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.

You Might Also Like

2 comments

  1. 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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol 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.

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to leave a comment, I read every single one of them. But please do not leave your blog links, they might not be published :)