The Awesome Topcoat: From Almost Trash To This Post

There's a series of events that led me to discover one of the best topcoats I have tried but that unfortunately may not last. Hang on with me for about three minutes and I'll try to keep you entertained.

1. I decided to clean up four old dried up topcoat bottles so I could have them for frankens. I started with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri that had about a quarter of the topcoat and put a similar quantity of acetone. Why I didn't put acetone in all the bottles at the same time is beyond me but I'm glad I didn't and I wasn't trying to be resourceful at this point.

2. A couple of days after, when the topcoat had dissolved in the acetone, I decided not to waste anymore acetone and just added what I had in the Sally Hansen bottle into the essence XXXL Shine Gel-Look topcoat that had dried up to a thick, unusable goop. I left it for a few days before I came back to it.

3. In the mean time, I created my first mildly successful franken using Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Lady Luck and Ulta3 in Black Satin in similar quantities. I mixed it up and came back with this. What do you reckon?

Imagine the silver glitter is actually purple, smaller and denser. Does it remind you of any textured polishes?

Wanna have a guess if I show you a close up? I liked the result even though it wasn't that similar so I should call it Stay For Lunch (I hope I'm being funny here!). This little experiment made me realise that I actually don't own any textured polishes even though I've been lusting after them since December. :(

4. I went to Mecca Cosmetica because I felt like splurging a little on some nail strips or polish. Regrettably for me, the prices in there were a little too splurgy for items or polish I knew I could get cheaper somewhere else. I'm talking specifically about The New Black set that has some studs and 15 ml of polish for $42!!! It looks cool, but really $42?, I don't think so. I also saw 6 diamonte nail bows with nail glue for $15.95. I guess I'm a Born Pretty Store kinda gal rather than a Mecca Cosmetica one. :/

5. After my outing, I decided to use my untrieds, group in which my franken was included. I put it on and enjoyed it for a whole two days before I was itching to do something nail art on top of it. 

6. My Seche Vite was running out and only had enough for a couple of manis left, so I had to be frugal with it.

7. I grabbed the essence bottle and noticed the liquid inside had a similar consistency to a normal topcoat. I tried it on top of Stay for Lunch (have I got you hooked?) and to my surprise it made it smooth and shiny with just one coat and it dried to the touch within the minute. Had I just franked a topcoat too?!  

If you ever used this Essence topcoat you'd know it was a life saviour for topcoat-hungry glitters and it would have a squishy texture when dry but it would take hours and hours and h-o-u-r-s for that to happen. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri dried super quick and prevented chips for a few days but it took a few coats to even out glitter or nail art. Had the best properties of both topcoats came to life when I mixed them up? So far, it looks life it! I've tried it on a few other polishes and it still works fine. My only concern is that the acetone may change the topcoat for the worse in the long run and this topcoat won't be usable anymore. 

So the moral of the moral of the story is I created an comparable-to-Seche-VIte topcoat with a third of dried up Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, a third of goopy essence XXXL Shine Gel-Look topcoat and a third of acetone, roughly. I was just going dispose of the liquid (safely, of course!) if I hadn't tried it. Plus, all those events I mentioned above finally led me to this stamping mani. I know that's not the point of this post and it's not my best work but would you look at how shiny and smooth it is with and extra coat of The Awesome Topcoat. 

This top coat is sooooo squishy but it doesn't leave dent marks like other topcoats and it doesn't make the polish peel off because of the thickness (Looking at you Seche Vite...). Please excuse the dodgy stamping job.

I hoped you stuck around for the three minutes and that I didn't bore you to tears. :)

Have you ever tried mixing topcoats into a same bottle? Any favourable results? Or bad ones? Would I have any luck with the longevity for The Awesome Topcoat? Are you sick of the word topcoat yet?  I almost am. 

Till next time, 

Laura