In my experience, (and what I’ve gathered to be the experience of the consensus of others who talk/write about such things) Essie polishes are either fantastic or finicky, being gorgeous but sheer requiring a multitude of coats and effort and based on my experience with this top coat, the Essie No Chips Ahead Anti-Chip & Shine Top Coat ($9-10 CDN), I would wager that their treatment and coating products are very much the same. It’s not that the top coat is outwardly bad, as it adds that shine expertly and has that smooth top coat feel but it doesn’t work particularly well at preventing chips and it takes ages to dry so it can lead to less than spectacular results – bubbling or marks, anyone?
I’ve mentioned before that I’m less than stellar at all things nails so I’m definitely open to the possibility of user error, however, I just feel that despite the name, this is not the ideal top coat for someone with chipping prone nails that I have and less patience than desired. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten nice looking manicures with this top coat but they have required a wee bit more patience than usual and they haven’t lasted much longer than they would without a top coat.
I will note that I was actually quite fond of this top coat worn alone on the nails because I found that it wasn’t too thin, didn’t smell weird, applied easily, added that gorgeous shine/smoothness and felt rather nourishing on the nails – it’s not marketed as nourishing or anything so I cannot exactly be certain – and I likely will use more of it this way. I would not recommend this top coat even to those with chip-resistant nails and infinite patience because if one is that saintly, I still wouldn’t recommend shelling out around ten dollars for this. I have heard fabulous things about their regular Good to Go Top Coat and honestly I wish I had listened to my first instinct and bought the standard one rather than hoping for more with the chipping-directed one.
And it’s not pink, originally anyway. I may have tried to apply the top coat over a vampy polish before it was not exactly dried down…
beautylit& ramblings 
I’m an Essie lover, but I really dislike No Chips Ahead! Good To Go is my holy grail – it’s so much better and I highly recommend it!
Definitely noted – and it’s nice to hear that your experience was similar to mine 🙂
For sure! The only time I ever use it is if I’m doing nail polish swatches and want to see what polish looks like with a topcoat!!!
Such a bummer when a topcoat takes forever to dry.
My favorite so far is Formula X topcoat from Sephora. It is very quick to dry and super shiny. It makes any nail polish look great and it makes the nails feel really strong. My nails usually don’t chip for 7-10 days with this topcoat, whether I use cheap or high end polish. I think it is $9 or $10. I always use a base coat, too (sally hansen olive oil and green tea something for strength and so the polish doesn’t stain my nails).
Thanks for the tips – it’s really funny in a way because at the moment I’ve been trying the Formula X one and I’m kind of falling in love! The base coat is lovely too, I reckon 🙂