OPI Olive for Green

Olive for Green was released by OPI as part of the Infinite Shine Spring 2016 collection. Infinite Shine is OPI's answer to long-wearing, gel-hybrid polish systems like CND Vinylux, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel and Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy. It comes in the familiar patented tulip-shaped bottle with a shiny silver cap to differentiate the line. You have to use a special Infinite Shine primer and UV-sensitive top coat to get the long wear benefits, but I bought this polish for the color.

Olive for Green is, as you will certainly guess, an olive green creme. It's a true dark olive, an earthy and robust shade with a bit of a military vibe, but not an all-consuming one. The color is rich and round, inclusive of the sort of darker olives that you see in nature with a corresponding liveliness. It is not so much of a sober hue as a resonant one. Olive green polish can often have a noticeable amount of grey in it, but this one is almost vibrantly green, even in very low light.

Application was a little squirrelly. I've read reviews of Infinite Shine polishes that praised the formula and others that found it annoyingly uneven and patchy. Now that I've tried one, I can see how both would be true. The consistency is very nice, fluid, full-bodied and extremely smooth with a medium viscosity and a buttery, mag-lev sort of glide over the nail. It sets up rather quickly, though, and there's a degree of translucence to the formula that together with the fast set-up can lead to streaks, patchiness and general unevenness to the coverage if you try to paint in thin coats. Better to use medium-to-thicker coats from a generously loaded brush, applied with a steady, deliberate hand. At two coats, I could still see some unevenness when I looked at it in the sun. I decided to add a third coat to my left hand and keep my right at two, to see if there would be a difference. Once I got topcoat on, I checked the color in the sun again and there was no difference between two coats and three at that point -- the patchiness that I'd noticed had disappeared. YMMV, take that for what you will.

Cleanup was startlingly easy -- no pigment travel or residual staining at all, even where I flooded a cuticle. Impressive! I did not wait for Olive for Green to dry naturally, with the thicker coats I'd used it was simply taking too long. Thank goodness for quick-dry topcoat!

Photos show three coats of Olive for Green over treatment and basecoat with a slightly bubbly topcoat of Seche Vite.

OPI Olive for Green

OPI Olive for Green

OPI Olive for Green

OPI Olive for Green

OPI Olive for Green

OPI Olive for Green

It's perfect! And strikingly sophisticated with a sleek glossy presence that flatters the hand and pleases the eye. Win!

ttyl,
Liz