OPI Glitter Off Peelable Base Coat

OPI sent a bottle of their new Glitter Off Peelable Base Coat for review. I have yet to see this in stores, though I suppose it could have shown up while I was off cavorting in Minsk. It came in a Natural Nail Base Coat bottle with a Glitter Off wrap on the cap and a hangtag with directions.





Since I had yet to try the Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel that I bought way back last fall, I pulled that, out, too. In contrast to the OPI's milky white appearance, the Glitter A-Peel is clear.



I used the OPI Glitter Off on my left hand. It smelled a lot like Elmer's white school glue, though was not as thick as glue. It went on white but dried clear; I had some trouble getting it to lay down evenly though it didn't seem to dry lumpy. I used Glitter A-Peel on my right hand; it smelled like nail polish, and I had no problems applying it.

I waited for both the bases to dry—the OPI said I should for theirs; I'm not sure about Nail Pattern Boldness. Then I applied Zoya Rina topped with Smitten Isabella Emerald on most of my nails and Studio M Gold Glitter topped with Zoya Maria Luisa as accent nails. I was so focused on the bases that I didn't jot down how many coats I used of the glitters; I'm guessing three or four all together. I topped all of these layers with Diamond Dry.





Things were going well until the next day at work around 10 a.m. (around 14 hours after I'd put on the mani), when I scratched my arm and popped off the polish from one of the nails on the OPI hand. No peeling necessary.



The polish came off cleanly, leaving only a few bits on my nail around the edges, where I most likely had painted polish past where the base coat was.



I had brought polish with me, so I painted the now bare nail and stuck the popped off polish back on; it looked fine and stayed put after that. I did pop off another nail later in the day, doing the same thing, scratching an itch. Based on that experience, I'd say Glitter Off works too well. I didn't have any pop offs on the Nail Pattern Boldness hand. When it came time to intentionally remove this manicure by pushing gently with an orangewood stick, the polish on the OPI nails came off in larger pieces than the NPB ones, but both were pretty easy to remove. (I know mrsrexy gets her polish off in one piece with Glitter A-Peel, so maybe I didn't apply it quite right or something.) NPB pile on the left; OPI on the right below.



I gave Glitter Off another try under OPI Rose of Light, one of the colors in the Spotlight on Glitter collection. This has small gold and rose gold glitter and larger square holo glitter in a clear base. I think it's meant to be worn over a base color, but I wore it alone. I don't know how many coats this is, either; probably three.





Rose of Light was quite pretty on its own but since I have eleventy hundred bottles of matte topcoat sitting around, I decided to mattify it with OPI Matte Top Coat. That toned down the colors popping from the square holo glitter quite a bit, making the look almost mannequin hands on me—if glitter can ever be considered mannequin hands.





I didn't pop any polish off prematurely this time, though I only wore this look for about a half a day. Here's one hand worth after removal.



I'd say if removal is keeping you from wearing glitter polish, try one of these peel off bases. As for me, I'll probably stick with my regular treatment base routine (though maybe I should see what these do over a treatment base; look for that post in around 2017).

The OPI base coat shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.