7 Ridgefillers Compared [A Review] 

Do they work for you? What's your favourite one? Essie Smooth-e amzn.to/2QH604M American Classics- Bridge The Ridge bit.ly/3grIfZc OPI Infinite Shine- Ridgefiller Primer bit.ly/2RV1Ir9 CND RidgeRX bit.ly/3sDAQsn Vitry- Ridgefilling BB Base amzn.to/3auvBoG Dior Diorlisse Ridge Filler amzn.to/3tJsHE4 Dazzle Dry Transform bit.ly/3au6l1M Discount Codes: Beyond Polish USA (5% off regular prices)- TheSalonLife Erica ATA (10% off bits, bit kits and files)- TheSalonLife Dazzle Dry (20% off)- TheSalonLife20

Since the 80s, my favorite "no manicure manicure look" is a matte ridge filler. I've used many different brands, but L'Oréal was the first, and it just left such a nice sheen that looked great on men or women - I used to take it to school and do male friend's nails. If you have ridged nails but don't want to use a ridge filler, 1)DO NOT BUFF THE RIDGES AWAY! The ridges are the strong part, and the valleys are where less nail material is growing, and 2) textured polishes (sands, glitters, satins, etc.) disguise ridges better than matte cremes.

I have ridges on my nails. Recently, I used Essie-Smooth-e, based on your video. I did it twice. Two coats each time, under my Essie nail polish. When I removed the nail polish after the second time of using Essie Smooth-e (I always keep the polish only for one week, remove, and wait a few days before applying polish again), my nails were pretty badly damaged, with some peeling tips. I love your very informative videos, but felt I should alert you to this. I cut my nails short and I’m using oil and Keratin RXx until my nails grow back.

I've found that the best ridgefilling base out there isn't marketed as such - in fact, it's hard to say what it is supposed to be for. It's American Classics Gelous, sold at Sally's, with the green top. It self-levels amazingly! They just call it a "gel coat." It is also great as glitter food. I was checking out DD transform but geez, FOUR coats of base?? Cripes, that seems excessive.

I will deny it in public because I know the rules (😜) but I have been using the DD ridge filler Transform over other lines of base coats and under other brands of polishes and it has been very effective with my problem, old lady nails 😏

I use this Essie for most manicures (I love Essie!) and it dries super fast. We are limited to what we can purchase locally in polishes, so this is definitely my go to. My fav, are the Expressie polishes, especially for pedicures! I love OPI colours but I find they take too long to dry (I’m not the worlds most patient tech!) Love the videos you guys do!

I use dazzle dry at home and I find the ridge filler is necessary because the polish isn't as 'plush' as others. That being said I don't let the polish dry for 5 minutes, just till it's matte. It lasts very well and because the rest of the dazzle dry system is so quick, it still takes less time than a regular polish manicure!

I have a ton of ridges and the Essie does wonders for me, particularly if I want to use a colorful nail polish after. For some reason it makes the next coat of color adhere to the base so well that it doesn't migrate in my ridges, that's such a nice ridge filler! 10/10 recommend

your models personality was so lovely omg i smiled at every little comment he made 🥺

I'm so late finding these great videos! I have awful ridges. I tried Nail Tek Strengthener 2 and then Ridge Filler 2 over that and it gave a good result. Waiting for my Barielle Hydrating Ridge Filler to arrive to see how it works. It has a lot of good reviews. After watching this I'll probably try the Essie. Thanks for this video!

Thanks for another great video, to help all of us with ridge nails.

I use Dazzle Dry transform and I love it. I find the extra 2 layers and a little more dry time well worth it for smoothing and longevity of my at-home mani but I’m not a professional.

Thanks guys... This was a great video! Soooo many of us out here have wondered if ridge fillers even work! I loved the idea of trying them under that gorgeous yellow from the recent swatch! Maybe that would be easier for Mr. Model aka "well aaiiiii wasn't wrong..." to wear for a day or two! Thanks again 💜

As an exclusive Dazzle Dry user, I absolutely love the Transform. I have very ridgy nails. It’s really quite fine with just one coat of basecoat.

I use dazzle dry and I really like, it makes my nails smooth however it does take longer to dry

Great video and informative. Thanks for sharing and for your time. I was hoping OPI did great and it did.

I have ridges and find two coats of basically any basecoat, and then two of the polish and top coat do pretty well at hiding them. I do have a ridge filler called Barielle that's, well, okay. Seems like your sheer polishes would be good to test these with. Thank you for the video!

I do have ridges in my nails and I do my own manicures. A few of my ridges are very prominent and benefit from 2 coats of product. Where I fill I really need a ridge filler is when I wear creame finish polish. Right now I'm using OPIs ridge filler. I like it's matte finish. Sometimes when I re-do my manicure I remove, file, groom, apply base & 2 coats of ridge filler on one day. Add polish color & top coat on the next day.

The Essie smooth-e base coat works for me. I usually do two layers of ridge filter but I understand that extra time can add up in a salon setting. I would not have the patience for the double base, ridge filter and another base coat so dazzle dry would make me nuts.

I’ve recently dipped my toes into those (have some decently ridgey nails) and the one I got (Holo Taco, indie) did very well, managed to cover a giant one I had very nicely for a multichrome. The one downside I found with it is how beige it is- with the multichrome and more opaque polishes (though it generally doesn’t matter for those in me because I always have at least one glitter layer, that’s how I kinda cheat) it was fine but it’s not so nice for the sheer ones. Especially because the beige coloration isn’t always even. It conflicts a bit with my recent fascination over the sheer pinks and sheer pinky whites- even if the coloration is even it’s still beige enough to slightly change the color over it. For this reason I think I like the Essie because it’s one-coat and clear for those sheer colors. Makes sense given they make a lot of those. For somebody who already does four-five coats (bass coat, 2 coats color, sometimes a thin glitter layer, topcoat) dazzle dry is a bit much.

Your hubby is the best! Mine would never let me paint his nails 😂

As a novice nail polisher. Transform helps me apply the DD much easier plus gives me more strength. Although I never put another base coat over it and it has worked fine

I always use ridge fillers. They work very well for me. I have ridges on my nails and the ridge fillers always make the polish look much more even and nice. Ridge fillers hide my ridges. I do the Ana Seidel’s, owner of My Bliss Kiss, Fab Five Wrap. You do two coats of a ridge filler with the fab Five Wrap. As a side note, Ana Seidel is also a student/fan of Doug Schoon. She makes wonderful products, especially her hydrating oil. (She doesn’t call it a cuticle oil because you hydrate your proximal nail fold 😀.) I think I heard you say it takes around 30 minutes to do a regular mani on natural nails. I could be remembering that all wrong. I wore acrylics for 15 years and went to the salon every two weeks. It usually took 60+ minutes for a regular fill. I would do a soak off a new set every once in a while and that took a couple of hours (30-45 minutes just to soak them off). So getting a manicure on natural nails and it only lasting 30 minutes or so seems like a very short time to me. Even if the ridge fillers added 10 minutes, that seems like a short time to me. Now that I do my own nails, an hours seems like a short time. I am very slow at doing my own nails. I have not learned to paint in the lines yet. I watch in awe and envy at how good you are at polishing only the nails and only rarely getting a tiny bit on the skin. It’s my opinion that the ridge fillers are worth the extra time it takes for the polish to look even and beautiful. I sit for 90 minutes getting my hair done. Sitting for 45-60 minutes getting my nails done wouldn’t bother me at all. As a client, I wouldn’t care about it taking an extra 10 minutes it would take to use a ridge filler and have the polish look smooth and even. I would make an appointment for when I had the time to sit there longer. I would rather spend the extra 10 minutes so my polish would look smooth. I would not like it at all if the ridges showed. In total honesty and not out of meanness or being nasty, if I got a manicure from a nail tech and walked out with my ridges showing without being offered the option of a ridge filler, I would probably not be going back. I tend to be a perfectionist, though. One of the things I loved and miss about acrylics is the perfection. If nothing else, I’d at least like to have 1 layer of a ridge filler versus 1 layer of a regular base coat. I also would not use a polish without a base coat. I also admit to not wanting to be charged more money because I got unlucky in the genetics pool and don’t have nice nails, but do understand a nail tech charging more for the extra time. Some of the polishes I have seen you swatch do not require a base coat at all. Do nail techs charge less if the client picks a polish that doesn’t require a base coat since that is less time? I have never had a manicure on natural nails, so I have no clue if they charge more for a mani taking more time and less for a mani taking less time. I haven’t used Dazzle Dry and due to skin sensitivities, I am afraid to try any kind of different nail product other than regular polish. Having to have 4 layers applied before the colored lacquer is applied seems like a lot even to me. It’s a good thing Dazzle Dry fully dries so fast, because a mani with regular polish might take forever to dry with four layers of base, two of the colored lacquer, and a top coat. Some polishes even take 3 coats to get full opacity, so that would be 8 layers of polish! Wow! If I wanted to wear Dazzle Dry. I would wear the Transformer because I’d rather have the four layers then have my ridges showing. I usually use OPI Nail Envy and 2 layers of a sticky ridge filling base coat from Vibrant Vinyls. On a related note, do you ever wonder why they are called ridge fillers, when they are actually filling in the groove of the nail to be more the level of the ridge? The ridges are the high point, the grooves are the low point and ridge fillers are filling in the grooves. Ana Seidel said something about that once. I thought she had a good point. I only know of one polish maker who names her ridge filler correctly-KbShimmer named hers filling Groovy, 😂😂

I’m going to try Essie but do I need a Essie topcoat or can I use any topcoat Anna to help my polish stay on longer?

I think the second one looks good. Some you can still see the ridges. I was thinking about ordering the cnd

Interested to see that the CND product did well. I looked into purchasing it for my testing, but it seems really hard to get and what few reviews exist for the product are not positive ones. Given what you know about the formulas CND uses, do you think that the CND product would work well as a base coat under a wide variety of polish brands? Ideally the product that wins my testing will be one that is compatible with more or less everything.

I haven't tried a lot of the ones you showed, but I definitely like Essie smooth-e, Dior one and CND - not that impressed, but it is not too bad :)

Would it be ok to use the Essie ridge filler with the other Dazzle Dry products? I thought you said in a recent report that Dazzle Dry works as a system to keep the color from discoloring the nails. Or do you prefer the CND polishes? I have some very ridgey nails. I hope you answer this, considering this is an old video. I appreciate that you demonstrated all these products. Thank you.

I love your video, so glad I found you. I have a problem nail, that after watching this and looking at my nails it is really bad. Thank you I am going to really look and try products .

I use DD 2 base coats, 2 coats of Transform, a third base coat, the two color coats and the top coat. It takes time, but it looks amazing, lasts 2 weeks and my nails are really strong. Well worth the time!

I have bad ridges, and have found that no matter which ridge filler I use, I get better adherence and smoother look if I use a base coat first. Then, I need two coats of filler.

I would definitely pay extra for the DD Transform (orig formula) in a salon. I have VERY ridgy nails.

Can you tell us, what caused the ridges on nails ? I use OPI nail envy strengthener, it's not for the ridges, but does the good job, as well as the top coat, both somehow smooth the surface of the nail.

Just out of curiosity why didn’t you do a sheer polish that you normally wouldn’t use on ridge nails that way we could see if the ridge filler worked?

Did you test the OPI Ridgeville if you did I missed it.

I went “polish-free” for 6 months because of gel polish damage and my nails grew out healthy. Then I used essie smooth-e for a few months and suddenly they’re peeling horribly, worse than when I was using gel polish. I have recently switched to DD, hoping for goid results.

There are a couple of Indie brands that make glitter smoothing top coats that i use instead as a ridgefiller and it performs the BEST

So excited to see you doing a ridge filler video! I'm currently doing testing on lots of ridge fillers to find the best in all the land. So far, I've tested about 20 of them and I'll probably test more. I've got my testing notes and results in a shared Google sheet. Would you like me to send you the link at the email address in the About section? I'd be happy to share. I'd post it here, but it's not ready for prime time yet.

Ive been struggling with my vertical nail ridges for years. What would you recommend to hide the appearance, its a pretty big insecurity of mine. Always trying to hide my nails and not let them be seen by anyone. Im a male, 18, i dont want anything that will dry too shiny, if any. Thank you

Nails Inc base coat with wooden top is working amazing to me 😇

thank you for video

I like to wear my manicure as long as possible, however, I've found that manicures I do using ridge filling base coats don't last as long as they do when I use my favorite base coat. Perhaps you could do a wear test using these.

I'm a bit dubious bout ridge fillers ..I have quite corrugated nails which I put down to genetics I find a good base coat then colour tgen top coat lessen the ridges but its somthing I've never thought of using really

My experience with CND is mixed: no question, it goes on smoothly and easily, and it Looks great. But, using only CND from base to its luscious top coat, I find that after a few days, it just peels off my nails in one sheet. Any idea why this may happen?

I think that with a clear color the ridge polishes could’ve been more appreciated, nevertheless great video, thanks!

I have an actual deep crack running horizontally from sidewall to sidewall. I was getting the nail enhancement caught and banging into things since my pinky and ring finger are messed up from ulnar nerve entrapment/ cubit tunnel syndrome. The last 2 digits of the left hand resemble a claw of sorts and I can't move them. quite painful and numb at the same time. Waiting for the orthopedic appointment. Anyways I had to cut the nail off and all the other ones because it's only making it worse. I would love to apply some builder gel over the crack and glue it back together but that is probably the last thing I should do, so im just keeping it clean, free of product other than a bit of cuticle oil further up the nail and generally keeping it out of the way as the inability to mobilize the 2 fingers renders my hand basically useless. at this point its beyond a hand derp, its like a zombie hand. the finger with the injured nail still has good circulation, so it will heal so long as I don't screw it up with products. if I were to put any pressure on the non existent free edge of the nail, the crack would widen into a deep crevasse and likely even bleed. just to give an idea of the extent of nail trauma. if this nail takes a turn for the worse im off to my Derm, stat. I just figure they will give me some more of that topical antibiotic stuff which I still have from the last time I was there a few months ago. I may use a tiny dab of it if my Derm recommends it. ill ask her.

Do you ever use Orly products? Thanks for doing ridge fillers! I was very curious if it worth the extra effort

Have you ever tried the Ella+Mila or possibly an Orly ridge filling base coat?

You should try HOLO TACO Smoothing Base and HOLO TACO One Coat Black

Do you use one coat of ridge filler then the polish or ridge filler, base coat then polish?

Honestly… I think it should be compared like you did the Dazzle… using the entire system, base, color and top… with a very streaky soft white/nude pink type color, just food for thought.

I use the CND ridge xx which I love! I'm interested in other nail care items from CND like glossy top coat but unsure how it holds up.

Hi guys, can I use a filler from one brand and use my dazzle polish with it??

Is it just me, or does 💅 Joan’s Armour have the EXACT shade of well-settled black tattoo ink❓

Just found you. Where are you located? I need to find someone like you!!! Thanks for all the great videos

I would be interested to see this test with a white or very light polish like Funny Bunny etc, as my ridges don’t notice under medium or dark colours. But light ones are where it’s gets frustrating.

#thesalonlife in your professional opinion which is the most appropriate Arylic powders for beginners that are high quality products but affordable?? I am a student Nail technician who has kinda got a bit brand happy because I saw and believed in the word of the utubers that were hyping the brand up not realising that there paid to say that there the best thing since slice bread

If you keep nail polish in the fridge at lasts for years and stays fresh.....dosn't thicken. I have been doing this for years and it works for me. Hope that helps.

Cuccio 3 in 1 absolute best!

Hi, I 've seen online the most beautiful nail polish it's called The Gell Bottle - Teddy. Unfortunately it's not available in my country. Do you know of any dupe for it?

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Could you introduce us to the gentleman with the amazing voice? 😊

Cnd is thick from start and have the color urs is its very Hard to Apply but have won alot of prices i personal think its Hard to Apply but when u figure it out is worth it.... My nails Are worse than ur hubby

👍lol u used a mans hand, love that. Thanks for your video.

I have been using DD for six months and my nails are now peeling and in a terrible mess. If you use it and get white spots stop use and oil your nails

You should never shake your nail polish