I've kinda given up on paint for polished chrome parts too. I recently covered some smooth blade style bumpers with BMF ultra-chrome. I first polished the piece to get the metal nice and smooth. Then I covered the bottom surface up to the line where the part started to curve upward and burnished it smooth. The next BMF covered the top surface and rounded the blade to meet and just overlap the bottom BMF. After burnishing that down I used some worn 3600 emery cloth to carefully sand just the edge at the overlap so it wasn't noticeable. Then I polished the entire part carefully with paste. Under strong light you can see a very faint scar line but once mounted on the car it hides in the shadow of the surface transition (even a penlight can't spot it). A technique like this will work best on large smooth surfaces.
Paint or plating may be the only solution for intricate shapes. Also, if I get a wrinkle in the BMF I tear it off and start over, with a smaller piece if I have to. Experiment a little. The stuff is incredibly versatile. I even use it as a paint mask.