Style Nails Essie's Gel Setter Top Coat Has Turned Me Into a Nail-Painting Pro (Or At Least Makes Me Look Like One) It’s a DIY-manicure MVP. By Betsy Cribb Betsy Cribb Betsy is the Home and Features Editor at Southern Living. She writes about a veritable potpourri of topics for print and digital, from profiling Southern movers-and-shakers and celebrating family traditions to highlighting newsy restaurant openings and curating the annual holiday gift guide. Prior to joining the Southern Living team in 2017 as the style editor, she worked at Coastal Living as an assistant editor covering pets and homes. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on July 22, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. My grandmother was not a fussy woman, but I never saw her without perfectly manicured nails, painted either OPI Bubble Bath or Cajun Shrimp. She had a standing biweekly appointment with Ms. Mona, and on my 12th birthday, she brought me along for my first manicure. I chose OPI Aphrodite's Pink Nightie, a shimmery, plummy pink. I've since inherited my grandmother's penchant for Bubble Bath and Cajun Shrimp, but I have yet to adopt her standing biweekly manicure tradition. I save the professional manicures for bad days and special occasions and otherwise opt to paint my nails myself. Image Source Even so, I've never been very good at it. If I don't botch the DIY job with my unsteady, non-dominant hand, I'll ruin a perfectly fine coat of polish with a thick, gummy top coat that invites smudges and ripples long after it dries. But I've recently discovered essie's Gel Setter Top Coat (where you have been all my life?!), and it has totally changed my home manicures for the better. (BUY IT: $8.99, amazon.com). Amazon For starters, it goes on smooth and light, without a trace of the heaviness or stickiness that is often a downfall of other top coats I've tried. The applicator brush is wide, so it coats the entirety of your nail in two easy strokes, and it dries fairly quickly (no smudging! no rippling!). And as the name suggests, it gives nails a gel-like, salon-quality finish that magically camouflages unevenness and prevents chipping—even when you use it with regular old, non-gel polish. Plus, at only $9 a bottle, it's a heck of a lot more economical than a trip to the nail salon. It's the best top coat I've ever used, period. Score the manicure magic and buy essie's Gel Setter Top Coat here, then thank me later. WATCH: The 90/10 Rule Will Make Your At-Home Manicure Look Professionally Done Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit