NAIL POLISH - BASE COAT
If you apply dark polish to your nails without a base coat, you may wear the colour longer than the actual polish, as it seeps into the nail bed and stains it. For us that’s one of the key reasons to apply a base coat but it also provides a smooth surface – a primer if you like – to apply your colour on so the effect is more, um, polished... It should mean polish lasts longer too. So it’s really worth doing. Plus base coats often help to protect and strengthen nails and you can also wear base coats alone for a well kept, bare nail look, as our testers did. All these products scored well with three sets of full marks each and not many points between them.
GOLD AWARD and BEAUTY STEAL Peacci 2-in-1 Base Coat
This base coat does double duty as a hardening treatment to strengthen and nourish nails. On that score, it promises to create strong nails within two weeks of application. And of course, as a base coat, it helps increase the time your nail colour survives and helps prevent staining the nail bed. This celebrity-loved brand – think Cara Delevingne, Harry Styles, Miranda Kerr among many others – is vegan and cruelty free. It was created by nail pro Daisy Kalnina, who lives in Brighton, to give consumers an at home professional quality mani-pedi range alongside salon gel polish brand The GelBottle Inc. Four testers gave this full marks and the others weren’t far behind. The brand recommends reapplying every two days to maintain shine and strength. One tester used it as a top coat as well, to her satisfaction.
£10 - click to buy
OUR TESTERS’ COMMENTS:
‘10/10. This delivers a great base coat for your nail polish to go on top of or to wear alone - very practical as my nails can be a bit dry.
Really easy to apply and the great size brush gave good coverage, which was even and smooth. I just used one coat and it was touch dry in about 30 seconds. This definitely helped my polish to last longer without chipping – about six days. It’s also great at protecting your nails from staining. A great nail hardener and nail strengthener either on its own or under your nail polish’ • ‘I'd recommend it, as it was easy to use and gave a good finish. As a base coat it left my nails smooth and was very easy to use. My polish lasts about a week go now – it depends if I’m doing any crafts’ • ‘using with polish my nails went unchipped for 6 days. Very good 2 in 1 base coat’ • ‘I did like the look of the product and it was effective. I was impressed with the speedy dry time, and when I used the product on it's own it gave a nice effect’ • ‘it definitely made a difference; usually my polish chips in about 3 days. This base coat was lovely and thin, not gloopy and thick at all. It was also great on its own to smooth out nails and make them move even with a glossy finish.’
£10 - click to buy
SILVER (JOINT) AWARD Nails. INC Nailkale Superfood Base Coat
So we all know that we should be juicing kale every morning but Nails Inc, founded in England by Thea Green in 1999, is here to tell you the superfood is a power house for your nails too. Who knew?! This promises to be a powerful nail treatment that offers keratin hardening and activation to stimulate nail growth, hydrate, deeply nourish and offer anti-breakage and anti-splitting protection. Phew! As well as kale, there’s nourishing extracts of aloe vera, lemon, ginseng, pomegranate and grape to smooth and brighten plus a bevy of vitamins to help stop breakage and splitting. Just a word of warning: it’s green in the bottle but testers were reassured to find it’s colourless on nails. To keep polish looking gorgeous, apply one coat followed by two coats of polish and a top coat for gloss. As a strengthening treatment, apply two coats, then top up with one coat every other day; after a week remove and repeat the process.
£15 - click to buy
OUR TESTERS’ COMMENTS:
‘10/10. An excellent base coat and really nice on its own. My nails were in a truly shoddy state so this was the perfect reason to sort them out and give this a good run for its money. I used this on its own and under a colour. It looks green in the bottle but it applies clear. It spreads cleanly and dries really quite quickly (about five minutes to touch dry). On its own, it lasted ages and gave a really nice gloss. Polish lasted really well compared to when I don't use a base coat – ages really considering I always have my hands in water. Personally I enjoyed this product by itself. Nails Inc are an excellent brand and I do have a few of their colours, which was handy. I did try it with another brand (Dior) and it worked just as well. Overall, this is probably one of the best base coats I've used’ • ‘I tried this on it's own without a polish on top and noticed it made my nails less yellow and made them shiny too - I wasn’t expecting that’ • ‘I have tried endless products to improve the overall condition and look of my nails post gel; this helped me achieve a healthy looking nail, which looked attractive even without nail varnish on. Even though it has a green tinge in the bottle it goes on clear, dries quickly but the real win is how it has massively helped to improve the condition of my nails. It’s win win: my nails looks great are growing better than ever. This is a keeper for life’ • ‘Very easy to apply with the quite broad brush and very good smooth coverage. I applied two coats initially and then top up coats every day for a week, removed it & started again. I would say this added an extra 2-3 days to my normal nail polish life, so, almost a week in all. Probably the best result I’ve ever had’ • ‘I was really impressed with this product, it worked ok under nail varnish in terms of improving the life of varnish. However, the improvements it made to my nails when used as a treatment were absolutely excellent’ • ‘I would recommend this product to anyone suffering from weak or damaged nails. I do truly believe it has helped to add strength and resilience back into my nails.’
£15 - click to buy
BRONZE AWARD Manucurist Paris Base Lissante (smoothing base)
Okay, like the matching top coat here, this isn’t totally natural but up to 84% bio-sourced ingredients is impressive, plus it’s vegan, 12-free and comes in eco-friendly packaging – an unbleached box made from cardboard from sustainably managed forests. Testers loved the pink sheen and were impressed that it evened out ridges. It promises to leave nails supple with a smooth even surface, as well as strengthening fragile nails that break easily. As with the other products, testers liked wearing the product on its own as well as under polish
£14 - click to buy
OUR TESTERS’ COMMENTS:
‘10/10. Wow, a 10 from me. It looked like I had new nails after one swipe. My nails actually looked good. They did feel rehydrated, and the subtle slightly pink tinge of the base looked really good. Certainly has strengthened my nails and they still feel flexible. I've managed to grow some nails for the first time in about 10 years. As a base, its really good and the varnish goes on well afterwards and didn't chip as much, lasted for the best part of a week without chipping - also looked better without my ridges showing through!!’ • ‘Does what it says, it smoothed out my ridges and strengthened my nails - I've actually managed to grow them a bit (big deal for anyone who knows me!) ’ • ‘Oh my! I have used base coats in the past, but not for a while, as they didn't make a difference in the duration of my nail varnish. This was the total opposite, it was totally AMAZING. Not only did it make my nail colour go on easier, it made it look more smooth and lasted for ages. Fabulous product, would highly recommend! I would not be without from now on’ • ‘Pleased to try this as I don't like to wear polish (I have a horse which means it doesn't last 5 mins) but this could be worn alone for a "your nails but better" effect; it gives my nails a nice healthy shine and they look more cared for. I feel more groomed and expensive, which is a great result as it only takes minutes to apply. It lasted at least a week and my nails seemed a little stronger. I did experiment with more than one coat but it chipped more easily and so I stuck to one coat, which lasted well and then when it chips I remove and reapply. Very pleased that Manucurist are a cruelty free company’ • ‘Really good coverage, dry to a pink sheen within one minute and a great base for my nail polish. Very smooth and no gloopy bits!
£14 - click to buy