INM Out The Door vs. Seche Vite – part 1

Hi everyone!

First of all I would like to wish you a Happy New Year!

In my last post, I promised an INM Out The Door vs. Seche Vite battle. So here it goes.

As you may or may not know, Seche Vite and INM Out The Door are two of the most favorite topcoats in the nail polish world. They both claim to be very fast drying, extend wear and give a high shine finish. Because this comes at a price, namely shrinkage, I wanted to know how the two compare on several areas.

I’m going to split it up in 2 parts. The first part will focus on application, drying time, and of course, shrinkage. For this, I only did 2 nails: my 2 middle fingers. The second part will focus primarily on wear and durability. Because this takes a few days and I really wanted to update my blog, this is the reason behind the splitting.

• Packaging

First thing that caught my eye, is the volume of the two bottles. Seche Vite is 14 mL (.5 fl oz.) and INM Out The Door is 15 mL (also .5 fl oz.). I can’t figure out where the mL from Seche Vite went, because the bottles are exactly the same size.
Another thing is the sticker on the Out The Door bottle. How am I supposed to see how much is left??

• Ingredients

Seche Vite has toluene in it. Toluene is quite a hazardous compound. It even has the following warning: “This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.” Yayks. Most nailpolish brands are toluene free nowadays, so I don’t really know why Seche Vite still has toluene in it. INM has more ingredients, including a silicone to help speed the drying.
The most important ingredient is cellulose acetate butyrate. This is the stuff that gives a very hard an shiny finish, and dries very quickly (and shrinks while it dries…).

• Price

They’re the same price, usually going for around 8 euros. I ordered mine at Enchantra.
Seche Vite and INM Out The Door.

• Application

On the internet you will sometimes read Seche Vite has a “learning curve” and that you need to practice before you can apply it properly. Well, this learning curve is less steep than you might think. I practiced a few times and I already “mastered” it. It’s not that difficult. Seche Vite comes with instructions on how to apply it. It says you have to apply it on still wet nailpolish. Like when you polish from pinkie to thumb, when you’re finished with you’re thumb, you can apply Seche Vite on your pinkie. So not wet-wet. I’ve found that it works just as well on dryer polish (but hey, that’s just my experience). Also, you apparantly have to apply it in a floating manner as not to disturb the underlying layer. Well, I go over it several times with my brush so I really cover the whole nail and there’s nothing “floating” about it. I never pick up any polish. What I’m trying to say is: apply it as you see fit. Overall, the application is good. It’s quite thick, but I do like it.
INM Out The Door is much thinner but also applies very good. It does mean you will get a thinner layer of topcoat. INM doesn’t give any instructions with their bottles, so I’m just following my own instinct (as far as you can have a nailpolish instinct, lol). I apply it when it’s dry to the touch, but still very vulnerable.
I applied both over 1 coat of Etos basecoat and 2 coats of Catrice London’s Weather Forecast.

• Drying time

INM dries a little slower than Seche Vite. But it’s a matter of minutes. Also, it seems as if INM stays “softer” a little longer. Both are really dry within 10 minutes.

• Shrinkage

This is the biggest problem with all fast drying topcoats and it can really ruin your manicure. It’s the price you pay for being impatient. It is most noticeable at the tips and at the cuticles (the free borders). If you miss a spot near your cuticles, it will drag and leave weird bald spots (I will show you). This is why I always try to cover my whole nail and clean up any topcoat around my cuticles. It will then shrink everything, but at least it will stay nice around the cuticles. In the photos below I deliberately applied it a tiny bit under the outer border of the polish, so you can really see the shrinkage.
And yes, Seche Vite shrinks more than INM… At least, in my opinion and experience. I do not use high-end Chanel polishes or something, though. Some say shrinkage is much less with high-quality brands, so I cannot comment on that. I’m just a poor student.

As you can see in these photos, the shrinkage is much more with Seche Vite and nearly invisible on the INM nail.

Seche Vite

INM Out The Door

• Finish

Maybe something went wrong with my application, but I can see brush strokes on my INM nail. Therefore it’s not as shiny as Seche Vite. I’m going to ignore this one and base my opinion on a larger sample size (more nails).

Seche Vite – shiny

INM Out The Door – brushstrokes

• Conclusion

Both apply well and both dry very fast. If you really care for those few minutes, I’d go with Seche Vite.
Shrinkage is less with INM. I can’t comment yet on the finish.
They’re not expensive and can really shorten the drying time of your polish.
One remark about Seche Vite: it tends to get thick very quickly and then you have to buy Seche Restore. I have not noticed this yet because my bottle is still very full.

If there are things I forgot or you want to know, tell me!