OPI Push And Shove

As a huge fan of both Gwen Stefani and OPI, naturally I have been greatly anticipating the arrival of Gwen's OPI collection! I snatched up all of the polishes (minus the Over And Over A-Gwen nail art set, which I may still go back for...) and was eager to try one on the second I got home! So what better one to start with than the most mysterious one of the bunch: Push And Shove!

OPI has been pretty secretive about this polish, which marks the debut of their mirrored chrome finish. Push And Shove is a silver chrome that also comes with a complementary mini bottle of a special basecoat called Lay Down That Base.

For a chrome, the formula is very nice. But there are some inherent quirks of the chrome finish that you still have to take into account when applying Push And Shove. You'll need to be mindful of where you place your brushstrokes in order to achieve the smoothest possible look and of course, chromes are going to accentuate any flaws, dents or ridges on your nails. I used two coats here, although a few of my more ridged nails needed three to help smooth things out. Thin coats work best to minimize brushstrokes.

OPI recommends wearing Push And Shove without topcoat, so I went without it for this mani. Even without topcoat, it is tremendously shiny and reflects light beautifully. The packaging does say that this polish is intended for "One Night Only" wear, so I don't expect it to be super long-lasting (most chromes aren't), but I'll be sure to update this post with any observations on wear time and durability as I've had a longer time to wear Push And Shove.

UPDATE: After a little over 24 hours of wear, everything was still looking good. I had a bit of tipwear here and there, but no chipping. I was pleasantly surprised! Then the 26-hour mark rolled around and that's where things started to get rough. By the end of my second day of wear, I had noticeable chipping on five or six nails. My left hand still looked pretty decent, but my right hand (I'm right-handed) needed some new polish--STAT. So I think OPI's "One Night Only" prediction was pretty spot-on. You might, however, be able to get more mileage of of this polish with topcoat.

As for Lay Down That Base, it's not an aqua basecoat or anything like that. In fact, as far as I could tell, it looked and applied like typical basecoat. But I'm not a chemist so who knows, maybe it has some special ingredients that enhance the chrome finish. It was a nice touch for OPI to include it though, especially for those who might not ordinarily use basecoat. But basecoat aficionados may already have something in their stash that works just as well.

Overall, this is a gorgeous example of a high-shine chrome finish that was beautifully executed by OPI. I can see this being a very popular polish, with both casual and die-hard lacquer lovers. It's a little high fashion and a little rock n' roll, which totally captures Gwen's aesthetic. I hope Push And Shove will be the first of several chrome polishes from OPI!