Review: China Glaze fast forward top coat
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
This is the second top coat I’ve had since my interest for
nail polish grew. My first was the Misa breakneck top coat which I quite liked.
I’ve used more than half of this stuff and I’m already planning to purchase a
different one so I figured it’s time for a review.
It comes in a frosted polish bottle and by the name I suppose
it’s meant to be fast drying. I do agree with that, after applying the top coat
the top does dry fast but the layers in between takes a little more time so I
can still manage to dent my polish even after applying my polish for a while. I
do apply my top coat a little thick though. I’d suggest letting the polish dry
in between each layers but sometimes who really has the patience and time to do
that? I do on somedays but that doesn’t stop me from smudging my polish from time
to time. Even after a whole day I can still put dents into my polish if a
pushed my nail into it a little harder.
This problem doesn’t always happen though. At times the top
coat and base polish dries faster than usual. I’m guessing this has to do with
the formula of the polishes I use it with too. I haven’t paid attention to which
brands/polishes it works better with though.
The next point might sound a little weird. The polish has a strong
scent but it smells better than the other top coat I had. I know it’s bad to smell
such odours but sometimes it’s hard to avoid when the polish is hovering under
your nose. I’ve learned to keep the windows open when I polish my nails now. This top coat seems to smell a bit sweet-ish ( or maybe it's just me). It's like a strong odour mixed with a
sweet scent which just isn’t healthy.
The formula is really good; it’s on the thin side which is
an advantage for me. I’ve had this top coat for months and even until now it
still hasn’t thickened unlike my previous one which took a quarter of my nail
polish thinner to restore it back to half its original state. It gives quite a
good shine too.
There are times where I see air bubbles on my manicure. Sometimes
one or two bubbles but there have been times when there were millions on one
nail. Gave me shivers to look at but I guess it’s down to the polish you pair
it with too. I didn’t have this problem at the start but I after using it
too much that happens.
I can’t really
comment much on the wear time because I don’t keep the same polish on for too
long and my fingers are forever typing for instance right now. I haven’t experienced
major chips unless I’ve had it on for 3-4+ days which is the average time my
nail polish starts chipping or unless I’m at work where I’m constantly dealing
with hangers and such.
Here’s to sum up all the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Formula is thin so it doesn’t thicken up so fast
- Top coat does dry fast
- Gives a good shine
- Easy to get hold of – I purchased mine from EBay
- Fairly cheap, around £3-5 including shipping
Cons:
- Top dries fast but doesn’t help what’s layered beneath so polish is still easily dented
- Slightly strong, weird, sweet odour which lingers for a little while
- After using half the bottle it started forming air bubbles on some manicures
Overall:
I find this one alright just not amazing. It’s a standard top coat to. It dries fast, gives shine and keeps your polish from chipping for a few days which is alright in my books. For now I won’t repurchase just because I want to reach out and try other top coats from different brands before I decide if I want to come back to this one.
I find this one alright just not amazing. It’s a standard top coat to. It dries fast, gives shine and keeps your polish from chipping for a few days which is alright in my books. For now I won’t repurchase just because I want to reach out and try other top coats from different brands before I decide if I want to come back to this one.
2 comments
I hate the smell of this! Mostly because it has that sweet smell to it. I'm tolerant of strong chemical smells like in Seche Vite, but I hate very sweet smells. My sister loves it though, she said it smells like candy, which is just confusing to me. lol.
ReplyDeleteLol I think the same as your sister, it does have that kind of sweet scent which is just dangerous for people who like sweet stuff.
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