China Glaze Fast Forward is another top coat made by a major polish manufacturer that doesn’t seem to get much press amongst polish fiends. Everyone knows it’s there, but I don’t think I’ve heard one person tout it as part of their regular regime. So I was happy this was included in the testing.

Fast Forward was a top coat tested where the numbers simply didn’t add up. In each category, it scored respectably well, but the final overall score was considerably lower. I had to do some backtracking to make sure that I hadn’t made a mistake and indeed, I had not.

This is one of the cases that despite high scores, there were minor issues that pulled the overall scoring down. One tester found the scent so offensive, that despite consistant scores of 4 in all categories except Scent, she gave Fast Forward an Overall Top Coat Score of 1, thus greatly affected the average. Fast Forward seemed to have the widest range for Scent scores. Even though it stayed above the fray in the averages, 3 of the 8 testers gave a Scent score of 1. I guess this is either a smell you love or hate.

Once the top coat was on, it seemed to fare better in the Chipping and Longevity categories, placing second in both. In ranking, Fast Forward was the second top coat to have both a best and worst ranking submitted. Unlike Tough Coat, the two down under gals were the two who submitted these opposing rankings. Guess the air down there isn’t that different after all!

Here are the results: (if you’re just joining us, rating chart explanation is here)

Comments: Tester 1
This dried quickly, and was very smooth and shiny. I had slight tipwear on day 2, but overall it was resistant to chipping and peeling.

Comments: Tester 2
Test 1: Polish is Milani Vintage. Test 2: Polish is Bloom Bianca. Applied top coat immediately after last coat of color. Consistency was perfect; polish stayed on the brush until applied, and only went where I applied it. Application was perfect, no tip pull, self-leveled, and erased some minor bubbles in the polish. It had a very sharp smell, strong enough to clear your sinuses. The shine after application was glass-like.

After 10 minutes the top coat was completely dry to medium pressure and felt very stable, but I was able to dent it with a cuticle stick. After 20 minutes, it was still dentable with a cuticle stick but needed more pressure than the 10 minute test. The dent I made at 10 minutes had softened enough that it was barely noticeable. After 30 minutes, I can still dent it like I did at 20 minutes; the 10 minute dent didn’t soften much more. The smell is barely noticeable. Day 1 after mani: no chips, no tipwear, still very shiny.

Day 2 after mani: no chips, no tipwear, still very shiny. Day 3 after mani: no chips, no tipwear, still very shiny. Day 4 after mani: no chips, no tipwear, still very shiny but am changing mani tonight because it’s grown out.

Comments: Tester 3
Polish is RBL Scrangie. Amazing application, was quite watery so easy to work with, dried in a couple of minutes and was fully dry in about 20 minutes. Smelled like the ‘nutty vomit’ top coat D did, but minty too, nowhere near as offensive though. Got tipwear very next morning before I had even done any work.

Comments: Tester 4
Thin. Ok application. Worst smell ever, sweet and chemically. The smell didn’t fade until the next day. Good dry time, less than 5 minutes. Not as shiny as I like, and I like a thicker top coat – this is too thin. Some tipwear and chips at 1.5 days, on a light sheer polish.

Mani #2 had much better application, and thicker than I had thought. HORRIBLE smell though, it actually made my eyes water. Slower drying this time, approximately 15 minutes. 2nd mani wore very well – no chipping, minor tipwear, for 4 days!

Comments: Tester 5
Very thick, smell was fine. Had to apply thickly or it moved polish. Was dry to touch in 3 minutes but dentable long after. Shiny but not remarkably so. Little tip wear and chipping on day 4 was okay.

Comments: Tester 6
A chip?! WTF? I never chip. It was only a small one but still… Touch dry very quickly but there were some sheet marks. I went to bed after about 30 minutes so it was quite a tough test. Lovely scent – very inoffensive. Mani looks just OK the next day – the shine has dulled considerably. Should point out it still looks a $1m on my fakie, though.

Much preferred this on the second test. Mani dried completely within 30 minutes, no marks, no dents, just perfection. Shine isn’t the best, but mani was still good the next day.

Comments: Tester 7
Single coat used over 3 coats of Nicole Dream Maker, worn for 4 full days. Today’s manicure is brought to you by the letter F. F for Fabulous. F for Fantastic. F for Fed-Ex me a whole vat of this stuff!!

Two small quibbles: this stuff smells like superglue, and the formula is just a touch thinner than I like, so if I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing, I got some pooling down the side of my nail, but I only made that mistake once! The drying speed on this is Fenomenal (sic)!! I was prepared to break out my drip dry drops for this mani because of the 3 thick coats of colour, but nope – after 5 minutes my nails were touch dry. Knock me over with a Feather *chuckle*

I fell asleep minutes later and woke next morning to a pristine mani. Far out! By the end of day 3 this manicure was still going strong on every finger except one (right middle) that was being used to push a needle while I did some hand sewing, the stick on thimble I use was causing the nail to buckle at the side, and so the polish peeled. I also had one small chip on my left pointer finger (probably also caused by sewing), but no tip wear to speak of. This stuff ROCKS!! Gimme Gimme!!

Further observations/comments from subsequent applications: Using skittle manis with 1 or 2 fingers on both hands this top coat was also tested over: Zoya Morgan; Borghese Ecstasi Indigo; Nails Inc Victoria; China Glaze Midnight Ride; Mavala Marine Blue. Shiniest of top coats H, F, D, and B after a few days wear. Chipped on day 4 over Victoria. Still super shiny, with only minimal tip wear, and one tiny chip, after 4 days over Marine Blue. This top coat needed thinning after the third application, but has had many uses since and is not showing any sign of thickening again yet.

Comments: Tester 8
Worn 7 full days. Single coat applied. Worn over a single coat of Nails Inc Kensington Court. This has a very strong, very unpleasant scent, it dries exceptionally fast though. In the days when I had young children and could grab only a few minutes to myself, I would have tolerated the smell in exchange for the convenience of the quick drying, but now I have the luxury of time I don’t feel so forgiving.

Shine was pretty good and didn’t dull until just before I removed it. Few minor chips around day 4, but was significant by removal on day 7. Bottom of the ladder because of the smell; make it smell better and it would rate much higher!