When it comes to nail polish, I always gravitate towards those with dark hues. Not necessarily black, but something close to it. Great examples are NARS Sharplines Left and Sally Hansen Flirt. These polishes make me really happy because they make me feel badass without making me look like a rebellious teenager. Don't deny it, we all had that phase where we thought black polish is so punk. Huuuuu cringe.

Nowadays I tend to avoid black polish and instead look for shades that are dark. Colored, but dark. But ever since I discovered Anna and Lily, my nail polish choices  have changed. Now I try to inject nudes and "clean" polishes. By "clean" I mean anything that doesn't have glitter or shimmer. I used to hate clean polishes but now they're the ones I prefer.

Since Anna and Lily love their nude and clean polishes, I decided to give one nude polish of mine a go. It's the essence Colour & Go in 162 Dare It Nude. It's a color I thought I wouldn't like but now that I'm wearing it, I'm totally digging it. At first glance, you'd think it's just your standard skintone kind of color but now that I'm staring at it intensely, the color's more of a fair French beige. It has a brown/gray color combo going on with a very slight pink undertone. On my photos it looks really light but trust me it's quite darker in person. This particular shade is right up my alley, I love it.

Now that I've raved about the color, lemme tell you some issues I have with this polish. It's not my first time to use anything from the Colour & Go line but for some reason, I found this polish hard to work with. It starts very smooth but when you get to the 3rd or 4th nail, it becomes gloopy and thick that you have no choice but to shake or roll it to loosen up. I did two coats on my nails and the second coat was a nightmare to do because once you get to the other hand, the polish is thick and hard to work with. It also likes to play pranks on you; it makes you think you've applied it unevely but after a little while, it even out. Not cool, kiddo, not cool.

Despite having some issues, I'm glad to report that it's not at all streaky and it didn't pool at my cuticles although I encountered some pooling on the sides of my nails. It's also prone to a little bit of bubbling no matter how careful you are with it. I find that this takes longer to dry than the other C&G polishes I have. Weird, no?

Overall, I think essence should keep the color but change the formula. It's such a gorgeous color, especially on my toes, but it has a really sucky formula. I did a little research and found some pretty good dupes for this: Deborah Lippman in Fashion (which is lighter), Deborah Lippman in Modern Love, Model's Own in Nude Beige, Rescue Beauty in Lounge Grunge, and Maybelline in Nude Skin (which has a heavier pink undertone).