Dior Manicure Essentials

I spoke of my love for Dior's Top Coat Abricot a while back here, and since then I've been using a few other bits from their manicure range.

Gel Coat

Quite a few brands are coming out with gel like formulas, and Dior's offering is a lovely gel top coat that perfects the look of the polish underneath. This is a little bit thicker than the Top Coat Abricot but has a similar glide over the nails that is great for polishes that don't apply so well as it smooths the finish of the colour underneath.

This prolongs the wear of my polish a bit longer than the Top Coat Abricot but does not dry through quickly, so I only use this if I have time to spend on my nails.

It's very shiny (maybe a touch less then Shellac), but as a top coat it works well to keep nails looking perfect for longer.

Diorlisse 500 in Pink Petal

This is a ridge filler/base coat with a subtle hint of natural nude pink that slightly smooths the look of the nails. Even though I use this as a base coat, I like it more on it's own as it gives a lovely naturally polished look.

Top Coat Abricot

This is my 3rd bottle of this top coat (4th if I count the old version) and I don't see myself switching  anytime soon, for me this is pretty much HG status. It's shiny, dries fast, doesn't peel, prolongs colour wear and has minimal shrinkage. It does get gloopy towards the end of the bottle, but not as bad a Seche vite which goes gloopy halfway through. With Dior I can use up the whole bottle even when it gets a bit gloopy as the formula is quite forgiving. 

Dissolvant Abricot

This one was a bit of an impulse buy from Escentual as I was stocking up on other bits and curiousity got the better of me. This chic little 50ml bottle is a decent enough polish remover, but certainly not worth the price I paid as most drugstore brands do the same job. I would say some stubborn formulas take a bit more work then even a cheaper brand. I'm sticking with the excellent Zoya Remove + which I've just repurchased the salon size bottle.

Overall Dior's manicure range is a strong one, most of the products are repurchase-worthy, the star amongst them being the Top Coat Apricot.