Categories: Beauty & Style

Quick Drying Nail Polish: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Review

Applying nail polish by yourself is not easy or takes a lot of practice before you get the hang of it. Trust me. I have dealt with a lot of frustrations to get my painted nails (or futile attempts with nail art) as close to professionally manicured/pedicured nails as much as I can over the years and even if I have started to progress gradually, there are days when my newly painted nails meet “accidents”. Or, typically known as accidentally smudging still-wet nail polish against hard surface!

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When painting nails, one of the things that you need to have is to make time to make sure you get it dry. I realized that wanting to have painted nails and doing chores at the same time will never work! Lucky for us nail polish lovers out there, quick-dry top coat are readily available in the market. This greatly decreases the drying time to half (depends on your quick dry top coat) and saves you time doing nothing. Of course, sitting idly waiting for your nail polish is a great excuse to get some much-needed rest, right?
Anyway, my old bottle of quick-dry top coat got thick and gooey so I decided to buy another bottle. I was trying to use the entire bottle but immediately noticed it left lumpy bumps on my nails – not nice to see. So I decided to buy a new bottle of a quick dry top coat. I went out to the pharmacy and realized there are not much option out there (cheaper options I mean) so I decided to buy Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri top coat.
Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri top coat has a nice red bottle and comes in 13.5ml of quick drying top coat liquid. I wanted to test whether it will also do a great job protecting my colored nails from chipping off so I planned to use it in tandem with a nail polish that quickly wears off (only lasts for 2 days!).
I applied two coats of my nail polish and waited for about 2 minutes before using the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. I immediately noticed it doesn’t have a strong smell and has a nice texture to it. It doesn’t seem like a quick dry top coat, to be honest since the texture is almost similar to a normal nail polish (got used to really honey-like texture for quick dry top coats!).
I only needed to apply a single coat and my nails were dry only after a minute! Of course, I didn’t do anything tedious (like chores or anything) but at least I can use my hands for simpler tasks like typing or using my phone without worrying about smudging my nails.
Apart from that, I also think that Sally Hansen Insta-Dri helps a lot to protect my nail polish from chipping. The nail polish that I used it with still looks like brand new even on the 3rd day!
Overall, I am happy with the product and can’t see any issues if I buy it again in the future. The only downside is that it is a little bit expensive (€7 for a bottle) but the quality speaks for itself!




  • cessy08

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    • @cessy08 I am so glad I came across this blog a I was searching for a nail polish that would instantly dry. Many a time while we are busy with this chore we need to stop it half way and attend to something urgent that crops up.
      I will see if I can buy this online.

      • Glad you found this helpful :) It is really frustrating and I used not to paint my fingernails because I just find it takes a long time before I can do anything! And being a Mom, time is so precious it is very rare I want to just sit down and do nothing. LOL!

    • After two months (minus a 24-hour interruption) without nail polish, I gave in and painted my nails last night. Oh, but I didn't just slap on a single color and call it a day, no--I did something I've never done before: ACCENT NAILS. They don't call me Marci Late-To-The-Game Robin for nothin'.

      The thing is, I have no instinct for what nails to make the accent what nails to make the main color, so I just winged it (as you'll see momentarily). All I knew is that I wanted to use two colors from two of the polish collections that had grabbed my attention recently because they promise a healthier nail-polishing experience.

      I assumed that the polish goes easy on cuticles and the surrounding skin, which, for me, makes sense since I get nail polish way beyond the borders of my nails. But, oddly enough, the gentle formula isn't so much for the benefit of skin(s?) as it is for eyes.

      The opthamologist-tested colors are less likely to cause burning, itchiness and watering than other nail polishes. Anyone easily overwhelmed by the odor of many nail products can appreciate that.

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