The Best (and Possibly Worst) Top Coat of All Time
I am currently deeply entangled in a love affair with Seche Vite top coat.
But like all illicit affairs, it comes with no small amount of guilt.
Because Seche Vite is the best thing that has happened to my nails, as well as the worst thing that's happened to my nails.
Let me tell you about the best things first, though.
Extremely Quick Drying
SV dries in around 5 minutes. Not just touch-dry. And not just the top layer.
SV dries through all the layers of nailpolish, and your base coat, sealing it all rock hard.
You can go straight to bed and not get any sheet marks. I wouldn't advise opening ring pull cans or anything, but you're totally able to get on with your day after 5-10 minutes, without smudging your manicure.
No more fanning, iced water or drying drops. I used to swear by drying drops, but I haven't touched mine since using SV.
A Slick Finish
You know when you see some nailpolish pictures and there seems to be a slickness and shine to the nails that almost looks like highly lacquered wood?
There's an evenness and a thick gloss that you haven't been able to replicate with your own topcoat.
I think it's most likely Seche Vite.
SV is the thickest topcoat I've ever used, and you would swear it was going to slide straight off your nails in a gloopy mess. But it levels itself out and settles over the colour like a magical bead of dew.
For glitters, it's a godsend. Nothing smooths over the roughness and makes glitters shine like SV. I've applied up to 3 layers of other topcoats over glitters, but not anymore.
It kind of has to be experienced to know exactly what I mean. But trust me, I haven't seen anything like it before.
SV gives everyone the 'professional' finish we always thought was a secret only the top nail bloggers knew.
High Shine
Most topcoats start to go dull after a day or so, and you need to reapply to get that fresh, shiny, "wet" look.
SV stays gorgeously shiny until you take it off.
Hard Wearing
When applied properly, SV will give you the longest lasting manicure you've ever had.
If applied incorrectly, it'll chip within a few hours. There are some tricks you need to know to get SV to work properly, and I'll share those later.
***
So, what about the bad things about Seche Vite?
The guilt that niggles away at the back of my mind, and I keep pushing away?
This.
That's the warning that comes on the side of the SV packaging.
Now, I know I'm always advocating eco friendly-this and nasty chemical-free that. I'm all about the environment and healthy living.
Except for my one big hypocrisy – nailpolish.
Not all of my nailpolishes are Big 3 Free.
But none of them have told me to my face that if I use them I might give birth to children with three heads.
So what do I do?
I justify it.
- I have no immediate plans to have children.
- If I did, I would stop using it.
- I don't use it that much anyway, since the regularity of my manicures is pretty hit and miss.
I know women who won't use it while breastfeeding, and I think that's a good idea. Just like a lot of people stop dyeing their hair when they're pregnant, and breastfeeding too. It makes sense.
However, maybe it's not just while actively childbearing that SV is a problem, and that's where I really stick my head in the sand.
Nailpolish is a weakness for me. One use of Seche Vite and I was a lost cause.
There may be an alternative, though, which I'll also discuss later.
Shrinkage
Seche Vite is notoriously tricky to use, at least at first.
The major problem is that the topcoat shrinks and pulls away from edges as it dries. That means it will pull away from the tip of the nail, and the edge of the colour near the cuticle.
It will look something like this – like major tip wear, but after only a few hours.*
The nailpolish line nearest the cuticles will also appear cracked, as SV pulls away as it dries.
There are ways around this, however, so read on.
***
Other than those two, I haven't found any other drawbacks.
I have heard that SV goes gluggy really quickly, and some people only get 1/3rd through a bottle before it's too thick to use, but I haven't found that yet.
I purchased Seche Restore – their thinner – in case this happens.
Apparently normal thinners won't work with SV because they're all usually Big 3 Free, which, of course, SV isn't. So you have to use Restore.
Tips and Hints for Using Seche Vite
Okay, so you want to experience the miracle top coat that is Seche Vite yourself?
You could – like I did – buy into all the hype and eagerly slap it on the minute it arrives in your mailbox (MUCH cheaper online).
And then recoil in horror at the major shrinkage that appears within an hour or so.
Or you could follow these few easy steps and experience the glory of Seche Vite in all its glossy wonder.
1.
You MUST leave a gap between your cuticle and the edge of your nailpolish, to allow SV to extend past your nail line at the cuticle.
You may have noticed that I never paint my nails right up to the cuticle. Apart from the fact that I cannot bear the look of flooded cuticles, this allows me enough room to paint SV past the edge of my polish line at the cuticle.
You should also make sure that SV completely covers every millimetre of nailpolish – at the cuticle, the tip and down the sides. It must be completely smothered.
By doing this, when SV shrinks, it will not pull the nailpolish underneath with it, and cause ugly cracks.
2.
You MUST wrap your tips.
If you don't know what I mean by wrapping your tips, it's where you paint the topcoat along the free edge of your fingernail. Like so.
(Please excuse my blurry pictures… these are so hard to photograph without free hands).
SV will most likely get under your fingernail and onto the skin under your nail, but it's easy enough to peel off once it's dry.
Think of it like the Clag glue you used to deliberately put on your hands in primary school Arts and Crafts, so you could peel it off later! (or was that just me…?)
3.
Apparently SV will shrink less if you apply it over wet polish. However, since I spend a good 5-10 minutes cleaning up my nails before applying a topcoat, my nails were no longer wet enough for this to work.
I read that you can use up an old top coat to "re-wet" your nails before applying SV, but this was just an extra layer and an extra step that I found annoying.
I find that when I paint past my cuticle line and wrap my tips, SV doesn't shrink on me, and I get the perfect finish.
***
So, that is Seche Vite.
It may not be for you. Or you may be champing at the bit to get your hands on some.
What about the alternative to SV that I mentioned earlier?
It's a Big 3 Free topcoat, called Poshe, that doesn't come with dire health warnings.
It also doesn't quite match the SV finish, but it's worth a look if SV's warning is a deal breaker.
I will have to review it another time, though. So stay tuned!
xx Kiki
* This shrinkage actually happened with Poshe, which also suffers from shrinkage issues. I'm just using this pic for illustrative purposes because I couldn't get SV to shrink on me when I wanted to take a picture!
