Normally when painting my nails I do a base coat, a colour coat, and a top coat. Adding the extra layer of nail varnish in there does unfortuntaly lengthen the process, but if you have the time then its well worth it. I'm not very big on makeup, but I do love having my nails looking nice, so when I saw this I thought I could try and give myself a salon look at home. The first time I did it, I don't think that I let the coats fully dry before painting on the Barry M nail effects. This led to it "gunking" rather than cracking. On my second attempt, I let them fully dry, and it turned out amazingly. The only down side, is that the process took about 2 and a half hours to get them up to my usual standard. But wack on a film or two, and the time will fly by.