REVIEW: OPI Top Coat Vernis de Protection

I’ve been using the OPI Top Coat Vernis de Protection for about 6 years, so I might as well share my opinion about it.

What they say it does:

For a beautiful shining finish to your OPI manicure.

The good side:

• The nails last really long. It really, but really, extends polish wear with no chips whatsoever for at least one week.
• The bottle doesn’t dry out. I don’t have time to use it every time I do my nails and, as you can see in my picture, I still have some product left and I’ve had this bottle for about 2 years.
• Some people complained on the internet that there will appear some kind of bubbles inside the product. I’ve been using this for ages and, as you can see, there are no bubbles. Maybe it’s the way one handles the brush…

So, if you want some really long lasting nails but you didn’t use semi-permanent varnish or gel, then the OPI Top Coat is the right choice for you. I’ve never used another top coat that lasted as long os the OPI one. But…

The bad side:

• It takes …. I dunno… 24 hours(?!) to dry! And I am not even exaggerating. Just take a look on OPI’s website at the reviews. Most people share the same complaintment. For instance, someone says (and I agree):

It was still tacky and when I went to sleep and when I woke up every single one of my nails were dented with sheet marks.

OPI also has some “magic” dry drops.

This “Drip Dry” product is incredibly expensive and I almost bought it, thinking it might speed up the drying process.

Luckily, before buying it, I went to a nail salon and they used an OPI base, an OPI nail polish, the OPI Top Coat (which I also had) and these OPI dry drops.

I waited and waited but the nails were still tacky… I was extremely careful but three hours later (!!!) I managed to smudge 2 nails. This is one of the fkd up nails:

Look at this. Really?! After 3 hours?!

Then at some point in that day I took a nap. When I woke up they were all 10 nails completely smudged. I had to remove the polish because it looked awful.

Aaaand, I’m not the only one with this opinion:

This product never dries even with the drying drops.

So, yeah, there’s that.

I stopped buying this Top Coat. I don’t know what’s its secret. Maybe there is a way to make it dry faster, but I don’t know it (and neither did the manicurist). 🙁

Momentary I’m searching for a top coat as good as the OPI one in preventing chips, but faster drying. If I find a good one, I’ll let you know 🙂