This is a super basic question, I've always liked painting my nails but never mastered it! Got a couple of nice OPI polishes recently and been trying to up my game. Here we have SaTURN Me On, base coat Sally Hansen double duty, 2 layers of the colour, and the Sally Hansen again as top coat. I did it in the evening about an hour before bed but it must not have been fully dry because I have fabric-shaped 'smush' imprints on my nails today… (not for the first time!) I left a good long while (like several hours because time constraints) between base layer, first thin coat then second coat of colour – the top coat I didn't wait so long though. So firstly, how are you all getting your nails to dry properly more quickly?! And secondly, is there any way to fix this after the fact? I wondered if a quick swipe of acetone to take a layer off, then another coat would help, or just make a mess. Thank you!
by MillwardShoults
6 Comments
Also just to add, I’m in the UK if anyone is recommending products. Thanks!
You really want a true quick dry topcoat (QDTC) rather than using Double Duty. 2 in 1 base and top coats typically do not do a great job at either, unfortunately. The SH Insta-Dri in the red bottle is a great QDTC.
Seche blur is a magical product that helps blur imperfections, and you can apply it over dry polish and topcoats
The way that we all get our polish to dry quickly is by using a quick-dry top coat (QDTC). A 2-in-1 product will never dry quickly enough to be practical. If you want a Sally Hansen product, many people here swear by the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat in the red bottle.
Base coat is meant to adhere the polish to the nail, QDTC is meant to dry fast and be shiny and hard. The ingredients for the two formulas are generally quite different. I think it’s a bit of a shame that companies still sell the 2-in-1 products, because IMO they’re only going to be good as base coats, and never dry fast enough to be practical as a top coat.
I let my base coat dry 10-15 minutes before applying colour – I really don’t think it needs to be any longer than that. I do thin coats of colour, applying the next coat as soon as I’m done painting all ten nails. I also apply my top coat right away. A QDTC is meant to be applied while the polish is still somewhat wet. The solvents in the top coat will penetrate the layers of polish and help them all to dry quickly. I can be pretty confidently using my hands to do gentle things within 20 minutes. I usually go to bed about an hour later and never get dents or marks in my polish. (I use Holo Taco Glossy Taco, which I think is a bit hard to get in the UK.)
Acetone will destroy your manicure. It literally eats polish – there’s no way to get it to just swipe off one layer. That’s why you should never try to thin out old, goopy polish with acetone, because it dissolves the necessary components to make the polish work. (If you ever need to thin out polish, there is nail polish thinner [best if it has just 2 ingredients: ethyl acetate and butyl acetate] that adds the solvents back into the polish and restores it.)
The good news is that the creases are not visible in the farther away pictures, which is how most people will be seeing your hands. The only way I’d try to fix this would be to add a glitter topper of some sort!
I find this happens more with certain topcoats, for me it happened a lot with mooncat’s speed demon. It doesn’t completely fix it but adding a new layer of topcoat usually smooths it out a bit and makes it a lot less visible. ETA: without acetone, I think that would only make a mess.
The ones I’ve had lately that didn’t have that problem are essie’s gel couture, holo taco’s glossy taco and cirque colors looking glass. I really like essie’s topcoats in general if you’re looking for drugstore brands and they are kind of my goto (I’m also in Europe)
2in1 top & base coat is like a sofa bed. It does an okay job for one of its uses and a bad job of the other.
Get a quick dry top coat. Sally H does one in the red bottle that’s available in Boots.