Essie Gel Setter Top Coat Review

 

I've never been big on top coats but Essie's latest entry into the top coat arena piqued my interest. 

 



Claims from the Essie Canada website[sic]: everything you love about gels, but in a perfect top coat you can wear anywhere and everywhere. gel.setter tops any of your favorite essie colours with all the cushy rock-hard shine of a gel in a foolproof formula for your manis and pedis

 

  This topcoat retailed for $10 at Well.ca at the time I purchased it. The package advised me to use it with an Essie polish and I decided to give Essie the benefit of the doubt and used it with my all time favourite Essie polish Bikini So Teeny. But I fully intend to wear this topcoat with all of my nail polishes which are from a wide and varied variety of brands.

 

So I applied two coats of Bikini So Teeny and then one coat of Gel Setter. I even capped the free edge of my nails and usually I don't do that and I think that might have effected the wear of this polish. 

Here's a picture of my nails after a dried coat of gel setter. The shine difference is virtually the same but I find my nails are always incredibly shiny on day one and lose that luster the next day. The top coat wasn't thicker then a regular nail polish which kind of disappointed me because I did want that thick gel look but I'm also glad because the top coat dried quickly. 



 

Here's my nails after five days of wear, including work (After five days I was tired of the colour). I was seriously shocked. The chipping is there but minimal. Usually my nail polish chips after two days and it's extreme so this after five days was incredible. Considering the shine factor my nails stayed shiny right until the day I removed the polish. My nails looked freshly polished days after I polished them! I was really impressed.

 

In short; I really like this top coat. I love how shiny it keeps my nails and how it reduces the amount of chips I get. It might be pricey but it's definitely worth it.

 

Likes:

 

1. Keeps my nails super shiny

2. Extends the life of my polish

 

Dislikes:

 

1. Slightly pricey

 

A