REVIEW: OPI Glitter Off Base Coat

I am obsessed with sparkly, colourful glitter polishes and strongly believe there is no such thing as too much glitter. So, imagine my amazement at discovering a product that allows me to wear as many layers of glitter as I like and change my mani as often as I want without having to worry about the disaster of glitter removal. Introducing the greatest invention of the century. . .OPI’s new Glitter Off base coat! This base coat is specifically designed for use with glitter polishes and makes for a quick, hassle-free removal. This product is not available in New Zealand yet, or not that I've seen, but I couldn't wait so I bought it from eBay :) Read on for more information about how it works and how it worked for me.

The idea is that the base coat is peelable, so you shouldn't need any type of polish remover. It’s called Glitter Off because that’s just what it does, takes glitter polish off, but it should work just as well for textured polishes like Liquid Sand or regular polish. This is all fantastic in theory, but let’s put it to the test:

First of all, I found the application to be really easy. The brush distributes a lot of product so you don’t need to use a lot. It spreads evenly on the nail and has a smooth, milky white consistency that dries clear. You just have to make sure to get it right in close to your cuticles and the edges of your nail because obviously your polish is not going to come off in one piece if there are places underneath where the base coat didn't cover. It reminded me a lot of PVA glue in appearance and smell, so maybe that’s the secret (if anyone wants to test if PVA glue works the same, please let me know your results.)

Can you recognise my glitter triangle mani? Here it is in five pretty pieces, after three days of wear with no chipping or peeling. This was two coats of regular polish and about three layers of glitter, sealed with a top coat. I used a wooden orange stick/cuticle stick to gently pull up the polish from the cuticle area and moved slowly up the nail with a few short pushes. Each nail came off in pretty much one piece as you can see, but there was a little bit of glitter left around the edges where I hadn't managed to get the base coat into. There was no damage to my nails underneath, but I did give them a gentle buff afterwards to make sure there was no glue residue left over.

Overall I was really pleased with this product and it did exactly what it said it would do, which is a rare thing in my experience.  I will certainly be using it under all my glitter polishes from now on and won’t be afraid to layer them up. If you try it out for yourself, feel free to let me know how it worked for you.

Lisa xx