Hello everyone!
I consider myself an Essie nail polish lover; over time I've collected about 15 bottles of Essie nail polish, its probably one of my favorite nail polish brands. I have always had a good experience with Essie. With that being said, on my birthday I decided to splurge a little and buy a few nail products. I've been out of Essie Good to Go (my favorite top coat) for awhile now and wanted to replace it. However, when I got to the store they were out of my preferred top coat but had one box of Essie No Chips Ahead. I figured that Essie No Chips Ahead would be up to par with my expectations of a top coat. I knew that NCA is not a fast drying top coat, but a few years ago I used Essie 3-way Glaze which is not a quick dry top coat/base coat and I liked it so again I figured it would be fine. Boy was I wrong...
Essie claims NCA will provide a chip free top coat. Also, it will extend the manicure for up to 10 days and protects against chipping.
I layered Essie NCA over my Sally Hansen Real Effects Nail Polish strips in a candy cane pattern to make it nice and shiny. My initial thoughts on the polish when I first opened the packaging and applied the top coat to my nails were, cute packaging and silver cap, nice consistency. NCA has a nice thin consistency unlike most top coats which are thicker, therefore it spread over my nails nicely. NCA applied nicely on my nails. I waited about 10 minutes lightly touching my nails to see if it tried and it didn't! An hour past and I thought it would be fine to take a nap, but it wasn't! I woke up to see my newly finished nails ruined. Since the top coat smeared while I was sleeping, small holes were made into the nail strips, therefore I couldn't hide the holes. I did one more layer of top coat to get rid of the bumpiness caused by the holes and this time waited a few hours for it to dry completely. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of my manicure post "hole-y" experience. Just a picture of it when the top coat was drying. Also, about 5 days later I noticed MAJOR chipping.
Bottom line is, no, it did not protect my manicure for up to 10 days. The drying time sucked more than normal for a regular top coat. I did like that the top coat had a thin consistency which made it easy to apply, which made me think that it would dry within reasonable time, but it did not!
I would rate this top coat a 1.5 - 2 out of 5 stars.
This experience has not hindered my love for Essie polishes. I've always had pleasant experiences with the nail polish colors. I've used Essie G2G (haha GTG makes it seem like it is Essie Got to Go) and Essie 3-Way Glaze and again had pleasant experiences with them, but this just was not the case. Hopefully this will be my one and only horrible Essie experience.
Essie claims NCA will provide a chip free top coat. Also, it will extend the manicure for up to 10 days and protects against chipping.
I layered Essie NCA over my Sally Hansen Real Effects Nail Polish strips in a candy cane pattern to make it nice and shiny. My initial thoughts on the polish when I first opened the packaging and applied the top coat to my nails were, cute packaging and silver cap, nice consistency. NCA has a nice thin consistency unlike most top coats which are thicker, therefore it spread over my nails nicely. NCA applied nicely on my nails. I waited about 10 minutes lightly touching my nails to see if it tried and it didn't! An hour past and I thought it would be fine to take a nap, but it wasn't! I woke up to see my newly finished nails ruined. Since the top coat smeared while I was sleeping, small holes were made into the nail strips, therefore I couldn't hide the holes. I did one more layer of top coat to get rid of the bumpiness caused by the holes and this time waited a few hours for it to dry completely. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of my manicure post "hole-y" experience. Just a picture of it when the top coat was drying. Also, about 5 days later I noticed MAJOR chipping.
Bottom line is, no, it did not protect my manicure for up to 10 days. The drying time sucked more than normal for a regular top coat. I did like that the top coat had a thin consistency which made it easy to apply, which made me think that it would dry within reasonable time, but it did not!
I would rate this top coat a 1.5 - 2 out of 5 stars.
This experience has not hindered my love for Essie polishes. I've always had pleasant experiences with the nail polish colors. I've used Essie G2G (haha GTG makes it seem like it is Essie Got to Go) and Essie 3-Way Glaze and again had pleasant experiences with them, but this just was not the case. Hopefully this will be my one and only horrible Essie experience.
I agree with everything, this does NOT dry in a reasonable time and it was a bid disappointment!!!
ReplyDeleteEven to this day when I see that polish in stores I can't help but shake my fist at it.
DeleteTry using it this way. It is meant to be a maintenance top coat, not the first quick dry or long stay kind. It is actually really good: http://thestylester.com/beauty/essie-no-chips-ahead-review/
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with this I have given this nail polish TWO chances. Last night was its last. I put it on over 2 layers of Zoya nailpolish and over 3 hours later I went to bed.... Woke up with imprints of my sheets all over my nails. I waited 3 hours thats insane!! Today I put a coat of essie good to go over it and it fixed the sheet imprints thankfully. Cant beleive i paid $11 for this piece of crap
ReplyDeletehmmm i like it ... love consistency and shine.but i agree: no napping after!! ive heard there's a top coat that sells at sally's and makes any polish look like gel ... any ideas what it could be? I'm on the hunt!
ReplyDeleteSorry, this is a rather late reply. I went on a hiatus for awhile and the only one I can think of that might work are the revlon colorstay top coat and base coat? the claim for that line is it'll look like a gel manicure.
DeleteI have used this top coat several times and I HATE IT! Even once it's "dry" its so soft that if anything hard or sharp touches it it leaves a mark X( and every time my nails have chipped within 24 hours. So mad!
ReplyDeleteWas just about to order some glad I didn't thanks www.stylistsmuse.com
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