NailImplant: Push & Shove by OPI

Hi NaiLovelies!

Today I have a swatch of the truly stunning Push & Shove by OPI from the 2014 Gwen Stefani collection. Wowzers!!!! Despite being someone who doesn’t tend to wear silver polish, I have collected quite a number of silver gels and regular polishes - but I don’t have anything else like this in my collection!!!

Push & Shove is the amazing silver polish with a fabulous mirror chrome finish. It is incredibly shiny and looks like brushed chrome in real life. Your nails will certainly be noticed with this beauty on them! Don't forget to click the pictures to enlarge them....

The formula of Push & Shove is interesting and certainly proved to be a challenge for me, probably because I am so used to applying gel polish which is a totally different entity in all of its self-levelling wonderfulness!

Push & Shove was difficult for me to apply because it dries quickly and I found that it will drag polish off your nails if you go over the same section of a nail once it has begun to set. Mistakes are not easy to rectify which means you need to apply this carefully or you risk having to redo your nail/manicure again which means using more of the precious Lay Down That Base which being supplied in a mini bottle, is in short supply. I have no idea why OPI would make the base so small, I have a feeling they have more chromes lined up for future releases and will then launch the base coat in a full size. By the way, Lay Down That Base applies like any regular basecoat and went on very easily.

It is important to leave adequate drying time between coats, 5-10 minutes minimum. The first time I left 5 minutes between coats and experienced wrinkling and a longer dry time overall, this could have been down to the thickness of coats or insufficient dry time between said coats. The second time I applied this polish I left 10 minutes between each coat (including the basecoat) and got much better results. Yes, you read that correctly – I had to remove and reapply Push & Shove as I had rushed the application on the first attempt and it didn’t make for a manicure I was happy to wear.

That said, Push & Shove covers the nail perfectly and is pretty much opaque in just one coat however two coats are required in order to deal with any imperfections and to smooth out the look of the polish on the nail. When applied Push & Shove is brush-strokey but the brushstrokes melt away as the polish dries, leaving the wonderful chrome finish. When dry, this polish has a satiny feel to it and when removed the cotton pad looks like it has been used to clean up a metallic pen.

It is worth noting that this polish will show every-single-ridge-imperfection on your nail so if you have ridges, dents or peeling nails – this is going to announce them loud and clear. I have applied this polish over a base of my beloved Gelish Vitagel and it certainly helped with getting a smooth finish. I think the only other way to do this would be to buff my nails before application and I am not a fan of buffing my nails!

Both Lay Down That Base and Push & Shove bottles feature the fantastic OPI Pro Wide brush. I am in love this this brush and I wish all nail polishes came with it. The size of the brush works so well with my nails because it means that I am usually able to pick up enough polish to do my whole nail with one dip, sometimes two and I am able to get neat application due to the shape of the brush when it fans out.

Soak Off Gel Base – Gelish Vitagel and Structure

Lay Down That Base – OPI

Push & Shove – OPI

I purchased my bottle of Push & Shove from ADKNail on eBay; they have great customer service and did an amazing job of getting this polish to me super quickly and by the date requested.

Push & Shove is marketed as a ‘One Night Only’ polish, as it is intended to be worn without topcoat because it would dull the chrome effect. I am fine with the short wear time as I only tend to wear regular polish for 2 days on average before removing it to try something new.

At the time of writing this post I'd been wearing Push & Shove for about 22 hours (admittedly, 8 of which were spent sleeping!). Spilling acetone on my hand shortly after finishing the mani wasn't the smartest move as this polish melts away when it comes into contact with acetone which makes for a super fast removal!

After two days I tested the staying power and chrome effect of this polish when topped with soak off gel topcoat. I applied Kiss Everlasting Gel Polish topcoat because it is the shiniest one I own and it protected the polish perfectly it did however dull the effect of the chrome slightly.

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE: This shows the wear I experienced with Push & Shove. As mentioned, the index and middle fingernails on my right hand got acetone spilled on the tips shortly after I finished the manicure so the wear on those fingers isn't really accurate. This picture also shows the difference in finish between the pinky nail on the right hand which has UV gel topcoat on and the others nails which do not have any topcoat on them.