Nails, like hair, are dead cells. When treating outside the body oil really helps. I know what you said about OPI but…you should try the Nail Envy. As a base coat at least. It really does do wonders for your specific problem.
As for drying nails ladies…Heat Does not cure nails. The cold does. Even if you wait hours between coats, this does not help dry the nails any quicker. Fresh coat of polish over the dry coat will only wet the coat on the bottom. It’s like any other paint. Think of paint on a wall…dry to the touch but still wet for hours. Rapid dry top caots help but still it takes a while. If you were to dig in your purse, prepare dinner an hour after, or sleep on your hands all of these could leave an imperfection.
If you really don’t want to use nail polish, you might try buffing your nail. Buy and use a file like this one, that has a file part for the edges, a finer file to smooth away ridges on the nails’s surface, and two smooth polishing surfaces. They start at 6 dollars.
I use them especially on men, who don’t want their nails to look too shiney. Also, they provide a good base on my own nails: polishing them with a file like that makes your nails smooth so polish lasts longer (doesn’t crack at the ridges)and polish doesn’t have to go on as thick, to fill up the ridges.
Treating nails like that doesn’t make them stronger, but is does make them shiney, without chemicals.
The best thing I’ve found is running my nails under cold water after I’ve polished. I wait about three min. or so first. It really sets the polish and helps prevent smudges and such.