I get bored easily and fidget – two qualities that don’t bode well for manicures. When gel vanish entered the market my nail care was revolutionised, as all of a sudden I could have polished talons free of smudges and chips. But getting Shellac'd on a regular basis is expensive and inefficient as I have a rainbow of varnishes sitting pretty (and untouched) at home. The only solution was to find a remedy that gave me salon-scale shine that dried fast enough to combat my constant phone tapping, hair twizzling fidgeting.
Orly’s £14.40 Quick-Dry Drops are considered the industry leader for high-shine, touch-dry nails in under 60 seconds. That was until 3ina burst onto the scene with their newly-dropped, half-the-price Quick Dry Top Coat. Both are applied with a pipette that washes a fast-drying top coat over your freshly painted nails. Determined to find out which is better value for your money I put them to the test. I painted each hand with Nails Inc’s basecoat, Kure Bazaar’s Or Rose lacquer before testing 3ina’s droplets on my right hand and Orly’s on my left. Here’s what I discovered…
3ina, The Quick Dry Top Coat, £6.95
Promises…‘quick-as-a-flash’ dry time and a ‘buffer against colour fade and chipping’. It uses ‘chufa oils; to add extra shine.
**Total Dry Time…**3 minutes
**Dry Enough To Play With Your Phone Time…**60 seconds. I wouldn’t go removing your phone case after a minute, but it was touch-dry enough to scroll through Instagram.
How Was The Application For You? Slightly sticky. The pipette is quite short so I had to keep going back for more, and it was hard to be precise with the droplets, so they ended up going all over my hand. That said, it only took a couple of seconds to do all five fingers.
Where’s It Land On The Scale Of 1 To Shine? 6. Though not as shiny as a top coat paint job, it’s fairly good considering.
Put Your Hand In Your Handbag, How Much Lint Did It Pick Up? Nada.
Did You Get Bed Nail? Nope.
After 24hours, Has It Chipped? Not even a little bit.
Orly Flash Dry Drops, £14.40
**Promises…**an ‘accelerate dry time, a ‘brilliant shine’ that’s ‘enriched with pro-vitamin B5 and wheat germ oil to strengthen the nail and condition the cuticle’ as well as protecting it from smudges and scratches
**Total Dry Time…**5 minutes. Still faster than a standard top coat, but certainly slower than 3ina. But, I did feel fear-free rummaging through my make-up bag after the time had passed.
**Dry Enough To Play With Your Phone Time…**90 seconds
How Was The Application For You? Great, thanks. The pipette has an angled nozzle that allows you to be precise in your application. The bottle is noticeably bigger than 3ina’s and has a longer pipette so you can suck up all the drops you need for one hand in a single go.
Where’s It Land On The Scale Of 1 To Shine? 4. This would have worked better over a top coat.
**Put Your Hand In Your Handbag, How Much Lint Did It Pick Up? **It was like a moth to a flame.
Did You Get Bed Nail? Disappointingly, yes. The surface of the nails on my left hand are now imprinted with the texture of my sheets.
After 24hours, Has It Chipped? On one nail, but I think that was more my fault than Orly’s. It’s barely noticeable and is otherwise intact.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.