Sunday 21 July 2013

Which is best? Comparing Base Coats

Hey everyone! Today I'm back with another 'which is best?' post, this time on base coats. I will be comparing Orly - Bonder, Zoya - Get Even*, Barbara Daly - Goodbye Yellow, OPI - Matte Nail Envy, and Dior - Long Lasting Base Coat. I've had a few comments asking why I chose the things I chose to compare, it was either because they were there, because they were provided for review or because they're what I love to use. Before I start I just want to say that I only use one coat of base coat, and this is what these comparisons are based off, I read somewhere the other day that sometimes people use up to 4 coats and I don't know what is the usual amount but I always just use the one. 


Comparison No. 1 - Smoothness
  1. OPI - 10/10, may just be because it's matte but definitely feels smoothest
  2. Dior - 9/10, smooth and shiny 
  3. Orly - 8/10, feels quite sticky (in order to bond). but definitely dry and smooth
  4. Barbara Daly - 8/10, smooth but picks up any bumps in the nail (although 2 coats of it sorts this out)
  5. Zoya - 3/10 doesn't really do what it claims to do, feels very sandy. My little finger was the least smooth nail and continued to feel that way

Comparison No. 2 - Drying Speed:
They all dried at pretty much the exact same speed so there's not much comparison there

Comparison No. 3 - Does it do what it says?
  1. OPI - 10/10 yep definitely, my nails were very brittle from years of biting and this did wonders for my nails, they're now really strong
  2. Orly - 10/10, definitely good at 'bonding', it's impossible to peel designs off when using this (something I have a bad habit of doing) and it definitely doesn't chip, I love this base coat just as much as OPI - Nail Envy, which is saying something
  3. Dior - 9/10, just claims to be a base coat so it definitely is that, it's also long-lasting which it claims to be, although not as much as the Orly
  4. Barbara Daly - 8/10 - i've never used it for a prolonged period of time so I don't know if it does end up whitening the nail, but it does give the immediate appearance of white nails when it's on, so as a base coat it would be good for negative space nails if you usually have quite white nails
  5. Zoya - 2/10 nope, doesn't even out, in fact makes it more bumpy if anything (quite a rough texture)

Comparison No. 4 - Overall thoughts:
  1. OPI - 10/10 lasts forever, I've been using this for over a year about 60% of the time and it's barely made a dint in it as you can see. It's also a brilliant base coat and does what it says
  2. Orly - 10/10 great base coat, does what it says, dries quickly and is very smooth, also seems to last forever, it may look unused but i've used this a good 20-30 times
  3. Barbara Daly - 8/10, never had any problems with it but haven't used it for long enough to determine whether it permanently makes the nails white, definitely does a good job at making them appear so
  4. Dior - 9/10 does what it says and dries quick and very smooth, if it wasn't for the price I'm sure this would be an incredibly popular base coat 
  5. Zoya - 2/10 dries white so wouldn't be good for a base for negative space nails, dries quick, but aside from that isn't really that great, doesn't do what it says and is quite annoying to use (pretty thick)


16 comments:

  1. I swear by Orly Bonder. I have used nail envy and also Orly Nailtrition underneath Bonder, but I think I just change my nail polish too often to see results or any marked difference in nail strength.

    crazyzofo.tumblr.com

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    1. If you put a glitter bomb on top of the orly bonder is it harder to take off or easier??

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    2. It's about the same for me. But my glitter removing method is to use the acetone tub made by Onyx. It has plastic scrubbers instead of sponges. It is sold at Walmart for about $3. It is much more effective than any glitter removing method I've ever seen.

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    3. Oh thanks!! I'll look into that, I love glitter but I hate taking it off and I change my nails about every 3 days! The foil method takes too long for my little impatient self

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  2. i use OPI matte nail envy and i love it!

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  3. Thank you so much for this review! I am just about to buy a new base coat since my cheap sally hansen is all gone. Thanks again :)

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  4. Great reviews! Thanks for sharing this to us. I guess I'll have to try the OPI one. It seems like a great product to try out based on your review.

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  5. Totally agree with your marks on OPI Nail Envy - I also used to bite my nails (22 years) and for the first few years of non- nail biting I couldn't grow them as they were so weak and brittle. OPI Nail Envy has not only sorted that, but in time has also helped me to lengthen my very short nail beds. Cant fault it! (other than you cant get the last bits out of the bottle cause the brush is a little bit short haha!)

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  6. Thanks for the great post. I've actually been wondering about the Orly one for quite a while! I do love my Matte Nail Envy though :)

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  7. I used Orly Bonder for awhile and had to stop using it because it gave me peelies. I actually really like Nail Tek II Foundation Base Coat and right now I am using Seche Vite Base Coat

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  8. Great post! I've found that normal base coats do nothing for me, in terms of mani wear, so I only use matte ones now. The OPI Matte Nail Envy is my current one and I love it! Definitely worth the price. But I've been wanting to try Orly Bonder for a while so I may try that next.

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  9. I really like Zoya Get Even, it never feels sandy to me and it's my most used base coat along with Dazzle Dry, but I do love Orly Bonder, too!

    I'm enjoying these comparison posts :)

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  10. From OPI I have the Natural Nail Base coat and that's kind of crappy, in terms of prolonging manis wear time. But I may need to check out this treatment/basecoat as I also suffered from being a nail biter for a long time.

    My current favorite basecoat is Essence 24/7. It's very smooth, dries fast and has a regular wear time on me (around 4 days... which is a lot for me hahah).

    Thanks for doing this comparison and sharing your opinion of these products with us! it was very enlightening :)

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  11. I'm surprised your Nail Envy has lasted so long! I finished mine in about 4 months with regular usage (1 coat each time) - but I agree, it's fab!

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  12. Thank you so much for this review! I'm running low on my Essie base coat and didn't know where to go from there. There's so much too choose from, I'll be getting the OPI Matte Nail Envy and Orly Bonder!

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  13. I am going to try sally hansens nail rehab as a base coat it fills in ridges also. Would that be a good 1 to use? I tried sally hansen maximum growth and sally hansen triple strong but the triple strong is to thick.

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I absolutely love to read all your comments, they make my day! So please do not hesitate to tell me what you think, but I ask that you don't link spam to your blog in your comment, thankyou so much everyone!