OPI Rub-a-Pub-Pub, 2 coats plus top coat
Happy Wednesday, everyone! We are in the final stretch of polishes I have to share with you from the OPI Scotland collection. If all goes to plan, the last post will be going up a week from today! Wow! Thanks to all of you who have been following the series, I hope you have been enjoying the polishes as much as I have. Today I have another winner that I got to photograph in natural light – love painting my nails on the weekend! Rub-a-Pub-Pub is described by OPI as “a cool mix of coal and gray” which is spot-on! I call these shades “charcoal” – too dark to be obviously grey but too soft to be black. Grey polishes and almost black polishes are my faves, so when they combine in these charcoal-y shades I say yes, please, give me them all!
For today’s swatches I used Deborah Lippmann Hard Rock as my base coat and topped it all off with SuperChic Lacquer Marvel Liquid Macro top coat where noted.
OPI Rub-a-Pub-Pub, 1 coat
Although Rub-a-Pub-Pub is a darker color, the formula has that same sort of squishyness that Things I’ve Seen in Aber-green has. It is close to opacity, but I do see some light spots. With these type of formulas, I do not recommend going in for a super thin or super thick coat. Keep it nice and steady and know that you’ll be good in two coats. This polish dries so shiny too, mmmmm.
OPI Rub-a-Pub-Pub, 2 coats
Rub-a-Pub-Pub is completely opaque in two coats. The second coat went on super smoothly and covered up all the lighter spots I had. I hope you can tell from the photos that this truly does not look black.
Left to Right: Zoya Genevieve, OPI Rub-a-Pub-Pub, Butter London Earl Grey
I had planned on comparing this to the grey from the Washington DC collection, “Liv” in the Gray, but it was not even close compared to these other shades. Zoya Genevieve is considerably lighter than Rub-a-Pub-Pub and Butter London Earl Grey. Earl Grey might be a dupe; I actually think Rub-a-Pub-Pub looks a little softer and closer to Genevieve than Earl Grey does, but it’s a close call. I love greys so I would not get rid of either of them even if they were dupes. Which most people would probably say they are.
I stupidly used a photo with a pub in it earlier (can you tell I planned this out) so here’s a shot of downtown Glasgow. Plenty of pubs around, even if not specifically in this picture!
So far, Rub-a-Pub-Pub is the only polish I have come close to finding a dupe for. I would not have guessed that from the outset of my exploration of this collection; when you have a bunch of creams, it feels likely that you’re going to end up with some repeats. If my only dupe turns out to be a charcoal shade, I’ll be singing about this collection from the rooftops (as if I am not already). The world needs more charcoal shades and I for one would never complain about a new one.
Do you have a favorite shade of grey? Do you have a favorite local pub that’s one of your go-tos?
xx, Ashley
OPI is not cruelty-free. I bought my bottles from polishpick.com.
short nail swatcher 
Nice polish! I really want the Scottish set!
Haha I am from Glasgow and yes many a pub. So many different sorts with different themes 😀
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I think the pubs were my favorite part of my trip to the UK… all so cozy and relaxing! Ate so much good food, too :]
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Yeah, there are so many great ones. Especially the little village ones! And great scenery too. Just very wet in Central Scotland! Though this week, we have been down to -6 C. We aren’t used to it being that cold!
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That is pretty cold! I live in southern Oregon in the US and it can get down to temperatures like that during the winter on a consistent basis. Really dries out my skin, ick.
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