I am a loyal fan of Essie Nail Polishes as you can see here. I picked up a bunch of base and top coats when I was last in New York since they are a lot more expensive in London, my purchases including 2 bottles of Good to Go and one bottle of No Chips Ahead, both of which can be found on the Essie website.

When I searched the web for reviews of Essie’s No Chips Ahead, I found more than half to be negative and I think I know why. Most of the reviewers used this top coat right after applying colour and as the only top coat. In my opinion and experience, the best first top coat, hands down, is Essie’s Good to Go. No Chips Ahead is best when used for after-care of your manicure when you start to notice the polish getting brittle or starting to crack. This topcoat acts like a bandaid, sort of glueing the polish back together. The appearance may still remain cracked or chipped but further cracks and chips will stop immediately.

Here are my best practices for making your manicure last with Essie products:

1. After applying at least two coats of colour over a good base coat, follow with one generous coat of Essie Good to Go.
2. Top up your manicure after 3 days with a fresh coat of Good to Go.
3. 3 days after the last refresher, use a generous coat of Essie No Chips Ahead to mend any damage to your manicure.
4. Repeat step three after 2 days and you can stretch the mani up to 8 days!

 Essie’s No Chips Ahead topcoat – buy it on the Essie Site here.

My manicure on day 6. Looks nearly perfect. Thanks, Essie!