Awful awful awful, after taking the time to give myself a streak free neat Mani with a good polish, letting everything dry completely between coats, I added what I thought would be the 'piece de resistance' the gel look top coat. It went on well, but didn't dry fully, by the next day my Mani was ruined by tons of bubbles, it was dull, lumpy and just plain ugly. Fuming with this product :/

It's an average top coat. Doesn't give you a whole lot of extra shine nor does it give you "XXXL" shine. The consistancy of the polish is nice but very prone to bubbling so I would recommend thin coats and build upon it.

It's overrated. Does not give you a gel-look, it's just your basic cheap top coat.

This is really cheap and I like the brush, but this doesn't dry ever! Even with some quick drying top coat over this, it still takes forever to dry.

Pros
Super cheap

Cons
NEVER dries

Took way to long to dry and was not gel like or overly glossy. Thankfully it only cost $1.99

Well, not much to say, does not look like gel at all, not shiny at all, doesn't dry fast at all. I can't even stand to use it up.

Essence Gel Look Top Coat claims to give your nails the "hip gel look for wonderfully well manicured nails in high gloss". This fast drying top coat gives shine so intense it's XXXL..apparently. I wasn't aware shininess came in sizes. Essence is a German drugstore brand now available worldwide. I bought my bottle of top coat at Target in Parramatta Westfield for $3.55AUD. I believe this polish retails for about $1.50 in America. This faux-gel top coat contains .27fl oz (8ml). Essence is a cruelty free brand. This polish was made in France.
Essence's Top Coats are packaged slightly better than their Colour&Go polishes. The clear glass bottle is short and round, topped off with a white plastic cap that, amazingly enough, doesn't detach from the top of the brush. The name of the product can be found on the front of the bottle written in fuchsia. A short product description and some company info grace the back of the bottle, written in three languages This top coat's brush is long in proportion to the bottle, rounded, and unsplayed. Its completely saturated in product.
Essence's Gel Look Top Coat is quite thick and gel like in consistency. Obviously it's clear, so I can't really get descriptive with the color, so let's jump right into functionality. This polish goes on in a thick, very shiny coat, seems promising, no? However, as the top coat dries it's thickness and shininess diminishes greatly. Gel look? Hardly. By the time it's fully dry (about 5 minutes), it's barely shiny anymore. Fail. Not only does this product fail at having a gel look, it fails as a top coat. It does the complete opposite of what it should. This lacquer suffers from shrinkage, pulling up the polish beneath it, causing it to peel straight back off. Despite it's lack of prowess as a top coat, it makes a passable base coat and looks ok as a clear coat on bare nails.
Essence's Gel Look Top Coat fails at everything it claims to be. It's a poor top coat that's only marginally shiny. It sucks, because it seems really promising right after application. I probably won't continue to use this top coat, but I might pop it on when I want my nails to look put together without actually painting them. While I wholeheartedly think that drugstore brands can and do make excellent polishes, I think salon quality and higher end top coats are good to spend a bit more money on. continued >>

wont dry, looks nothing like a gel topcoat. i hatee hate hate this

If you're looking for a great topcoat that looks shiny and dries in a reasonable amount of time, look elsewhere. I bought this topcoat thinking that it would make some of my more dull polishes super shiny and I was extremely disappointed. It didn't look shinier than any other topcoats I've used and it took hours to dry, even after using quick-dry drops. I have used it a few times with different nail polish brands just to make sure it wasn't the actual polish and I had the same results everytime. I definitely will not be buying this again.