Review of Seche Vite Top Coat

 

Alright, it's time for another review! I know, I know, you're thinking "Ugh, another nail polish? She must be obsessed..." and you would be right. HOWEVER, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't share my experiences with this top coat because I think that everyone who loves polishes should be aware of it. The story behind this top coat is a simple one. I do french manicures of all shades pretty frequently, and when I use a regular cheap top coat they always streak the tip color and make it bleed into the base, which just makes me angry after spending so much time on my nails. SO, I set out to find a top coat that would not do this, and Seche Vite has exceeded my expectations by far.  It is a pricy top coat, but totally worth it!! My bottle costs $9, but for the quality I will gladly pay it any time. 

The box that this top coat comes in claims it penetrates through wet polish and dries quickly, doesn't streak and leaves an awesome shine. I have to say that every single one of these claims is absolutely true. It doesn't streak your polish AT ALL, even if you apply it to wet nails! It dries so quickly that I could barely believe it. Within about a minute, your manicure is complete, glossy, and streak free. I really couldn't have asked for more in a top coat, and I have yet to find one that rivals the quality of Seche Vite.

OK, time for the downside to this top coat. I wish there weren't a downside, but I have to admit that there is. If you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are nursing, DO NOT use this top coat! It comes with a warning on the bottle that says "WARNING! This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm." This nail polish contains toluene, which with prolonged exposure in large quantities can cause health issues. The small amount in this nail polish isn't really enough to cause long term health issues in the average person, and has been approved for use by the FDA because of this fact, but if you are preggers I would definitely avoid it just to be safe. If you need more information on toluene, visit websites like the CDC, EPA, and FDA. They have TONS of information on it.

Because of the amazing quality of this top coat, I really want to give it a perfect score... but, because of the health warning and concerns that may arise because of chemicals in this polish, I have to give it a score of 4 out of 5. If you have any questions on this top coat, please let me know! I can honestly say that I am a very avid fan of it. :)

Review on Revlon's Moon Candy nail polish

This week I am reviewing the Revlon moon candy nail polish. I had been eying this polish for literally months before it went on sale and I decided to buy one. I chose the "Orbit" color, because I love purple. Before I start my review, let me say that the prices on these polishes is really kind of ridiculous. It costs around $9-$10 just for ONE. That said, let's get on with the review. 

As I said, I bought the "Orbit" polish, and I was really excited to try it. The base polish is a pretty, deep, dark purple. I rather enjoyed the flow and quality of it. The top coat, however? The "moon candy" part? I'm really not a fan of it. When you dip in the brush, you hardly get any of the flecks of glitter or whatever it is, requiring you to go back several times before you have a good quantity of flecks on your nails. If you are an avid polish fan like myself, you know that multiple layers means drying time is increased quite a bit, which I did not enjoy. Besides the low amount of flakes in the polish, the flecks have a tendency to curl and stand up somewhat, leading to them sticking up instead of laying nice and flat against the nail. This caused my polish to chip pretty quickly, which was frustrating considering the time, effort, and money that I had put into my manicure. 

Once my manicure was complete and dry, I was actually pretty disappointed with the visual aspect of it. When you look at the adverts for the polish, the top coat with the flakes in it REALLY pops and looks amazing. In reality, they were pretty dull despite my efforts. I do have to admit that, since I have yet to try the other colors, I can't say this is true of all of them but it is definitely true of the "Orbit". Try as I might, I could not get a decent picture of this manicure. That's how poorly the flakes show up. I don't have a fancy camera, true, but my digital has served me well in the past. I did an image search on GOOGLE to see if others had the same issue, and it seems that they did (such as the one posted here,  borrowed from Tara May's blog, "Tara Loves Colors")

The colors definitely don't pop here as much as they are "supposed" to. Now, Tara says she loves this polish despite it being "a pain in the butt to apply". I'd have to agree with her.... about the "pain in the butt" part, anyway. All things considered, I do like the concept of the polish and think it's a neat idea.. but unfortunately, this is far from the best polish I have tried. I may or may not try a couple of the other colors to see if they are visually any better... but for now I give it a 3 out of 5.

Kiss Gradation Nail kits

Alrighty. So, I'm obsessed with anything dealing with fingernails. I'm always scoping out stores for interesting nail polishes and kits. Not too long back, I bought a Kiss brand Gradation nail kit in gold.

 

 

There are other colors available from the company as well, by the way. I had never done gradient polish before, and I assumed that a kit would be the best way to start out and get a feel for it. I was SO excited that I immediately did my nails right after I brought it home. Some things that I noticed were:

 

• The colors (especially the base) go on VERY light. I had to do several coats before I was satisfied with the shade of the base coat.
• The kit is very easy to use. All of the bottles are numbered and the kit comes with a little insert with instructions.
• Once complete, the polish takes FOREVER to dry because of the number of coats required, and because of layering several different colors.
• The polish IS NOT long lasting at all. I had chips in my nails the very next day. :(
• The gradient is very subtle and it was hard to tell that it was a gradient at all. Due to the pigments being so light, the gradient is not very noticeable.

 

Even at $6-$7, I find this kit to be overpriced for the quality that you end up getting from it. The colors are pretty and it does make doing gradient a breeze, but I feel that the bad outweighs the good in this situation. I give it a score of 2 out of 5.

 

 

I will be posting pictures of this polish as soon as I can redo my nails and take some pics. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of them when I did the polish the first time around.