Nail care: base-coats

It goes almost without saying that I use base-coat and top-coat religiously, right?  You could go without it if you wanted to, but using both really extends your manicure-life in a big way.  And also base-coat helps reduce staining, although nothing I've tried seems to eliminate it completely.  But there's no question that they're worth bothering with unless you're really in a tearing hurry.  I tend to do my nails sitting in the living room at night, near the TV and the computer, and I usually do things layer by layer with a good bit of time in between.  I try to let every layer dry completely before I go on to the next, if possible.



Note that I don't think that the "complete care" kind of combination base- and top-coats work as well as the separate ones. They have different functions and I think they benefit from specialized formulas for each. Most reviews I've seen seem to agree with me.

(People spell "base-coat" and "top-coat" several different ways, and you'll probably find all of them on this blog if you look hard enough. One word, two words, or hyphenated? I don't think any of them are right or wrong. I just picked hyphenated, finally, and have tried to stick with it. I still forget sometimes, though.)

Oh, and I have not had good luck with peel-off base-coats, so you won't find any of those here. I get annoyed when my nail polish randomly pops off within the first hour.

I poked around in my spreadsheet and the "base-coat" tag on this blog, and here are all the base-coats I can find that I've used in recent years:

Base-coats that are still available (as far as I know) & work well, in my experience:

• Bridge the Ridge (American Classics) - ridge-filler
• Butter London Nail Foundation  - expensive but goes a long way
• Cuccio
• Instant Artificials (Salon Science) - this is a hardener but it works pretty well as a base-coat, too, unlike most other hardeners
• NailsInc Superfood
• Orly Bonder
• Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure 
• Sinful Colors
• Zoya Get Even (ridge-filler that's a bit too goopy for my taste, although it's useable)

No longer available, but I liked them:

• Chick Polish's base coat
• Revlon Colorstay (old formula)
• Sally Hansen Insta-Grip

Up next: top-coats