rest of the manicure looked as good and fresh as the day I did it. This top coat is pricey, 24 dollars, but worth every penny. I am getting a backup!
I’ve heard VERY mixed reviews about the Dior top coat. I do my nails way too much to use such an expensive top coat on a regular basis but I may have to give the Dior one a try.
Too bad this topcoat’s bad – essence’s nail polishes are usually very nice!
I’ve had wonderful luck with their polishes. This top coat was definitely not up to their normal standards!
Eh, at least it was cheap!
Haha, this is true!
I had it for like a month and I do my nails every week. I made ombre nails, regular, diagonal and they all ended with bubbles, I read somewhere that they appear from not letting my nails dry. Then I read your post, and basically left my nails with no top coat for a day and then applied it and the bubbles appeared again. I agree with your review, and I would not really recommend it to anyone and I would not buy it ever again either, thank god it was cheap.