I Put Nails.INC's New 45 Second Speedy Gloss Nail Polish To The Test

Besides Sonic the Hedgehog, I don't like when things go fast. Cars, roller coasters, horses — for me, I enjoy a slower pace in life. Except for my nail polish. I suddenly want to do everything in the world as soon as a manicurist sits me at a dryer table and orders me to keep my hands still. And while I'm not a manicurist, I did tap into my expertise as an impatient fidgeter when considering Nails.INC's new 45 Second Speedy Gloss for review.

Yup, 45 seconds. The British nail brand launched the new $8.99 formula this past July, offering 10 colorful shades at Sally Beauty here in the states. And like you can glean from its snappy name, the Speedy Gloss boasts a 45-second dry time — which seems amazingly and maybe even alarmingly fast to those of us who've stared blankly at the wall of a salon for 30 minutes, waiting for our nail polish to fully dry.

Never one to turn down a beauty-related challenge, I decided to put that to my own personal test. Nails.INC was kind enough to send me multiple Speedy Gloss shades, but I opted for the Keeping It Real In Kensington, a super-soft pink shimmer shade with silver tones that made my nails look like they were carved out of crystal.

But this isn't about the shade, is it? It's about the dry time. For the sake of science, I whipped out my phone timer, and set it off right after I painted a stripe of polish across my thumb. And I waited. At 45 seconds, I did the age-old trick of testing nail polish dryness: I very, very gently tapped my other thumb nail against the lacquer. And while it didn't smear, I personally wouldn't call it dried; it still was slightly too tacky for me to feel safe, say, running my hand through my hair.

There's good news to this, though. While your mileage will vary, I felt like my nails were good to go — as in, I'd be leaving my manicurist's chair — at a minute and 25 seconds. This is still astoundingly quick for a nail polish (though I'm sure you're well aware of that). I even ate some Cheez-Its a few minutes later without thinking about it, and when I went to rinse the cheese dust off my hands, the entire wash, soap, and hand towel process didn't leave a single mark or smudge in my polish. A true test of any formula.

Below, a few eye-catching shades from Nails.INC's fastest-drying nail polish yet.

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