OPI- Push and Shove is from the recent Gwen Stefani collaboration collection, and has garnered a lot of hullabaloo in the nail world for having an ultra mirror-like, chrome finish. I'm not totally sure that this polish is completely original- there are lots of other silver chromes out there- but I had to see for myself.
Now is probably the time to talk about the special base coat that OPI packages with this shade and recommends for use. It's called Lay Down That Base (haha). It has a medium viscosity, and feels like any normal base coat going on. It dries quickly to a matte finish, which I thought was interesting.
I know some bloggers have already tried Push and Shove without the special base, and had decent results, so I don't think it's completely necessary, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway.
On to the shiny!
Artificial light, two coats over OPI- Lay Down That Base:
The tipwear that you may be able to see is merely from sleeping and putting on clothes in the morning. Those are the only two activities I did before swatching this immediately. This is not a long-wearing polish, and OPI acknowledges that as a caveat.
Window-filtered daylight:
This made me feel like a robot, and I loved every second of it!
Outside, shade:
Now, I'll stop and let you in on a secret: two of my nails have topcoat and two do not.
Can you tell which do?
The pointer and middle nails are top coat-less, and the ring and pinkie nails have one coat of NYC- In A New York Minute. OPI says not to use topcoat with this, with the implication that it will dull the chrome finish. In person, the difference is imperceptible, so add some quick-dry top coat to prolong your manicure!
One other thing: I find the lid/ brush handle super tacky, packaging-wise...
...but, luckily, it peels right off to reveal the normal handle.
Formula: It applies fairly nicely. It's got a medium viscosity which feels thicker as you paint it on your nail. Brushstrokes mostly disappear as the polish dries down. It self-levels only slightly, so don't overwork it, but is not too fiddly. I used two coats to even out uneven areas.
I did end up with some minor imperfections which are greatly magnified by up-close photography, but all in all, this formula was not as awful as I was expecting. Totally manageable, and looks much better in person than in photographs.
Aha! Thanks for this post. I was curious about this one!
ReplyThis one almost didn't catch my attention, but I'm so glad it did. My bottle arrived today and I'm in love!
ReplyI'm still on the fence about this one. I guess the Layla mirror chromes look similar so I'm wondering if I want to buy it or not.
Reply