Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

Wed, March 6 2013

Anyone who likes to paint their nails knows just how frustrating it is to put on a couple coats only to smudge it with a fingernail, bump a counter or have sheet imprints show up in the morning after waiting more than three hours for nails to dry. It sucks. Period. Unfortunately, I’d been putting up with this issue for literally years before I finally decided to do something about it, and that something was to purchase a quick drying topcoat.

At the recommendation of a friend, I went with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat. Plenty of more expensive options exist at Sally’s, but this was available at Wal-mart the last time I went. I’ve used a variety of Sally Hansen products, but this one might be one of the best. It’s in a bright red bottle that makes it easy to find, too. The directions are simple:

Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Paint your nails
Let them dry two minutes
Shake the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat
Apple a single coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

According to the directions, this dries up to five layers of nail polish in thirty seconds flat. Now, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I’d say you have to wait at least twice that for shiny, rigid nails, but not much longer. This top coat does work pretty well, and it was something like $3 from Wal-mart, but it costs more online. It’s also shiny, but I can imagine you might want to add another top coat to prevent chipping. This one just doesn’t seem to be as thick as I’d like it.

I think because it dried the layers below , it helped to prevent bubbling. I got a super smooth finish overall. However, some consumers have noted that their polish seems to peel more quickly when they use this product, so beware.

Sally Hansen does make similar Insta Dri drops if you’d rather use that than a top coat.

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