The glory of base and top coats!
So I’m sure almost all of us polish-freaks are avid users of base and top coats. Throughout our adventures in polish, we’ve probably experimented with just about every brand. Well today I’ll let you know how I’ve been doing with Zoya’s base and top coat offerings to the nail polish gods.
I can probably trace back the major staples in my nail regiments… Essie, Barielle, Seche Vite, and CND are all names that come to mind. Liz and I have probably both mentioned what we were using at the time in any given post. I still think that Barielle and CND are great base and top coats. Seche Vite’s top coat is great, especially for thick, chunky glitters that you want to smooth out. However, we must always continue on in the quest of the perfect nail storm and of course, there’s always new products to try.
I had read some base and top coat challenges in the past and heard great things about Zoya Anchor and Armor, so when the time came to order the summer collection polishes from Zoya, I was conveniently out of bc and tc and decided it was time to see if Anchor and Armor could truly “bring it”.
It’s been a couple of weeks that I’ve been using these two, probably 3 or 4 manis and I must say I’m pretty impressed so far. CND worked well for me at first, but towards the end of its life, my polish was chipping the same night or the next day. I think the effectiveness decreasing as age increases may be a problem for all base and top coats, but I’ll have to get back to you all on that hypothesis. All I know so far, is that my manicures have looked practically flawless for up to 4 days, which is double what I had been getting the weeks before I started using Anchor and Armor.
We will defeat chipping!
There’s no strong odor or anything like that when you use them so that makes it more pleasant. I have recently found myself using more top coat than base coat for an application. Zoya’s Armor seems to be a bit on the thick side and it hasn’t necessarily been applying seamlessly for me. The base coat I can slap right on, who cares, there’s polish going over it anyways. But the top coat has to be nice and even and flawless to really do the nail color justice, and sometimes I find myself struggling with that and using more product than I need to just because the top coat didn’t go on smooth enough.
So far I’ve been so pleased with the wear of my nail polish, that the application of Armor hasn’t bothered me that much unless I’m in the middle of it. There’s also a note on the box that Armor comes in that you can reapply it days later to make your manicure last even longer. I haven’t tried that yet because generally after 3 or 4 days, I’m ready for a new color, but I’m interested in trying that out when I have the right color on my nails. As of now, I can see myself buying these two again, but we’ll see how long the love affair can go. I’m curious to know what you all are using now? What’s your favorite base and top coat to use? What do you absolutely hate? Please comment!
Where to buy: Zoya / $7.96
-Lauren
