Seche Vite Top Coat Review

Seche Vite Top Coat Review

If you’re into nail polish, no doubt, you’ve heard of Seche Vite (pronounced: sesh veet). Seche Vite is one of the most popular top coats around. It’s a quick-dry top coat, which is great. I’d been so curious about it and had been wanting to try it for so long, but because I’m thrifty I waited ’til my Orly Sec N’ Dry Top Coat went thick. I shouldn’t have waited so long to try Seche Vite!

Website claim:

Seche Vite™ dry fast top coat is widely acknowledged as the world’s finest top coat. Specially formulated to penetrate through nail lacquer to the base coat forming a single solid coating over the nail plate for a much more durable finish. Guaranteed not to yellow while leaving nails silky, stronger and resistant to chipping and peeling.

This product is manufactured by a USA-based company. It’s not readily available at any local malls here in Manila, though I really wish it were. It has to be ordered through online resellers. I got my .5 oz bottle from the Polished shop on Multiply for PhP 419, inclusive of shipping. Expensive for a bottle of top coat. To find out if it’s worth it, read on.

The formula of Seche Vite is delightful. I say delightful because it flows so easily, so…perfectly onto the nail. Yet it’s not runny at all, as Orly Sec N’ Dry tends to be. I could’ve used a bottle of this when I was just beginning to be interested in polish months ago, because it seems to help blur some application mistakes.

That’s great right? But the special thing about this top coat is that it brings polishes to life. This gives even polishes with dull finishes a very glossy one instead, and I think that enhances the color of the polish, making it look more vibrant.

It’s a quick-dry top coat, as I mentioned, and I find my polishes dry after around three minutes or less. Seche Vite has to be applied while the nail polish is still wet, which personally I find convenient, because then my manicure takes a shorter amount of time to finish. I’ve tried putting this over a dry, day-old manicure, and what happens is it makes the polish peel off.

I find that it doesn’t always make my manicure chip-proof or wear longer. With some polishes, I saw chipping after only two days of wear, while with others it took longer, occurring after four or five days. I think it also depends on the polish worn underneath.

Seche Vite worn over Bobbie Margarita & Mojito.

The chipping I don’t find so bad, but the main disadvantage I find with Seche Vite is that it causes shrinkage, or nail polish pulling away from the cuticle or the tips, making a new manicure look frayed and worn out. I’ve learned that wrapping the tips, or painting polish all around the tips or free edge of the nail, then painting from Seche Vite from the cuticle right down to the area underneath the tips of the nail, helps prevent shrinkage. When I applied the Bobbie Holoprism polishes in Margarita and Mojito, seen above, I forgot to do that with Seche Vite when I used it, which just happens sometimes, and as a result I saw shrinkage the next day after I did my manicure, which was when I took this photo. You can see some of the shrinkage on the tip of the pinkie and ring finger.

Seche Vite Top Coat – Pros:

• Gives polishes a smoother, shinier, livelier appearance.
• Helps blur mistakes and flaws such as brushstroke, streaks.
• Excellent formula. Flows and applies perfectly.
• Dries layers of polish within two to three minutes.
• The brush works fine. No problems at all.

Seche Vite Top Coat – Cons:

• Causes shrinkage if not ‘tucked’ underneath the tip of the nail.
• Not big 3-free, if you’re particular about that.
• I find the local price expensive.

Overall:

This is great. I can see why it’s popular around the world. Compared to the pros of this product, the cons are pretty minor. I love it, it is a must-try if you’re a nail polish enthusiast. I find that’s it’s worth the price it’s sold locally, though a big bottle of it is gonna be one of those things that I’ll ask relatives or friends going to the states to please, please buy and take home for me.

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