How to Achieve Long Lasting Nail Polish? Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle Top Coat

I purchased this Sally Hansen top coat for around $10. It claims to give you ultimate shine for up to 10 days. "Up to" is the tricky part because even if your shine lasted a day, the polish still makes good on its claims.  I am a little confused about the claim because when it says it will preserve your shine for 10 days, that must mean it will preserve your polish too right? Because you can't have shine without polish to show off the shine? In any event, I'm going to give you a review of both shine and lasting power.

These aren't my nails but this is a Milani polish w/ the SH NSM over it, looks very shiny but not sure how many coats she put on or how shiny the Milani polish was to begin with. Normally glitter polishes aren't shiny! Photo Credit, All Things Nails http://allthingsnails.blogspot.com/2011/01/milani-silver-dazzle-01292011.html

Shine Performance:

Is it the shiniest top coat I've ever used? No. I got better results in that department from the Sally Hansen Diamond Shine, OPI, and Seche Vite. Even the cheap NYC Top Coat gives lots of shine for the price. The SH Nail Shine Miracle is not really a miracle in that the shine kind of dissipates a little bit after the first day and seems to melt into the nail color. It doesn't go on as thick as OPI or Seche Vite so this may be the reason why. Perhaps with a second coat it may last longer. Now, just because it isn't AS shiny as it was when it was first applied doesn't mean it isn't shiny whatsoever. I can still see shine for sure, it just isn't blinding or anything.

Polish Preservation:

My standard is one that I expect my polish to last at least 3 days before it needs refreshing. It doesn't seem like I expect much but I've been disappointed a lot with top coats (but not you, OPI Top Coat that I lost). SO I am on the sixth day of wearing my OPI Dulche de Leche with the Sally Nail Shine Miracle and I have some chippage on one nail. Other than that, we are going strong. Even if the top coat made my polish last beyond the six day mark, I would still start over due to my nails growing out. I would say I can get a solid five days from this top coat but my nails grow fast so if your nails don't grow fast you can get about a week or so from it. So, you see, my expectations have been exceeded. Success!

Where it Ranks:

1. OPI Top Coat

2. Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle

3. Seche Vite

4. Sally Hansen Diamond Shine

5. NYC Shiny Top Coat

6. Essie Good to Go

In Summary

I still prefer my OPI Top Coat but its not as accessible and if you want the same results but less shine and a thinner formula and smaller brush, the SH is a perfect replacement. The real test will be when I put it over a polish that doesn't have the lasting power that an OPI polish has. Let's see how it works over a Revlon polish, now THAT will be a challenge since Revlon polish starts chipping before you even add your top coat.

Overall Grade: B