Essie Stay Longer Ultimate Top Coat

Upon application I was so excited! The top coat was super shiny, easy to apply and the perfect consistency. As with most Essie products, the application brush is rounded making it easy to apply nice and close to the cuticle. It dried quickly and looked beautiful and shiny. It lived up to the self levelling claim also. However after roughly 48 hours it began to chip away which was very disappointing as it looked so good! I will be attempting to use this top coat again on a different polish to see if it makes a difference. Watch this space!

In terms of application, this nail polish was lovely to put on. It has a nice thick and glossy texture and a little bit seemed to go a long way. The shape of the brush is also quite wide and a bit angled at the bottom, so one stroke easily covered most of the nail. It dried quickly and smoothly and definitely provides a lovely shine on top of the polish. I used it on both my fingernails and toe nails - I found that the polish on my fingernails wore down a bit at the ends and had small chips in places, but I was using my hands for a lot of housework etc. To protect the polish and give it more of a chance, I'd recommend wearing gloves for dishes and cleaning!

I had high expectations for something that has the word 'ultimate' in its name. It applies on well and it dries reasonably quick. The polish does provide a shiny finish with no sticky residue. That's about it.

I did my normal routine that included cleaning the nails removing any oils, applied a base coat and even used an Essie brand nail polish (as instructed). The coat lasted 1.5 days and it chipped big time. All I was doing was packing books into boxes!

Granted it was an older polish so I tried it again with a newer Essie polish. Again, it lasted about 1.5 days with smaller chips on the edge. In this second try, I did however do dishes and shower which can weaken the nail polish (no dishes in the previous trial). So in a way, it was stronger than the first try.

The instructions suggested to use one coat but perhaps if I had used two or more coats, it may have lasted longer. I like that it's fast drying and it was easy to apply with the brush shape. However, it looks like I'll have to venture out with gels for something to last longer than a week.

This is a 13.5ml bottle of clear shiny top coat. The packaging is cute - I would be drawn to it if I were choosing a top coat. Its White with embossed Essie across the box, Red and silver foil accents. It says upto 7 day salon quality manicure with chip protection and lasting shine. On use the liquid and brush are easy to stroke across the nail and as mentioned the formula self levels which is lovely. It seems to hold up quite well and the shine is good. It is especially great on toes!

I am someone who is very hard on their hands and have tried a few top coats that claimed to help protect your nail varnish and help it last longer. I found the Essie Top Coat does exactly that! After 4 days, it still looked great. It is easy to apply and does what it says it does. Very happy with this product and will recommend to all, especially those like me who are hard on their hands.

This lived up to its promise maintaining its strength and durability for a solid 5-6 days which is longer than any other brand I have used at home myself. Gave a nice shine and I would say I will likely buy it in the future.

I have tried a lot of top coats over the years and this one is great! It arrived in a nice textured box which outlined the product specs, it's in a clear bottle, I did note the large wide brush does not go all the way down to the bottom, but that is pretty standard for nail products, I'd much rather have a large wide brush than a skinny one, as this makes application way easier. Proceeded to do my weekly skittle mani, with a base coat and two coats of polish, then when dry came the time for the top coat! This does smells strong, (but not offensively though) that smell goes away when you cap the bottle, smell does not transfer to the nails. A beautifully wide brush that coats the nail in a few sweeps and I noted the brush did not 'pull' the polish I had already applied, the formula self levelled as described and left my nails with an almost plump look and the shine was lovely! Drying time was good it cured fully in about 10mins. I noted there was a little tip wear on day 3 on my mani, which is super good as my nails are subjected to a lot with my job. Will make this my go to polish top cost for now as it is a really good polish with a great brush and formula, a winning combo if you ask me!

Straight off the bat this top coat comes in a really nice quality embossed box which give it a expensive feel. Now to the formula. While applying the top coat the first thing I noticed was that it didn't have that really potent smell that most nail products have. This was honestly one of my favourite aspects of this product. It claims that it drys quickly which I agree with, it was completely dry within 2mins and was hard like a salon gel manicure which I also loved. It meant once it was dry I could instantly go about my day. And the shine was beautiful. The only part of the claims that didn't quite meet my expectations was that it said it had chip protection for up to 7 days. By day 2 of wearing it both my index fingers had chips on the ends however the rest of the finger did last longer until days 5 and 6 where they started to chip. By day 8 they all had chips. I like to say that this product really got put to the test. I have two small children so am constantly cleaning, hand washing and general rough wear and tear. I would definitely use this top coat again for the fact it doesn't smell awful and it dried down super hard so fast.

Trusty Essie did it again Top coat kept my nails beautiful for longer Kept them shiny, no chips or breaks. Will 100% be a staple in my nail kit from now on