Hello (dust) bunnies!
It feels good to be writing again. Before we get into the review, let me address what's been going on. Essentially, there have been two things keeping me from writing. My life/future is still in a state of flux and I have been very busy. On one side of things there's a lot of chaos and scrambling and toxic, anxious feelings. And on the other side there was work and scheduling and stress (and some fun!) but also a lot of chaos. I was recapping for a while which took up a lot of writing energy. I was also taking advantage of living in New York and seeing a lot of theatre and concerts which used up a lot of critical brain power. Basically, I was draining up my reserves for both positive and negative reasons. For the moment things have calmed down. I'm not working regular full time hours anymore (but if you're hiring, wink wink) and I don't have more than the usual number of events on the horizon. I'm very happy to be talking to you again. I say this every time but I really did miss you. Anyway, I think I still remember how this goes. Let's get into the review, shall we? ;)
Color: OPI Embrace the Gray is a medium gray creme polish. It feels like a fairly straightforward, no nonsense color. As a gray, it doesn't lean too brown or too blue. It embraces the color it purports to be. If anything, it's slightly more blue/cool-toned. If you like grays, I think it's a flattering shade. You see a lot of very light neutral grays and a lot of dark grays, especially in the fall but there aren't a ton of mid-toned grays. I like having it in my collection. To me, it's not really a summer color but it doesn't need to be relegated to fall and winter. I wore this one in early March.
Formula: The formula wasn't notably thick or thin but I ran into application issues.
Application: The first coat of polish applied smoothly without any drag but it did cause me a bit of trouble. I had to be careful to use medium thick coats and not go too light or thin with the coats of polish. For some reason it didn't want to adhere to the nail and trying to work with it using the brush only made it worse so it was difficult to get smooth, even coats. The polish kept coming off in patches and then when I would try to even it out it would form streaks and ridges. The second coat was more of the same. I had to go very lightly with the brush to avoid brushstrokes and yet try to have enough polish on the brush and at the same time not have so much polish that I'd lose all control and have polish pool in my cuticles. That run-on sentence is great evidence of the juggling act that was taking place. On short nails, two medium thick coats was basically opaque but there were some tiny patches of balding so I added a third coat. At three coats the polish was fully opaque. The third coat was the same as the previous two in application.
Wear: The polish wore well without a notable amount of tip wear. It did dull a bit and pick up scuff marks but that might have been more noticeable because it was a gray polish and inclined to look dingy.
CONCLUSION: If you can handle this polish, I would recommend it because of the color. It certainly isn't impossible to work with. I've dealt with much worse, including with similar grays. It's just fussy so I wouldn't get it unless you have an experienced hand.
SWATCHES
Color: OPI Embrace the Gray is a medium gray creme polish. It feels like a fairly straightforward, no nonsense color. As a gray, it doesn't lean too brown or too blue. It embraces the color it purports to be. If anything, it's slightly more blue/cool-toned. If you like grays, I think it's a flattering shade. You see a lot of very light neutral grays and a lot of dark grays, especially in the fall but there aren't a ton of mid-toned grays. I like having it in my collection. To me, it's not really a summer color but it doesn't need to be relegated to fall and winter. I wore this one in early March.
Formula: The formula wasn't notably thick or thin but I ran into application issues.
Application: The first coat of polish applied smoothly without any drag but it did cause me a bit of trouble. I had to be careful to use medium thick coats and not go too light or thin with the coats of polish. For some reason it didn't want to adhere to the nail and trying to work with it using the brush only made it worse so it was difficult to get smooth, even coats. The polish kept coming off in patches and then when I would try to even it out it would form streaks and ridges. The second coat was more of the same. I had to go very lightly with the brush to avoid brushstrokes and yet try to have enough polish on the brush and at the same time not have so much polish that I'd lose all control and have polish pool in my cuticles. That run-on sentence is great evidence of the juggling act that was taking place. On short nails, two medium thick coats was basically opaque but there were some tiny patches of balding so I added a third coat. At three coats the polish was fully opaque. The third coat was the same as the previous two in application.
Wear: The polish wore well without a notable amount of tip wear. It did dull a bit and pick up scuff marks but that might have been more noticeable because it was a gray polish and inclined to look dingy.
CONCLUSION: If you can handle this polish, I would recommend it because of the color. It certainly isn't impossible to work with. I've dealt with much worse, including with similar grays. It's just fussy so I wouldn't get it unless you have an experienced hand.
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SWATCHES
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