To ask for your recommendations for good nail varnish?!

[LuckySantangelo35]

Every single one I own will start to chip in a day or two! So if anyone can recommend anything a bit more long lasting that would be great. Thank you so much! 😊

Opi. I buy miniatures. I discovered good top coat and making sure you cap the nail with each coat makes it last so much longer.

I find Essie are variable. Some are fab and some chip. I've got a silver and orange one that are both great and a few more that don't last at all. Also rate nails inc.

If so some semi cured gel nail strips as great - nailog I find is good and have had a set last 2-3 weeks - there are enough extras that if one does chip it can ve replaces easily - it takes about 15 mins to put a full set on!

Same, I have a couple of their gel effect polishes and the top coat and really rate them.

The best nail polish I have found that lasts is OPI I also use their chip skip, nail envy and their rapid dry top coat and I could get longer than a week out of them if I didn’t change them constantly. It’s taken me a long time to find a decent nail polish that doesn’t chip the second I put it on. Also run your brush around the edge of your nail that stops it from chipping as well.

I find Essie to be the absolute worst for chipping! Nice colour range but performs worse than pretty much any other brand in my experience. Not very glossy either.

Barry M lasts pretty well, especially for the price, and I've got a Maybelline super stay top coat that definitely extends wear time.

I find seche vite is good for fast dry (clue's in the name 😉) but they still chip and sometimes peel off the polish whole. My dominant hand usually takes a beating and chips first. I tried a trick of applying another top coat over seche vite and that doesn't work that well regardless

essie & Opi are my go tos, with seche vite as the topcoat

The salon I use dry with cold air (well they try and use warm in winter, but that's rubbish.) - sometimes between layers, and always at the end.

Doing them yourself, you could try a hairdryer on cold - or I just do my nails while I'm watching TV and leave a really long gap between layers.

I've tried everything mentioned over the years and think I must be hard on my nails, because the only thing that works for me is gel nails using a LED lamp.
I do them myself, it lasts 2 to 3 weeks. I buy HEMA-free base and top coat and am slowly replacing the colours with HEMA-free as well.

I love nail polish and will still sometimes buy Essie, Barry M, Revlon etc if I see nice colours but I know they'll be fun for a day or so, that's it!

Sometimes I make a "gelly sandwich" which is where you use the nail lamp to cure gel nail base, then I apply my cute Essie colour, let it dry thoroughly, then use a gel top coat and cure it. This lasts about a week to 10 days.

@LuckySantangelo35

Yep, that's the one!

Essie gel couture, especially if you use their base and top coat

Manucurist is brilliant. It’s a French brand (hence the weird spelling) but is available in the UK. I don’t get any chipping. I only do my nail every ten days or so.

Try dip powders. I switched to them in summer. It's a bit of a faff to start with but you get much faster with practice and I can basically whack the full mani now in 15 minutes. Loads of options out there from pricy Sassy Saints to budget Lavender Violets on Amazon.

I bought myself a UV lamp, did lots of research online and a mini online course of how to safely and effectively do UV manicures and I buy the stuff online (I can recommend Halo products and Naio Nails)

Maybe it's your nails?
Essie do a range called TLC (Treat Love colour) - the shades are a bit muted, but they are good for improving the condition of your nails - I used them exclusively for about a year after a few years of shellac.
The condition of my nails was really poor to start with, but you could see the line of good nail /poor nail as my nails grew. Still go back to them occasionally if my nails seem a bit weal or flaky (I assume diet or activity related).

For non UV polish Opi is a good brand. You'll get 7-10 days. Preparation is the key. Buff with a very low grade file to help the base coat grip, then use a solvent to remove all grease before you apply base coat. Two polish coats then a top coat.

I do 3 coats of colour and a top coat and it lasts ages, over a week! Rimmel cheap and cheerful

I've never even found a nail varnish that hardens properly!

It always seems to stay slightly tacky then bits scrape off or it dents or gets finger prints in it and looks shit. Even if I use the ultra quick dry varnishes and even if I leave them overnight they never seem fully hardened even in the morning! Then after a day it starts chipping!

I've given up.

I like either The Gel Bottle Peacci range (no lamp needed) with their base and topcoat.
Or for cheap and cheerful (and quick!) Barry M polishes with their Wet Set Quick Dry Top Coat

Thanks so much everyone 😀