Essie Gel Couture Top Coat Review

Very shiny, and nice consistency and smell. It appears quite thin, but coverage is good and easy to apply. Not sure about it helping to make it last longer though. I have used it on my toes, and it's still lasting well 7 days later no peeling or cracking I wonder if it would work on its own, over other nailpolish not as part of the system, I will try that next!

Using both the polish & top coat was definitely a better option, far better results as a combo. Took quite awhile to dry, but has set well. Quite a bit of chipping around the edges after a week (for the nails with just the top coat or just the polish) but haven't been overly cautious of my hands so perhaps 2 coats would have been more successful! Less chipping on nails with both.

The application was a little tricky at first as the formula is very runny, but considering this was my first use it is probably good as it will thicken slightly with more uses as it dries out a little. Probably better to paint your nails on a surface rather than on the couch like I tried and almost got polish all over my pants a few times. It layered fine on top of previous coats.

While it has the shine of a gel, it didn't have the staying power, although better than other formulas I have used. The polish dries to a consistency like a flexible plastic, so if you flood your cuticles you may get a bit of lift on the side of your nail like I did. On nails where I didn't flood my cuticles the edges stayed down fine. The polish on the tips started to wear after three days but I only had some chipping begin about 6 days after the application, so decent staying power compared to some other polishes.

Overall there was nothing too special about this nail polish, better longevity than regular polish but nothing really more than other polishes aimed at longwear.

Just like any other good standard top coat. Makes the colour look super glossy and can be reapplied every few days. It was really easy to apply and dried relatively quickly

I love the speed of drying and the high gloss finish this top coat offers. Did it last 12 days? No, not even close. Would I use it again? Yes, I would. I like the shaped application brush and found the Essie Gel Couture easy to apply & it will go over any type of varnish.

Like the nail polish the top coat comes in a glass bottle that has a twisted shape which makes it easy to spot in my nail polish drawer. The glass bottle is a non transparent white which I also found handy as I knew automatically that it was my top coat because I do not have any other white bottles. The smell is intense on application but goes away as soon as you put the lid back on the bottle. The brush is flat and larger than I have used previously and I loved it ... it made application super fast and smooth and easy. Drying time was super fast and I didn't dent or ruin my nails within minutes of application like I normally would. I haven't even dented them a week later which usually happens - I am really happy with this top coat. A week down track it is just the very tips of my nails that starting to slightly chip away - but you have to look very closely to notice. My nails have been through everything punishing this week and they shouldn't be looking this good but they are - thanks essie gel top coat! The top coat gave my nails a beautiful shine and when I re-applied a few days later (as recommended) it made my nails look like I had just freshly painted them. They looked fresh and shiny once again! Impressive.

First off I LOVED the brush. The tip is slightly rounded helping you get close to the cuticle without going onto it. It spreads well enough to cover nail easily and fast.

One coat of this top coat works amazing. It seals in the colour and gives it a nice sheen.

I left one nail on each hand to free to see if the top coat really helped seal it all in and help prevent chipping and it really did. The nails without started chipping within a few days the others lasted a week and a half. and i am really rough and work in pretty hands on work all day.

I think this is my new go to top coat for all my nail polish!

Essie’s Gel Couture top coat is packaged in an opaque white twisted bottle (the coloured polish is in a twisted clear glass bottle). The twisted shape of these bottles makes it horribly uncomfortable to roll the bottles before use, and Essie should have considered this, especially since they recommend that polish bottles be rolled not shaken. (Shaking polish introduces air bubbles, which affect both the formula over time and the polish application.) These bottles also don’t fit into each other, the twists and bases don’t line up, so they take up a lot more room than Essie’s traditional square bottles, or round polish bottles do.

After applying two coats of Essie’s Gel Couture in “Spiked With Style” I appliedone coat of this top coat. The wide, flat, round ended brush mirrors the cuticle area perfectly, making it really easy to get a perfect coat in just four swipes of the brush; one down the middle, one down each side, and then one across the tip to cap the free edge. The top coat has a really nice thin consistency that applies really well, and does have a rather cold feel upon application, that disappears quite quickly.

This top coat is better than any other traditional enamel top coat that I’ve used the the past. It doesn’t smudge the colour coats below (like some top coats do), and has a very smooth, glossy looking finish with a vibrant high-shine.

Silly me dinged one of my thumbs before the top coat was dry, and smudged the colour underneath, but it was easily fixed by rubbing a finger dipped in a tiny bit of nail polish remover lightly over the dented polish to smooth it out, and then simply reapplying a coat of top coat after the initial application had dried fully.

After 3 hours of typing the next day, the tops of my nails started to show signs of wear on the tips. By day 6, the wear was quite bad on my index fingernails, and on day 7 it began chipping on multiple nails. Essie’s Gel Couture states that you can get up to 14 days wear, and I only got half that. With other enamel polishes I usually end up with wear and chipping after 2-3 days, so 7 days wear before chipping for this Gel Couture range is really not bad.

I used the Essie Gel Couture Top Coat and Gel Couture polish in buffed and beige together and the effect was very good. I applied two coats of the polish with a little time to set in between followed by one coat of top coat. From start to finish it took about 15 minutes, with another 15 or so to let them dry completely. It was very long lasting, but I wouldn't say 12 days, for me it was more like 7 before I needed to touch up the tips. the overall effect is very nice and smooth, looking very professional with very little time or effort.

A nail polish combination that everyone should use. The stylish packaging is very cool, but if a bummer it doesn’t allow you to stack them easily. Following the instructions prior to using the top coat I applied 2 coats of the gel colour and followed but the top coat. Like the gel colour the top coat was very smooth and had a thick flawless coverage. The top coat seemed to make the gel colour shine even more and just seal in the vibrant colour. Along with all nail polishes these need a decent amount of time to dry just to make sure you don’t ruin the overall finish. On my hands which are constantly being washed, the polish stayed on for about 8-10 days on different nails. I’m sure if you were more careful it would last the advertised 12 days easily. Definitely be using again.