Thursday, November 6, 2014

Top Coat Review: piCture pOlish Gloss on Top!


You might know that piCture pOlish is one of my favorite brand. They always have great formula, quick drying time, and of course beautiful shades and chic packaging. When they released this top coat, I jumped on it right away. Here's some of the testing I have done, please keep in mind that the result might not be the same on everyone.

Wear time
This was hard to do because I usually never keep the same mani longer than 2 days. So I hope this can somewhat be a decent measure of how well this top coat protect your manicure. 
The pics below was taken today, entering day 4 of me wearing this mani. Both hands have no chip at all, but there are minor tip wear and as you can see there's still a nice shine. I have to add that the polish itself doesn't dry glossy. My right hand has slightly more tip wear, but that's understandable. It's pretty impressive, considering I wash my hands about a dozen times a day. They also survived house chores, cooking, and shampooing twice. 


Now onto the nail art friendly test. I did several different nail art to give it a quick test. 
I stamped with Mundo de Unas #6 and MoYou Pro plate 15. On the left one, I waited a good 2 minutes before applying top coat, and on the right one I applied top coat almost right after I finished cleaning the excess around the nail. No smearing. Yay!



The dots on top was done with piCture pOlish Monroe. It has a jelly formula so I needed to do 2 coats on the dots, which made it a bit bumpy. No smearing as well, but I can still feel the bumps, so an extra coat is needed for a super smooth surface.
The second dotted nails was done with a creme polish, piCture pOlish Sky. I apply top coat almost right away after I finished dotting, no smearing and smooth surface with one coat.


I used Mini Chevron Nail Vinyls on my thumb and piCture pOlish Monroe. Also no smearing, but one coat was not enough to smooth the surface. It's not too obvious, but I can feel the 'texture' when I rub my nail. 

Yes there are other type of nail art that I haven't tried with this top coat, such as water marble, but these are the ones that I think most people would have fear of being ruined by a top coat if they didn't wait long enough. I'm not the most patient person, I always top coat as soon as I finished with clean up, and that usually doesn't take more than 2 minutes with the exception of clean up on gradients. 

Pros:

  • Excellent protection and wear time. I'm sure I would get an even better result if I re-apply the top coat on the second or third day if I wish to keep it on longer.  
  • Nail art friendly.
  • No shrinkage.
  • 5 Free. This is probably the first top coat I've seen with 5-Free formulation. If you are sensitive to smell, I'm happy to inform you that Gloss on Top! has the least chemical smell compared to all the top coat I use.
Cons:

  • Dry time is longer than any other quick dry top coat I have, but still faster than a regular top coat (such as OPI top coat). Even when it's already dry to the touch, doesn't mean it's safe to put on jeans or tie your shoes. Trust me, lol! So this won't be my go to top coat when I have to do a quick mani 30 mins before I have to leave the house (yes, I've done it in more than one occasion).
  • A bit high on the price point. $13.50 for 11ml bottle.
Have you tried Gloss on Top! ? What do you think of it? Will you be interesting to try it? Let me know in the comment :)

I purchased this from Nail Polish Canada, it's also available directly from piCture pOlish website and their network.


XO
Novi

11 comments:

  1. Great review! I haven't tried this top coat yet, I may grab it if I make an order!

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  2. This looks like a winner! Great review!

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  3. I didn't even know PP had a top coat! I love your mani and the color combos! If it dried fast I would maybe consider buying it second hand to get a better price on it but I'm just too impatient to wait for a top coat to dry! I know it must've been difficult to keep a mani on for that long to test it! I think it gives a nice and subtle shine which I know people prefer to the a super shiny finish. Either way...beautiful swatches!

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  4. This is a great review! I'm tempted to try it out just for the fact it's the least chemically smelling!

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  5. Nice review! I haven't tried Picture Polish yet, but their colors are always gorgeous! :)

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  6. Really nice review! I haven't tried and PP just because of the price point, but maybe I will splurge near Christmas!

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  7. This is a fantastic review! You were very thorough and hit all of the points that people need to know about a topcoat. That price point is more than I would be willing to spend for only 11 ml (especially when I have recently found some great indie QDTC that are 15 ml and dry faster than what you are describing). I also still love my $2.99 NYC GCS...LOL!

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  8. this seems like a really nice top coat! I'll have to try it :)

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  9. What is the coral Polish you're wearing in the first picture?

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