OPI "Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find" (GelColor)- review

It's been so gloomy the last few days so I felt that I needed something bright on my nails.
I decided to go with OPI GelColor in "Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find".
Little background:
OPI came out with their GelColor line just recently. I have tried Axxium and I found it too difficult to remove. The base coat stuck to the nails like nothing else!
Anyway... after reading some reviews posted on BeautyTech I decided to give this one a try. So far, I'm loving it!



OPI

Keep reading to find out more.....
BASE COAT is a combination of solvents and a "gel". It has a slight smell, just like nail polish does. It's consistency is quite thin (but not runny). It goes on very quick but try not to go over the area more then once or twice because once the base coat starts to dry it becomes "sticky" (again, just like nail polish does). Because it contains solvents it does thicken up quite a bit.
I have been using OPI GelColor for a month and I'm on a 3rd bottle of base coat (and still on the FIRST bottle of Top Coat!). I'm quite sure that I'm getting the "estimated" amounts of uses out of it.

The colors (and the base/top coat) come in a signature OPI polish bottles. The only difference is the color of the bottle. The bottles are black and the lids are shrink wrapped in a plastic that (somewhat) matches the actual colors.
I find that the plastic part gets little loose after a while, which is a bummer.

The brushes are lovely. They are flat brushes but they are smaller then the regular OPI polish brushes. They fan out nicely and fit even around small, round shaped cuticles.
The quality of the brushes seem to be quite consistent. I only have 1 color with a brush that is little "off". I have to remember to exchange it!

COLOR:
Overall the colors apply well. Well and quick. I'm enjoying my new LED lamp (more about it in my next post). There are few exceptions but I will write about that some other time.

"Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find" is a bright, tangerine creme. It has a very good coverage and I didn't notice any shrinking (OK, maybe tiny bit at the free edge but the second coat covered it). It's a very bright color but it's not a neon.
Application was a breeze and the color cured without any wrinkling etc.

TOP COAT. I love it! It goes on super fast, super smooth and you can apply it quite thin. I WAY prefer this over Shellac's Top Coat.

SOAKING OFF:Considering that the OPI GelColor is a "gel" and not a "hybrid" I'm quite impressed with how the product soaks off.
The recommended method is "cotton/foil" method. The "shine" doesn't have to removed before the application of cotton/foil. I use the recommended OPI Expert Touch remover and I noticed few things:
- the longer the product has been on the nails- the longer the soak off will take
- heat speeds up the process.
- if you apply 3 coats the color will take 5 minutes to soak off.
The recommended time by OPI is 15 minutes. I find that if the client had the product of for 2 weeks (and their hands are warm) the color usually just slides off after 10 min.
2-3 weeks and cold hands means usually 15 min. Sure, Shellac takes 10 minutes to soak off but you spend more time curing it (the application takes longer too).
After the recommended time the color (like I mentioned before) usually just curls up and it falls off the nails in bigger chunks then Shellac. The nails after the removal of the foils are very clean. Sometimes I get some base coat residue but I think that happends when base coat is applied (too) thick (when its half way down
the bottle).
I will post and update (w/pictures) in 2 weeks to show you how the product comes off.

Base Coat is applied and cured.
I know, my nails look awful. I have been doing some major testing lately and it shows.

First coat of color is applied and cured.

Second coat applied.....

Top coat applied.



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