OPI Movin' Out and Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Ever read a book or watched a movie or tv series that had such a huge twist that you're left with mouth ajar and completely speechless? There was Darth Vader's classic line: "Luke, I am your father..!" Not so much oomph with that now since the prequels came out. Another classic is finding out that Tyler Durden and the Narrator (Hammie says: Don't you find it strange that Edward Norton's character doesn't have a name? No, really. Google it.) from Fight Club are the same guy. Before the last of the Harry Potter books came out, finding out that seemingly omnipotent Dumbledore dies before reading Book 6 would have a hardcore fan wailing in despair. (I've seen it happen.) More recently, protagonist Ned Stark dying and Daenerys Targaryen hatching dragon eggs from Game of Thrones were two of the bigger shockers from the first season. These huge twists often either justify what's happened so far or further the story to bring it to heights that it wouldn't have reached without the big shocker.

Oh Sean Bean, why must your characters always die..?

The same is true for the polish I have for you today. Its chameleon like quality makes it "must have" material despite being an older polish. Yes, the formula isn't 3-Free but when you see the magic it does, that doesn't really matter so much any more. Special polish for a special holiday! WARNING: Photo-heavy post after the jump!

Don't let that demure pink fool you.

The Quick Take

Brand/Name: OPI Movin' Out
Color: Sheer pink shimmer with hidden multichrome
Finish: Shimmer
Price: from $6.95 USD to $24.95 USD
Seen at: Victoria's Nail Supply, Ebay
Note(s): This is an older release from a few years back so it might be hard to find as it is definitely discontinued; I got my bottle for free as part of a swap with Mary. (Thanks again!)


The Fun Facts

Check out that rainbow multichrome!

Standard OPI bottle top

Serial at the base

The older brush is thinner and longer than new releases.

Hammie says: Bottled rainbow.

This is one two-faced nail polish. That rainbow in a bottle had me salivating, but once I had it on, it was just so..blah that I felt cheated. Where was the rainbow the bottle promised me?! Instead, I got a shimmery pink that was so sheer that even with 3 coats of polish you can still clearly see my nail line. Now let me tell you something about visible nail line (aka VNL). It's one of my biggest pet peeves. Unless you're a water (tinted but otherwise clear nail polish used as the base for french manicures) or a jelly (the squishyness makes it forgivable), I do expect you to cover my tips completely. So a sheer shimmer would've been chucked to the back of the drawer and promptly forgotten. Good thing Mary told me it was a layering polish. I've been reading up and while I don't think it was ever meant to be a layering polish, it just shows how amazing it really is when coupled with other colors.
***All nail swatches were done with Orly Bonder Base Coat and three coats of OPI Movin' Out unless stated.

Natural light/No top coat/No flash

It's a pretty pink, but I was expecting some rainbow.

Natural light/No top coat/Flash

The shimmer shows a bit of orange-y sparkles.

Sunlight/No top coat/No flash

Ugh. VNL. Ugh.

OPI Movin' Out was a 2003 release, part of the Holiday on Broadway collection. Wow, that's eight years ago. I was still in university and oblivious to any and all things beauty eight years ago. Time flies! So because this is an older polish, the brush that came with it was still thin, long and floppy. I didn't mind though, because the polish applied beautifully, flowed well but not watery at all, and I didn't have any trouble with it. I have to say the smell is horrendous. I've forgotten have far we've come in terms of nail polish formulas where the worst smelling part of doing your nails would be the chemical smell of acetone. But just open this bottle and you get a huge whiff of strong chemicals that take you back to how it was then. Definitely something to consider for those of you with sensitive noses.

Natural light/Top coat/No flash

Hammie says: Uh-oh. Still no sign of any duochrome.

Natural light/Top coat/Flash

More shiny.

Sunlight/Top coat/No Flash

Hammie sings: Shining, shimmering, splendid..!

Adding top coat didn't really do much for showing more of that rainbow goodness that you see in the bottle. It just made it more shiny which isn't much of an impact because the polish dried shiny by itself anyway. So I did some layering experiments and decided to go with extremes: on two fingers I layered OPI Movin' Out over Sally Hansen Xtreme Black Out and the other two fingers I layered it over Wet N Wild French White Creme. I figured this would best show how to get the best combination for maximum rainbow awesomeness. This is where the magic happens. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

White does nothing for it other than to make it more opaque. But the black..!

Notice the orange sparkles on the black side? And the hints of green at the edges?

 

Yes, it's the same polish! But notice how it looks almost purple over black.

You can clearly see the orange, green and a bit of blue color shift in this angle.

More of the orange and green color shift but you can still see the prominent pink/purple flash.
I find those two are the strongest that show.

You can barely see the pink from this angle!

 

Just look at how different it looks over black!

Definitely some orange sparkles in the mix.
See how it's not as obvious over white.

LtoR: NYC Madison Avenue (pinky red), Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Deeply Violet (dark violet), Zoya Ibiza (navy blue), Nubar Greener (forest green), China Glaze Cross Iron (shimmery orange), Nicole by OPI City-Pretty Rose (Barbie pink), Wet N Wild Strawberry Milk (light pink)

You can barely see any change with the red, the orange and the pinks.The violet definitely became warmer toned, the navy blue turned purple and the green now has a purple flash.
Notice how the three darker colors also best showed the orange sparkles.

The Lowdown

I have nothing quite like this polish. It's almost like liquid fairy dust. It transforms existing colors into something completely unexpected. From the layering experiments I've done, I can safely say that you get the best rainbow show from layering it over black. White does nothing for it. The warmer toned colors also didn't do much in terms of showing any kind of color shift or a change in the the base color. If any, it just added some shimmer or deepened the pink shades of the existing color. I have, however, seen some swatches on other blogs of this polish over pink and maroon/burgundy and it showed more of an orange shift and very minimal green shift, if any. So that shouldn't discourage you from layering it over the warmer colors (red, oranges, pinks). Cooler and darker shades do show the most change from this polish.

Movin' Out has been compared to Clarins 230, otherwise known as Unicorn Pee or the holy grail of nail polish collecting. Because the latter is harder to come by, Movin' Out is relatively cheaper considering Clarin 230 prices go upwards of $50 USD for one bottle that might not even be full or new. This is a great alternative although it's not quite as amazing as Unicorn Pee. Like I mentioned earlier, this IS an older polish, and a discontinued one at that, so availability can be tricky. The price is also very variable and largely dependent on the Ebay seller. The lowest price that I've seen so far is from Victoria's Nail Supply but they only ship to the US, so there's that.

This is definitely a must have for any serious nail polish collector, and for anyone looking for a versatile color that works well with a lot of their existing nail polish. The layering possibilities are limited only by your imagination so I'd say it's value for price is pretty good. I don't think I've even come close to half of what this can do as a layering polish. I can foresee myself revisiting this later on, as on hindsight, I didn't even consider how it looked like over lighter blues or purples. I really had a lot of fun with this one and I can't believe I wouldn't have known about it if not for Mary's generosity. I've half a mind to pick up a back up bottle!

Hammie was thoroughly impressed by Movin' Out. He says nail polishes these days don't seem to share the amazing multichrome goodness of the older formulas. This one's a no brainer! Hammie scores Movin' Out:

10(+1) Hammie Points!

What's the oldest nail polish you own? Would you keep trying to make a nail polish that disappointed you work, or would you just forget about it if it doesn't work out the first time you wear it? Are you doing turkey or ham for Thanksgiving?

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian readers! Hope you're not so partied out by tomorrow like Hammie is.. ;)