You know, I don’t think there is anything that I enjoy more (aside from my daily caffeine) than discovering a new quick dry top coat to make my life easier. While some people are top coat loyalists, I am always on the look out for what’s new! & if you go back through the archives I’ve been varied in my top coat love, but one brand I’ve always seem to return to is Essie. So when I saw they had a brand new quick dry top coat coming out–touting 60 second dry times!–I knew that I was going to need to give it a try.
A few weeks back I found it hiding on the shelves at my local pharmacy, & I quickly snatched it up so I could see if it was worth all the hype. Now that I’ve used it on quite a few manicures, I felt safe giving it an honest review!
For this manicure, I used:
- Base Coat: L’Oréal All In One
- Top Coat: Essie Speed Setter
- Essie Peach Daiquiri
- Essie Butler Please
- Small dotting tool from Bundle Monster
I have to say the Speed Setter dries impressively fast. You won’t be applying nail vinyls after 60 seconds, but there is definitely a serious increase in dry time as opposed to Essie’s Gel Setter or Good To Go. Within 15-20 minutes my nails were dry enough to apply nail vinyls without having to worry about ruining my base colour. & when you have limited time to get your nails dry, that comes in handy! It also adds a good amount of shine to your manicure. As far as lasting time, I rarely leave on a manicure for more than 2-3 days but it held up with minimal tip wear.
After a few weeks of using this top coat, I’m impressed enough to buy a second bottle. Unlike a lot of quick dry top coats, I haven’t noticed it thickening up towards the end of the bottle which is a plus. Nothing worse then trying to scrap those last few sticky drops of top coat out of the bottom of the bottle. But my only complaint with Essie’s new Speed Setter is the fact it smears nail art if you don’t apply it carefully (or, sometimes, even if you do.) But with all the pluses, I’m willing to overlook the smearing issue. Having to wait an extra couple minutes to apply my top coat still doesn’t take as long over all as some other to coats I’ve used in the past. As long as it keeps impressing me, I will definitely keep using it as my #1 top coat of choice.
Have you tried Essie’s new Speed Setter top coat yet? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below! & if you haven’t given it a try yet, let me know which top coat is your holy grail top coat of choice.
Coffee & Nail Polish 
I have the regular version of that one that I would use on a friend because she wanted something a bit thicker than the Zoya one we had been using. However I found since it was so thick that it seemed to disappear quickly. The bottle didn’t last very long and we only did her nails once a week. Seemed a bit extreme. Is this one that same thickness? Such a bummer it smears! Thats not cool at all! Especially after all of the work done for art! Ha! Love your cute little dots!
This one is definitely not the same thickness as the Gel Setter. It reminds me more of Good to Go in terms of thickness, but dries a heck of a lot faster. & has not thickened up at the end of the bottle at all. Yeah the smearing is my biggest complaint but it works so well I’m willing to wait a couple minutes to add top coat because I love everything else. & no bubbling either! (I hate bubbly top coats!)
Beautiful manicure!
xoxo,Karen
Thank you so much! ♥️