Nails - Seche Clear/Seche Vite help

[ImogenHeat]

I bought a Seche Vite top coat after seeing it recommended here. My nails never last more than 12 hours without getting chipped normally, so I thought this would solve all my problems. I need something fast drying as I have a baby and never have much time to play with really. Thing is, nothing changed. I then read lots of online reviews and blogs saying you need a good base coat or it wouldn't work. I bought Seche Clear after reading online blogger people recommending it. You guessed it - same thing. Chips everywhere.

Does anyone have any advice? I'm about to try again just now, with yet another nail polish in between the two Seche coats! Wish me luck...

Are you using a base coat? I use nail envy as a base and don’t apply colour until it’s completely dry to touch. Then I apply a thin layer of polish, followed by a second layer once the first is dry. I then wait about 3/4 minutes, then use Seche Vite top coat - big blob on each nail and a swipe around the edge. Wait til nails aren’t tacky when touched against each other and I’m good to go! My nails usually don’t chip for about 5 days.

Yes, Seche Clear is the base coat made by the same people. Not sure where I'm going wrong!

It might be your prep rather than the products you're using. You need to make sure that your nails are completely clean before applying your base coat. Not just bare but squeaky clean. Even soap residue can affect how long your polish lasts. Or oils from your skin. I usually give them a quick swipe with polish remover before applying the base coat. Also, make sure you can the free edge with your last coat of colour and the top coat.

That should say "cap the free edge"...not can!

Orly bonder basecoat is what you need. Rubberised texture which helps the polish grip to it.

No magic cure for this other than improving the condition of your natural nails with some sort of treatment like IBX or CND's Repair Rxx on naked nails. Daily treatment with a good quality cuticle oil will help (avoplex, solar oil, dadi oil are all great).
Otherwise, a good solution would be to have a thin, clear soak off gel costing on your nails then you can use polish to change colours regularly so long as you use acetone free remover.

And yes, all the prep stuff mentioned above. Nails clear of product and cuticle.

Thank you. Often I'm removing one failed attempt to put on the other so I'm using nail polish remover to get them clean. Then filing etc before reapplying. I also already do the capping.

Sounds like I need some conditioner type products then. Can they go under polish or do I need to have bare nails for a few months?

How do cuticle oils improve nail polish staying on? Or are they more for the nails than the cuticles?

Nail polish will only stay on nails that are in good, clean and healthy condition so in theory sort the condition and they'll last longer.

I use OPI infinite shine. It's a base and separate top coat that I use with my regular polishes and I get about 5 days of them looking really good. It's excellent stuff. With everything else I've used (and I've tried a lot of different products) I'd get two days max before it started looking tatty.

I'm really surprised that seche vite isn't working, how annoying for you. How thickly do you apply the varnish to your nails? I find that 3 thin coats are far less prone to chipping than 1-2 thick ones, and it doesn't actually take any longer because they each dry much more quickly. My seche vite coat is thicker than my varnish layers.

I have to wait a couple of minutes before applying Seche Vite. Otherwise, like you I found it didn’t work.

I don’t bother with a base coat. The Seche Vite bonds to my varnish just fine.

I'm going to try a repair thing in case it's that.

I apply a medium thin layer of base coat, a thinnish layer of colour (or two thin layers, I've experimented with both with different brands of nail polish recently), then a thicker (but not really thick) layer of the top coat.

Doesn't work for me either

@mrspicklesonsmythe please could you tell me more about those products - I've put the CND repair XX in my basket but it seems like it's for the cuticles as well as nails - do I need Avoplex or similar on top? If so, what order do I apply them in? Thanks!

I heard lots of people raging about Seche but I never got on with it either. I found that it chipped easily and caused shrinkage to the polish underneath.

I stand by using OPI Nail Envy as a base coat, and my current favourite top coat is Cleared for Take Off by Sally Hansen.