Seche Vite Top Coat: Review

I'm playing with fire as I write this, seriously.

I've just put coat number two on of an absolutely beautiful nail polish.

And I haven't yet photographed it.

Dun, dun, DUNNNNNNNNNNNN!!

If I smudge it while writing this, I might cry.

My blog posts are few and far between as it is, I can't afford to smudge these nails and wreck a future one!

Anyway, talking of, I'm hoping to finish off said nails with a swish of my little mini 3.6ml bottle of Seche Vite Top Coat today, as I have been doing for the last couple of weeks.

Now I know what you're expecting - a miracle. Quite the same as I was, following a lot of hefty review reading before I took the plunge...

Did I get a miracle? Not quite.

See, the reviews had me eagerly awaiting the ultra shiny, ultra fast drying, and best of all; ultra long lasting, salon perfect nails that Seche Vite has become renowned for.

While I did get an amazing shine, and a pretty fast drying time, I can't honestly put my hand on my heart and say it was any longer lasting than my old Barry M top coat?

Say WHUUUUUUUUUUUUTT?!

I know right? Controversial.

Maybe I got a dud, I don't know?

Ebay, I blame you.

But the truth is that on all three occasions I have used my new 'wonder product' prior to writing this, I had some slight chipping to both hands, within the first day.

I genuinely had an 'aw helllllll no' moment when I gazed down at my nails and my eyes registered the unwanted white bits peeking up at me.

Trust me, there was almost some 'Z' shape clicking action going on.

Let's be thankful I thought twice about that one.

I did two, three day tests, to see how it lasted.
I used different types of polish: one Barry M, and one No7, just to be sure the type of polish wasn't affecting my results.

I applied both in the evening, almost gassing myself with the same smell, (seriously, it stinks to high heaven!) using the same number of coats, the same base coat, did similar things on the days I wore the colours for, (work, washing up x 2742469440, gym) and took the photo's at the same stage of wear before giving in to the chip-age and removing it.

Check me out man, changing one variable, and reducing the risk of extraneous variables...blates listened well to my Science teachers in high school.
 Boom
Get me a 'GEEK' t-shirt and I'm sorted.

Sadly however, I noticed the chips ate the same stage too.

Day 1: Barry M Raspberry

Day 3: Barry M Raspberry

Day 1: No7 Siren

Day 3: No7 Siren

You can see from the pictures that the No7 nail polish doesn't look quite as bad, but sadly my right hand was worse, as was my little finger nail before it broke haha...
Who knows, maybe my poor-ish results are partially down to the use of relatively cheap polishes underneath, (not that No7 is cheap, but I'm not it's biggest fan, formula wise) or perhaps I'm just a bit naff at applying polish - I do wonder sometimes.
Orrrrr, maybe my expectations were just too high?
I have a bunch of unanswered questions!

I do however LOVEEEEE it's shiny finish, and it does dry quickly - definitely not 'rock hard' in the one minute several reviews were claiming, but faster than others; I would say touch dry within three, and completely dry within fifteen, which is still impressive! The brush is nice and wide too, and covers a lot of ground in one swipe...so it's not all bad :).

It has to be said though, to say I was looking for a top coat to make my polish last longer, I was slightly disappointed.
I will persevere, and to be honest - given that I've never heard of a better one, I will probably repurchase a full size one, (preferably cheaply on eBay or Amazon somewhere haha) but until then I'm just hoping that the rest of my little mini bottle offers a little more success...

I'm about to put it on now, over my pretty new polish, which THANK GODDDD has survived the typing unscathed, yeyyy!!

Please, keep your fingers crossed for me!!


***

Oh my god, this new other colour I've put on MUST be nice - my brother just commented on it!
Major shocked face!

...coming soon ;)