Not long ago, I published the press release for the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat on here, and you’ll remember that I was really intrigued by the concept, especially considering that I haven’t tried any of the do-it-yourself PVA glue base coats.
Designed to be worn on your natural nail, the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat is supposed to protect the nails from stains while also making it easy for you to simply peel off heavy-duty glitter nail polish. You can forego using removers and scrubbing your nails raw.
I really put this new OPI base coat to the test because when I was moving to my new home and had to unpack a lot of cardboard boxes, I was wearing this underneath OPI Blush Hour, an unapologetic glitterbomb from the OPI Spotlight on Glitter Collection!
Note: I will update this post soon to show you photos of the brush and the polish’s consistency.
Edit: (April 7, 2014) I updated this post to also include the full ingredient list since a lot of readers were interested.
OPI Glitter Off Base Coat Picture
OPI Glitter Off Base Coat Ingredients
OPI Glitter Off Base Coat Over OPI Blush Hour (When It’s Peeled)
Claims: TRUSTED
- Peelable (Yes)
- Allows for quick & easy nail-polish removal (Yes)
- Leaves nails stain-free in seconds (Yes)
- Eliminates the need for nail-polish remover (Yes)
Key Notes
- Name: OPI Glitter Off Base Coat
- Press Release: Click here to see the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat press release
- Amount: 15 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
- What I Paid: Nothing! (This was provided by PR.)
- Where to Buy: Trade Secrets & select beauty-supply stores, salons & spas
OPI Glitter Off Base Coat Review
Colour & Smell
When you paint your nails with the Glitter Off Base Coat by OPI, it goes on exactly like white school glue. It was streaky, and I was concerned at first that it wouldn’t work because some parts were thin and other parts were thicker.
It also smelled like school glue – mild and not toxic or anything weird like that.
How to Use It
OPI suggests that you apply a thin layer of this to your nails, but the first time I wore it, because it was streaky, I actually applied one thick coat of it.
You must wait for it to dry completely before applying a glitter or any other nail polish. You’ll know when it’s dry because it goes from white to fairly clear.
Since I used such a thick layer, it took about 10 minutes for it to become clear.
When it comes time to removing the glitter nail polish, you simply take a cuticle stick to ‘push up’ the layer of nail polish, and it comes right off easily.
Durability
I was extremely surprised and impressed by the durability of the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat because despite me being harder than usual on my nails and hands during the move to my new home, I found that opening cardboard box after cardboard box didn’t make my manicure chip.
This makes me think that the OPI base coat isn’t straight-up PVA glue because then it would just make my manicure pop off in sheets.
I’ll also admit that, out of curiosity, I also tried picking a little at my nails to see if the polish would lift due to the base coat. It didn’t! It does a great job securing itself to your nails, even when under pressure and also even through multiple hand-washings.
Of course, this is my experience, and your manicure mileage could vary depending on your nail chemistry. (I typically have no problem getting nail polish to last on me without chipping in general, and my nails are naturally strong, so those factors may also have played a role in how well this base coat held up.)
Removal
When it came time for me to remove my manicure with OPI Blush Hour and Seche Vite on top, I’ll admit that I was pretty nervous because if the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat failed me, I would be stuck scrubbing my fingers raw with nail-polish remover, and it would take at least 15 minutes since I used more than one layer of glitter!
So, I took a deep breath and took my metal cuticle pusher and started pushing at the edge of the nail on my thumb.
It didn’t lift easily. I had to apply some pressure before it came up. And when it did come up a bit, I noticed that it wasn’t hard, but bendy and thick. That flexibility must be how the polish resists chips and is more durable – it moves with your nails.
After I lifted some of the polish, I tried just picking the rest off, and it worked. But you could also exclusively use the cuticle stick/pusher. I just wanted to be more gentle.
This brings me to another point. If you have very thin or weak nails, I don’t think you should use this base coat only because you do need to apply some force during the removal process. But, if you have average-strength or better nails, they should be able to handle a cuticle stick pushing down on them alright.
After I peeled away all the polish, my natural nails weren’t damaged, and while they didn’t look as dry as when I use an acetone-based remover on them, some had slight white marks on them. I just rubbed those spots and they came off.
Pros
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Cons
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Final Verdict: 9.5/10
The OPI Glitter Off Base Coat does, indeed, work well and is peelable when you use a heavy glitter polish, but use discretion if your natural nails aren’t strong enough to be poked and prodded.
I really loved how easy this made removing even the chunkiest glitter, and I’ll be using it again. I’m curious to see how it fares under non-glitters…like maybe a neon jelly! After all, the base coat claims that it can make polishes look brighter. For neons and jellies, that could be very helpful. Also, I want to try it under polishes that have stained my nails to see if it protects against even the toughest lacquers.
I’ll probably just update this post as I experiment with more nail polishes over this base coat, so you’ll know the results.
Have you tried the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat? Would you wear more glitterbombs if you had this base coat? Is there a particular type of nail polish that you’d like me to try over this base coat to test the durability and/or removal process?
Thank you for the review. I have tried the glue method in the past and it didn’t hold up very well for me. The polish would come off my nails within 24 hours. But, there was no staining from the polish. At least I didn’t have to use acetone to get glitters off. Just had no longevity. I’ve been searching for this product at my local outlets for awhile. No one carries it here at present..
Hey CeCe!
You’re most welcome! I’m glad that you found it helpful.
I hope that this base coat holds up well for you if you choose to give it a try when you hunt it down.
Great review! I’ve been keeping my eye open in stores, with no luck!
Hey Ashley!
Good luck! I hope you find a bottle soon. It’s definitely worth trying, especially if you don’t want to spend a long time removing glitters.
Thanks so much for reviewing this, Mary. Have been seeing a lot of reviews, but none quite so informative and I’d never considered the difference between strong nails vs thin nails being a part of how well it might work.
I’m currently on a no-glitter month because winter seems to be harsh on my cuticles and I try to avoid acetone for at least a month in spring to give them time to fully recover, but if Glitter Off will allow me to indulge in sparkles w/o having to use acetone, I’ll be one happy camper. 😀
Hey Karen!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a thoughtful comment! I’m very happy to hear that you found it helpful!
Please stop by again when I update the post to include the wear under neons, jellies, and other non-glitters.
Hi Mary – thanks for your review of this…I was curious though about the ingredients and was wondering if you could list them?
Hey Margo!
You’re very welcome! 🙂 I’m going to update the OPI Glitter Off Base Coat review post tonight because I took more photos and also I will be listing the ingredients since you were curious. 🙂 I hope that you’ll find it helpful!
Yes thanks that would be great – I’m really interested in this product but of course am curious about what it contains.
I’m sure that others are also curious. I’ll try to get it up in a few hours. Need to filter through my photos.
Hey Mary!
Great review! I was wondering if the brush is the regular OPI prowide brush as I had read somewhere that the brush was different than usual.
Really looking forward to try this one. I wonder how it will work under liquid sands.
Also, congratulations for new home. 🙂
Nims
Congratulations for your new home sorry :p
Hey Nims!
The brush is thinner (not the Pro-Wide brush). I took a photograph of it and will be updating this post to include it.
Aww, thank you so much. I’m settling in well in my new home, and I finally feel like there’s some stability now that I’m no longer renting.
“This makes me think that the OPI base coat isn’t straight-up PVA glue because then it would just make my manicure pop off in sheets.”
I use a homemade PVA base (wood glue with a touch of water for a better consistency) and as long as I make sure my nails are nice and clean (I give them a good rubdown with acetone just before painting to help with adhesion) I don’t have any problems with them popping off. Sunday night I applied homemade PVA base under a glittery indie and as I sit here now on Saturday afternoon I don’t even have any chips.
I used to have polish pop off when using a glue base, but seriously, acetone rubdown. It’s a lifesaver. I hardly even get chips anymore! =)
Hey Heather!
How interesting that you used wood glue – pretty smart, too! I heard about people using white school glue, but the wood glue is surely stronger and more durable. Clever! And thanks for the tip about using acetone right before painting.
This looks like a very cool product. I cant wait to give it a try. Thanks for reviewing it and sharing the results with us! : )
Hey Melissa!
It’s my pleasure. Stay tuned because very soon, I’ll update the post to include more photos as well as the full list of ingredients.
Hi Mary! Thanks so much for reviewing this. I’ve been patiently waiting (well not really patiently) 😉 on an in depth review of this. I absolutely love glitter polishes and I always indulge in them. However, when I get to removal….I’m less than happy at having to scrub my nails. Naturally, when I heard about this glitter off miracle, I couldn’t wait to know how it worked out!
Sadly, I haven’t been able to find a bottle here in the states. Nowhere I look sells them and I can see that others are having the same problem. I wonder why…
Hey Mandy!
Thanks for your patience and eagerness! 😉
I’ve been hearing from a lot of my readers that this product is difficult to track down. I wonder if there was a delayed shipment or something. Or perhaps it has been selling out so fast like hotcakes? Hmm…
Hi Mary,
I purchased this product in hopes that it would save time and be easier on my nails with glitter removal as compared to Acetone. Well was I wrong… I tried this product twice. I thought the first time I was doing something wrong. I wore it under an OPI Glitter for two days. I could not get this product to budge off my nails. So I watched the OPI YouTube video again. On this second attempt I only wore the mani for less than 24 hours. Friends suggested that I soak the nails in hot water first before trying to remove. I was able to finally pry it off near the cuticle area, but removal was still very difficult and resulted in some damage to the nail plate. Needless to say, this product is being returned tomorrow. I am so disappointed. On the upside, it works great as a “Bonder” to hold glitter on your nails…..
Hey CeCe!
Aww, nuts! I’m so sorry to hear that it was a total bust for you! It worked exactly as advertised for me, but maybe nail chemistry has something to do with it as well.
When you tried to peel off the polish, did you try peeling from the edges? Also, are your nails on the thinner side? I think that it might not fare well for those with thin nails because when you’re using the cuticle stick/pusher to lift the glitter, it could be too harsh on your nails. (My nails are pretty strong naturally and hard, so maybe that’s why it worked for me.)
Hi Mary,
I’d say my nails are “midrange”. Not too thin. They don’t tend to break. Grow fairly fast and I don’t have peeling problems. Yep, tried peeling from the edges. I soooo wanted this product to work. Oh well, back to liquid polish remover. I just put glitter on accent nails so I don’t have to deal with trying to remove it off of all my nails. It is time consuming. Love following your blog. Great reviews! 🙂
Hey CeCe!
Aww, what a bummer that this didn’t work out for you! 🙁
Did you use a thin coat on your bare nails, or a thick coat? I’m not sure if it would make a difference, but maybe it’s worth to experiment (unless you already have) to see what might work better. Or maybe there’s something that just doesn’t jive with your nail chemistry. If that’s the case, awwww! 🙁
I love wearing glitters and I so want this base coat… but it is not available in India 🙁
Hey Chaitali!
Aww, maybe you can find it on eBay? Hope so!