Battle of the Base Coats

Hello lovely ladies!

I am 'blessed' or 'cursed' (that depends on the way you look at it) with very oily nails. That makes that my nail polish chips very easily. Sometimes it even comes off as a whole!

My nail polish chips and comes off as a whole. Very annoying!

When I'm lucky my mani lasts for 2 or three days. Sometimes my mani is already damaged severely after only one day. So, I have a very hard time making my mani's last longer. Therefore, I tried many different base coats. Now I think it is time to share my experiences with you.

I am going to compare:
- Hema* base coat
- Hema 2-in-1 ridge filler & base coat
- Essence protecting base coat
- Essence peel-off base coat
- Essence 24/7 nail base
- Essence All in one complete care
- China Glaze Strong adhesion base coat
- HK Girl Stuck on blu

What should a good base coat do?

For me, a good base coat...

... prevents staining of my nails. I don't want to end up with blue nails after wearing a dark blue.

... provides an even base for every other nail polish. I don't have very deep ridges, but my nails aren't really smooth either. 

... makes that a mani lasts for at least a few days. Off course, a base coat alone is not enough to make a mani last. However, a base coat can provide a 'stickey' base that 'glues' all polished added on top to the nail.

Hema - base coat

This base coat definitely is nothing special. This base coat dries transparently. Not that good at preventing stains. It doesn't do anything for me, with this base coat my mani lasts one day at the most.
This base coat costs €2,50 (11 ml) at Hema.

Hema - 2-in-1 Ridge filler & Base coat

Ridge filler and base coat, sounds promising! It sure is a good ridge filler, which is especially nice underneath linear holo polishes. And that's the only good thing about this base coat. All other features are comparable with the regular base coat from Hema: it dries transparently, doesn't really prevent staining and makes my mani's last one day at the most.
This ridge filling base coat costs €3,50 (11 ml) and is for sale at Hema.

Essence - Protecting base coat

Let's be honest, I didn't expect much for a base coat that sells for less than 2 euros. This base coat actually surprised me! Already transparent in the bottle, so it also dries that way. It doesn't really prevent staining, but is slightly better at it than both base coats from Hema. It makes my mani last for one or two days.

This base coat sells for approximately €1,99 (8 ml) and is for sale at for example Kruidvat.

Essence - Peel-off base coat

Peel-off... Doesn't sound as if it lasts very long... Again, I was quite surprised. At first I was afraid that the polish would peel-off spontaneously. Luckily, it doesn't! However, when damaged, it tends to peel-off sooner. It lasts for about 2 days at my nails. It is milky white in the bottle, but when fully dried it is a transparent base coat. I find this base coat extremely useful for the removal of glitter polishes!

The Essence Peel-off base coat is discontinued,
unfortunately. It was for sale for approximately €2 (8 ml)

Essence - 24/7 Nail base

This one sounded really promising! A velvety base coat that should make your mani last. And it did. At least, when I used a fresh bottle. When I used a bottle that is a bit older already, the effect was much less pronounced. When using a fresh bottle my mani lasts up to a day or three, and this decreases when the bottle gets older.

This base coat is transparent, and dries in a matte way, almost velvety. It does protect against staining, just a little more than the Protecting
base coat from Essence.

This base coat sells for approximately €1,89 (8 ml)
and is for sale at for example Kruidvat.

Essence - All in one complete care

It sounds like a really nice thing to take with you on holidays. A base and top coat in one! And actually, it does work! It is transparent, and makes my mani last for maximum 2 days. When used as top coat, it provides a nice shine.
I really like the idea of having both a top and a base coat in one bottle, but off course, since they both have a different purpose, it cannot work optimally for both uses. 

This base coat sells for approximately €1,89 (8 ml)
and is for sale at for example Kruidvat.

China Glaze - Strong adhesion base coat

Strong adhesion sounds like this could actually work for my nails! And it works, a bit. Sometimes my mani lasts for 5 days (!) using this base coat. At other times, my mani already chips at day one. I haven't figured out yet what causes this huge difference, but I think this base coat is not very reliable.

This base coat is transparent, and does prevent against staining. I've never had real staining issues when using this base coat. 

This base coat sells for approximately €5-6 (14 ml),
and is for sale at for example PrettyPolish.nl

HK Girl - Stuck on blu

HK Girl is a brand from Glisten & Glow. I'd heard very good things about their top coat, but also some about their base coat. So when I got this base coat, I was very eager to try it. And this one didn't disappoint! No staining, and my mani's last for at least 3 days. Most of the time they last even longer!

It is light blue/green in the bottle, but there's no sign of that when transferred to the nail. 

The HK Girl base coat sells for €8,50 (15 ml)
at for example HypnoticPolish.com

Conclusion

Maybe you already noticed which one is my favourite and which one is my least favourite.

The big 'loser' of the base coats for me is the Hema Base coat. 

The big 'winner' is the HK Girl Stuck on Blu.

A honorable mention goes to Essence's Peel off base coat, which I consider ideal for glitter mani's. 

Hopefully, you found this post helpful. Please let me know in the comments which base coat you use and why. 

Disclaimer:

I am well aware that I didn't test all available base coats and that I mostly tested the 'budget' base coats. 

I tested all base coats extensively, with exception of the Hema base coats (I only tested those a few times). 

I am also well aware that the durability of your mani is also dependent on which nail polish you use and which top coat. Also staining is very much dependent on which colour you use. For what''s concerning the top coats, I am planning on doing a post like this for the top coats I've tested.
Please note that what's written above is solely my opinion and there's no guarantee that the base coat that works for me, also works for you. I just hope to give you some insight in which base coats could be useful when you have nails like me, very oily and a little flexible.