Seche Vive Instant Gel Effect Top Coat

A while back I was given the New Seche Vive Instant Gel Effect Top Coat to try out and review. I had heard of this, but had never purchased it to try out. And of course I was interested in it as you know my love for my beloved Seche Vite top coat.  So basically the idea of this top coat is that it is fast drying, but also adds the plump looking effect of a gel polish to your regular nail polish. With this top coat, there is no need for a uv light, it is formulated to fuse with natural light.  Well sign me up! I'm gonna test this baby out. So I chose to go with "stickey" base coat by CND and Essie's Find Me An Oasis nail polish to bring these battered nails to life. Here is my results....

So just a couple things.... These were not the "neatest" polish job I did in my life, but they will do for this post. Also these pictures were taken on my Iphone 6s. My son and my husband were my photographers for these shots, and neither of them know how to use my camera......yet ;)  As you can see in this photo, Essie's Find Me An Oasis is a soft blue pastel shade. 

So this is Day 1. Not showing much in this picture, but you can see the top coat is freshly painted on. Does it look any different from the regular top coat? Not much. If I didn't know any better, I felt that it just looked liked my normal Seche Vite top coat. 

Day 2 lookth like this....... you can see a bit of a chip out of the middle finger, and a bit of lifting at the edges of some of the other nails.

Day 3 you can clearly see more chipping at the spots were there was lifting. So now before you ask, I am a certified Nail Technician and know how to cap the edges, so I know that was done! I do however, do a lot of dishes and house work per day, so my hands to get beat up a bunch. 

Day 4 Ok first let me explain the colour. I wore a new dress on this day. Usually, I first wash a item before I wear it, but on this day, I was in a bit of a rush. It is a beautiful red and black sweater dress that I recently purchased, and it not only died my nail polish a bit, but my skin too..... Aye Yai Yai!! What a complete mess...pink everything.... keep an eye out for a coming blog post on how to remove stains!! It's coming!Now clearly you can see more chipping on my nails..

Day 5 Clearly a disaster... need to remove day. So my thoughts,...... I didn't honestly see any difference from the Seche Vite to the Seche Vive. As far as the "Gel Polish look" I honestly don't think it resembled a honest gel polish look. I'm not sure any top coat can actually resemble it truly. The consistency of a gel polish is different from an actual nail laquer. Which is why the gel polish looks a bit "pillowy" and the top coat of a gel polish is "hardened" in the uv light which does make it more durable and shiny. So if your looking for this product to mimic a gel polish manicure, it, in my opinion, does not! But I will keep using it, as it is a good "POLISH" quick drying top coat.

Until next time,


Cheryl