Thursday, April 30, 2015

Gel Top Coat review: Essence, Kiko, Golden rose, Pupa


Hello everyone! In this post I will talk about gel top coats, share my experience and impressions.
So gel top coat are characterized by a thick consistency and high shine. These are property that I like in a top coat so at the beginning I was very excited to try different brands. These are the brands that I have tested: Essence, Kiko, Golden Rose, Pupa.





Essence Studio nails Better than gel nail top coat




The first one I have ever tried is Essence Studio nails Better than gel nails top coat. There was a period where Essence had two variation on this top coat, the high gloss and the fast dry, but now there is only one again. I think that there was no need to make two variations because both were very shiny and both dried quickly.
As I said before, the consistency is thick and it is really good specially for 3D decorations. The drying time is very short and the lasting is also good (I usually apply two coats). Maybe it's slightly less shiny than the other ones but it's still good.
The brush is ok, it's not so big and it's straight but the application is easy.
The price is about 21.90 kn (3 €). Well if we compare the price and the performance I think is a good product. I have bought it several times.



 Essence gel-look



The next top coat is another from the Essence assortment and it is the Gel-look. I have bought it some months ago and I think that now you cannot find it anymore. There is another product that replaced this one and it's called XXXL volume plumping top coat (I haven't tried this one).

The brush is small and rectangular. It gives a nice shiny finish. But there is only one problem... a BIG problem. The drying time!!! I remember perfectly the firs time I used this top coat. I had made a nail art at 2-3 PM and I thought that it will be completely dry in a few hours. But the next morning when I woke up I saw the imprints of the sheets on my nails!!! I have used it a few more times but the result as always the same. I haven't this kind of problem with neither other top coat. So I just give up on this product.
The price was similar to the Better than gel nails.
.


Kiko gel look top coat




The next top coat is form Kiko. The price is 4.90 € and it is packed into a black box. I searched on internet some review and I found different opinions: those who said is super and those who hated it. Unfortunately I belong to the category that hate it. :(

So what is the problem? I haven't noticed it till the day after the applying. The first day all looked great: the shine, the drying time... but the next day I noticed that the nail polish on my nail was crackled.... on all my nails!!! There were a lot of crackles starting from the tip of the nail. I don't know what happened. I didn't hit the hand or something like that. This crackles just appeared and of course this has affect the lasting of the nail polish. In the following days the crackles became deeper and the nail polish stared to chips.
Another thing that I didn't like was the brush. Like I have said in my previous Kiko review I hate this kind of brush.The application is not so easy like with the other top coats.
So my experience with this product was not good and I don't think I will buy it again. Have you tried it too? Are your experience different?


Golden Rose gel top coat




The next on my list is Golden rose gel look top coat. As as long as I like this brand this product had disappointed me. :(

It has the same problem as the Kiko top coat. It crackles after 1-2 day of the application. So I will not spend a lot of time explaining it. The shine and the drying time are good but the problem shows up the next days.
The brush is big, flat and straight. The application is good and easy and it also dries quickly. The price is about 20 kn (3 €).











Pupa gel top coat



This is the last brand I will talk about. The price is 6.90 €. I had big a expectations for this product but for me it was another delusion. :(

Even this one has the problem of the crackles. I don't know what is the problem with these gel top coats... Does it have the same effect on your nail too?
The positive think is the brush. It's flat, big but rounded so the application was very easy. It is shiny and dries pretty fast.
Maybe I will give it one more chance. I want to try it in combination with the gel nail polish also from Pupa. I heard that the effect is great. So maybe it is worth to try... but I am not so confident about the result.


I had some bad luck with the gel top coats.The only one good for me is Essence better than gel nails. All the other were just a big disappointment. :(
I have recently bought the new gel top coat of Essence but for this I will make a separate post in future. I need some time for test it.

Have you tried this products? Did you have this kind of problems too?
Do you have some other gel top coat to recommend me? I will be happy to try other brands if it's worth. :)


P.S. If someone wants to see the cake I mentioned in the previous post here is a picture :)

13 comments:

  1. It was a very interesting post.
    I'm so happy with my Seche Vite, I doubt i ever will use anything else...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seche Vite is one top coat that I definitely want to try! *__*

      Delete
  2. great post, I am using a lot top coats and I am happy to try some from your list :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I could suggest you only the Essence Better than gel nails... but I also heard that Eveline X-treme gel effect top coat iv very good.

      Delete
  3. Good info. I rarely use a top coat and when I do I use the Nubar one or the OPI one. I cannot remember the last time I used one, probably well over a year at least! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always use a top coat. I just can leave the nails without... specially when I use acrylic paint.

      Delete
  4. That second one... the drying time! Exactly! Takes forever. Must say I do use it, the first two on a stamping nail art. It tends not to smudge the design which is very important to me! I have one from Konad now and I love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah the drying time is terrible :(
      I keep using only the first of this list.

      Delete
  5. Thank you, I will check you blog too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Devo riprovare quello di Essence. Al momento sto usando la versione XXXL, e funziona bene, anche per tempo di asciugatura.
    Quello di Kiko è proprio tremendo, e dire che quella linea di curativi è anche abbastanza ben fatta...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dici che l XXXL è buono... magari gli darò una chance :)

      Delete
  7. essence btgn nadlak je savršen <3
    ne vjeruj onima koji će ti reći da su poche ili seche bolji od njega - nisu, probala sam :D
    nekad davno sam probala i golden rose nadlak i bio je savršen, a onda su mu promijenili formulu... doduše bio je u bočicama u kakavim su danas holiday lakovi, no svejedno :D
    essence the gel nail polish nadlak ti je odličan, probaj njega - maže se bez problema, super suši, čak bih se usudila reći da je isto toliko dobar kao i njihov btgn nadlak :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. slažem se da je BTGN savršen! :)
      Upravo sam počela koristiti i ovaj novi gel top coat!

      Delete
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