Essie Speed Setter Ultra Fast Dry Top Coat

I always like to change up my nail polish a couple of times a week, which means I get through a lot of top coat. When applying nail polish, I absolutely hate waiting around for my nails to dry. I’m not the most patient and don’t like sitting around doing nothing whilst waiting for my nails to dry, so a quick drying top coat is an essential. My holy grail top coat is the Glisten and Glow HK Girl Top Coat, but it’s not the easiest to get your hands on, so I decided to give the Essie Speed Setter Ultra Fast Dry Top Coat a try when I bought the Essie Apricot Nail & Cuticle Oil.

The Essie Speed Setter Ultra Fast Dry Top Coat is £9.99 and is one of many Essie top coats. I have tried the Essie Gel Setter in the past, and whilst I loved how quick drying it was and the gel-like shine it gave the nails. The formula became very thick, very quickly and became really stringy when removing the brush from the bottle every time, so I ended up binning it; especially as the Mavala Nail Polish Thinner didn’t make any difference to the thickness of the formula.

 

“For a perfect high-shine finish in record time, Essie Speed Setter is top coat and quick dry top coat in one cutting-edge formula.  This high performance top coat dries in under a minute, and works with any Essie Enamel Polish for an ultra-shiny finish.“

The Essie Speed Setter Ultra Fast Dry Top Coat has a thick formula from the off, so I feel like there’s a likely chance that it’ll thicken and get gloopy quite quickly. The brush is a nice size, allowing even coverage over the nails in a couple of strokes. The claim of ‘wet to set’ in a minute is a little true. It does make your nails dry quickly, but in a minute they’re not touch dry.

You’d have to wait for around ten minutes before you could get changed or you’d end up with a ruined manicure. It does definitely make your nails dry quicker than they would if you were to let them dry naturally. There is a downside to the formula unfortunately, and that’s how quickly nail polish chips when using the top coat. It makes my nails peel, lift off and chip within only a couple of days. It does look very glossy on the nails, but the wear time issues are just not worth it, and I’d much rather use Glisten and Glow HK Girl or Seche Vite instead as they offer quick drying polish, and great wear time.

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