After spending way too much money on nail-care products and nail polishes, many women complain that for this kind of money their nails should be ten times stronger and the polish should last ten times longer. A nice thought, but that isn’t the case. The price of a nail polish has no connection with how long it will last. Nail polishes are produced by only a handful of manufacturers, so there are no secrets, and the formulations vary only slightly because only a handful of ingredients will stay on the nail.
Lots of women complain that if they want their nails to look good it takes practically a full-time effort, and they can’t live life like a normal person. I’ve gone around walking like a surgeon to be sure my nails don’t come in contact with any surface anywhere. Though it doesn’t take money to improve the appearance of your nails, it does take diligence and care. Those two things can’t be avoided. Unfortunately, some polishes do tend to chip more than others (but this is determined by formulation, not cost). I wish I could offer some insight into which formulations work best, but no matter how many surveys I do or how many cosmetics chemists I interview, I have found no consensus as to which products last better. More often than not, polish longevity has to do with the process of applying the layers in the right order, including the base coat (preferably a ridge-filler-type product), color, and top coat; applying layers that are thick enough but not too thick; allowing plenty of time for drying; and then treating your nails carefully (wearing gloves, avoiding water, having minimal contact with soaps or cleansers, and not using the nails as tools).
Polishes are often given names like SuperWeave Base Coat, Color Lock No-Chip Sealer, Strong Wear Nail Strengthener Polish, Extra Life Top Coat, Nail Building Base Coat, Color Shield, Fortifier Hydrating Base, or Nail Protector. They are all great names that promise wonderful things they can’t even begin to deliver. Nails are dead, and all the protein, amino acids, and other familiar and exotic conditioning agents in the world won’t help them live.
I wish I could find a line of nail polishes that last, but it doesn’t exist. So many factors affect how well your nail polish holds up. For example, do you wear gloves when you clean? What kind of daily work do you do with your hands? Are your nails oil – and cream-free before you start polishing? I also get frustrated trying to separate one nail product from another because they have so much in common. The resins, lacquers, and basic products are all essentially the same. Most women experience about the same amount of wear from product to product, and it’s about one to three days. All nail polishes begin to chip on the third to fourth day after application, regardless of the claim on the label (but you already knew that, didn’t you?). Reapplying your top coat daily and avoiding fast-drying nail polishes will increase the chances of having your polish last. Finding the discipline to do that isn’t easy, but it is the cheapest and most reliable way to make a manicure stick around until the end of the week.
By the way, it is completely unnecessary and actually a bad idea to store nail polish in the refrigerator. Condensation and cold negatively affect nail polish, making it too thick to use reliably.