OPI

OPI put it at up to seven days, and that figure assumes the full three step system: their Natural Nail Base Coat, two thin coats of colour, then a top coat. Colour straight onto a bare nail chips far sooner, because the lacquer has nothing to grip.

Nail Lacquer is the classic bottle, the one most of the 200-plus shades come in. Infinite Shine is a longer-wear system with its own primer and gloss, aimed at gel-like wear without a lamp. Nature Strong is the vegan line, a formula of 65% or more natural origin, with caps and bottles made from recycled material.

For wear, yes. The base coat gives the lacquer something to adhere to and stops darker pigments staining the nail plate, which reds and purples will do. The top coat is what keeps the shine and takes the daily knocks. It is the single biggest difference between polish that lasts two days and polish that lasts a week.

Roll the bottle between your palms rather than shaking it, which mixes the pigment without whipping bubbles into the lacquer. Then two thin coats rather than one thick one, letting the first dry properly. Thick coats stay soft underneath and dent.

Nail Envy is a strengthener, not a colour. Apply two coats to bare nails, then one coat a day over the top, and remove and start again weekly. OPI's own testing claims nails 95% stronger in a week. It can also sit under colour as a base coat.

The Nature Strong line is vegan, with no animal-derived ingredients. The wider OPI range is not marketed as vegan, so if that matters, Nature Strong is the one to look for. We list the formula facts OPI publish on each product page.

Codes like NLN25 or NLB78 are OPI's own shade references, and they are the reliable way to identify a colour. Shade names get reused and reissued across collections, but the code does not. If you are matching a bottle you already own, check the code on the base of it.

OPI retire collections. Where a shade is no longer in OPI's current range we say so on the listing, because what is on the shelf is the last of it. Those listings carry OPI's original photography but we cannot show a current colour family or ingredient list for them, so we leave those out rather than guess.