What is the BEST Base & Top Coat Polish?

[Maurie97]

Just bought the big momma bottle of Out the Door from Sally's Beauty Supply today. It appears that the brush reaches all the way down to the bottom of the bottle. I am tired of the little bottles where the brushes only reach what seems 3/4 of the way down. I am also tired of it drying up less than 1/2 way through. Figured I would try the design of the huge bottle....LOL. I use the thinner drops and it just doesn't seem to do it for the top coats. I have had success with thinning NP but not TC. Hope this mammoth bottle holds up well......haha.
It is my favorite TC to date with butterLondons coming in second and Essie Good to Go 3rd. Oh yea, the Sally Hansen one in the red bottle is pretty good too.

 

[tgirl25]

My fave base coat is CND Sticky, I do 1 coat for light non-staining polish and 2 coats for dark potentially nail staining polish and my polish stays nice for 4-5days if not longer and no peeling!! Top Coat, right now I love love love Barielle Manicure Extender fast dry. That stuff is the bomb and does a pretty good job of filling in glitters too

 

[Maurie97]

My fave base coat is CND Sticky, I do 1 coat for light non-staining polish and 2 coats for dark potentially nail staining polish and my polish stays nice for 4-5days if not longer and no peeling!! Top Coat, right now I love love love Barielle Manicure Extender fast dry. That stuff is the bomb and does a pretty good job of filling in glitters too

Is that the green one? I think I have it too.....LOL.

I just realized that I keep flip flopping back and forth between which is my favorite "ist" TC, ButterLondon or Out the Door. I'm thinking I use OTD more because is easier to find in stores and cheaper. The BL I kinda hoard I think.
I'm a hoarder....yes I am!!! Not really but I do use sparingly what I know is harder to come by.

 

[CountryGlamour]

For sure my fav. top is Seche Vite

 

[sgw135]

Hi Girls,

So I'm thinking that the reason my nail peels right off in one big chunk the morning after I polish them is because I am using a terribly old base coat that no longer has staying power.

Therefore I need suggestions for a base coat brand to use based on which you think is the best! TIA!!!

 

[PolishQueen]

Hi Girls,

So I'm thinking that the reason my nail peels right off in one big chunk the morning after I polish them is because I am using a terribly old base coat that no longer has staying power.

Therefore I need suggestions for a base coat brand to use based on which you think is the best! TIA!!!

Could also be because your nails were oily when you polished them. As far as base goes I love and use Cult Nails basecoat Get it On.

 

[kristin.xo]

Hi Girls,

So I'm thinking that the reason my nail peels right off in one big chunk the morning after I polish them is because I am using a terribly old base coat that no longer has staying power.

Therefore I need suggestions for a base coat brand to use based on which you think is the best! TIA!!!

That is possible, or maybe the base coat just doesn't work well with your body chemistry. I'm loving a-England's base coat right now, but I also really love Butter London's and CND's. I think you should test a few different ones to see what works best for you, because what works for someone may not work as well for you. Hope you find the perfect base coat!

 

[kristinized]

I like two from Orly - the Bonder basecoat and Ridgefiller basecoat.

 

[lvdreamer]

I love Chanel's base coat.

 

[demingy]

I love the a-england base coat and Beauty Secrets moisturizing base coat (found at Sally Beauty). I constantly switch between these two.

 

[kkgunn]

Cuticle remover and dehydrate the nail plate. No old base coat either! CND stickey is great, but if your nail plate is dirty or oily, nothing will work.

 

[Kapster]

I like two from Orly - the Bonder basecoat and Ridgefiller basecoat.

I heard good things about Orly Bonder -- I need to try that one.

Currently NOT having good luck with Butter London Nail Foundation as a basecoat, though I do think it looks pretty on its own! :/

 

[renza]

Has anyone used Sephora Collection 3 in 1 perfecting base coat? Or Sephora by Opi base coat? My nails always turn yellow after using nail polish (any color) and it is nearly impossible to remove dark colored polish completely. I'm hoping to find a base coat that dries quickly and will fix those problems.

 

[Deeeee306]

I'm using Sephora 3 in 1 base coat and have no complaints. I really like the brush.

 

[Terabethia]

I'm late to the party but I'll throw in my two cents anyway.

I bought the Gelous from Sally because it was recommended as a top coat for the glitter hungry indies. I started using as a base coat (which is what it actually is) and I have been using it ever since. Before that I used CND Sticky. I have tried a ton of them, everything from "cheapie" ones like Sally Hansen to more expensive ones like Orly Bonder. While they all work pretty equally to prevent staining, Gelous by far gives me the longest wear time.


For top coat I have several I use. Seche is my most used. I brought the professional kit which comes with 1 regular sized bottle, a 4oz refill and a bottle of seche restore. LOVE the restore, works great.

For the handful of polishes that Seche shrinks (out of my 600+, it's maybe a dozen or so I have this problem with) I use Out the Door.

For a top coat over stamping, I like Sally Hansen Insta-Dry or HK Girl. Both are really good at not smearing the stamped design.