Shrinkage

I was so bothered by the shrinkage I got the other day when I used China Glaze Fast Forward over Zoya Willow that I decided to do a little test.  This time, I used Essie First Base Base Coat, two coats of Zoya Marley, and one coat of Essie Good to Go. After about a half hour, I stamped on a design using China Glaze Delight, then topped it off with another coat of Good to Go.  So far, no shrinkage.

Zoya Marley, Intimate Collection, Spring 2011
China Glaze Delight, Romantique Collection
Bundle Monster plate BM206

But it got me wondering about the problem, so I did a little google search.  It seems like different people have different experiences re: fast dry top coats and shrinkage, so I don't have any hard and fast rules I can report.  In the few forums I looked at, there was quite a bit of contradictory information.  One reason for this may be that people have different experiences with products based on their individual body chemistry.  Here are a few points I was able to glean:

It does seem that a lot of people have trouble with Seche Vite causing shrinkage, but I myself haven't noticed it being a problem more than other brands.

Several people recommended wrapping the tips to prevent shrinkage, but this is difficult with short nails.

Some people felt that first applying a regular topcoat and then the fast dry top coat was helpful.

Many people reported shrinkage when using fast dry topcoats (of varying brands) with Zoya polishes.

There were a few positive reviews for the following fast dry topcoats:  Poshe (has the bonus of being 3Free), Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat and Nubar Diamont. CND topcoats were also recommended, although not specifically the Speedy.

In my own experience, not all Zoya polishes get shrinkage (I always use fast dry topcoats), so I'm going to pay more attention to whether this only happens with the China Glaze Fast Forward.  It seems many people recommend using the same brand base- and top coats as the polish you are using, which I generally do, but I've had China Glaze Pelican Grey shrink on me even when using China Glaze base- and top coats.  I can't remember having any shrinking issues when using Essie topcoat, so I'll pay more attention to that in the future too.

And FYI, here are the links I looked at:

From loodie loodie loodie
From squared nails
From the purse forum