I use this nail polish is a starting base not a base coat. There is a huge difference haha. Because it creates a matte effect, you want to use this before any other nail polish application.

After using OPI Nail Envy Matte for a few weeks i noticed that my nails felt more hydrated and stronger. My nail polish has not chipped away since applying and i am super excited about how my manicure looks.

I give this nail polish a 9/10 because the color is long lasting and it creates a great matte affect!

Okay, let me just start by saying, I've seen some people say it didn't give them the matte finish they desired. This is a matte base coat, it isn't really meant to be used as a mattifying top coat. OPI had a matte top coat specifically for that purpose :). ANYWAY! I've tried several other base coats. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, OPI Nail Envy for Sensitive/Peeling Nails, and NailTek. My nails do peel more than anything else. Despite this specific problem, the original matte Nail Envy is the best thing I've tried, and I've come back to it! It makes my nails strong, helps them grow faster, and protects them from staining even though I paint my nails every couple days. I know the retail price can be off-putting at about $17 USD, but I've only ever bought it on Amazon for about $6 USD, usually with free shipping. Very affordable! Overall, I give this a 10/10. Best base coat I've used, definitely does what it claims to, and yeah, buy it!

Disappointing product especially for the price.
It keeps my nails strong and protects my nail polish but it doesn't make my nails matte. Even after 3 coats there is still a shine.

I normally used a bog-standard base coat, really to protect my nails more than anything, but since having a baby my nails have been really fragile. They grow pretty quickly but split all the time.

I have been using this for about a month now and on my left (non-dominant) hand, I have no splits or chips. Just beautiful strong nails. On my right hand, my middle fingernail always splits because of the way my nail presses onto my pen when I write. Annoying, but not much I can do about that!

I really like this polish - it smells very strong, but I can overlook this in the face of the results. It is expensiven about £18 from shops - I got it for £7.95 from eBay. Would not buy this again full price. I like the bottle and the brush, and I love the way this looks. I bought it as a base coat not a top coat so am not disappointed that it isn't completely matte - I have a separate topcoat for that. I believe it is intended to give a natural sheen to nails so men can wear it unobtrusively. I'll update if it heals my husband's split thumbnail!

It didn't fully work, there was alittl shine left. Other than that it works well and doesn't cip

I jumped on the nail polish bandwagon a few months ago and did not look back....until my nails started flaking and breaking. I did some research (thanks Nail Board) and picked this up. I should say when I started using this about a month ago, I also started moisturizing my nails and cuticles with jojoba oil and lotions - rubbing both straight onto the nail bed and cuticle, and then putting Nail Envy Matte on. So, my nails are A LOT stronger, but it could be due to to the moisturizing too. One of my nails is still splitting a little bit, but it used to be every nail. I also figure that it's only been a month which means that the tips of my nails were at the cuticle over a month ago. The craziest thing is what it's done to my once seriously problematic pinky toenail. This one pair of heels I wore 12 years ago caused my pinky toenail to split lengthwise. One month of using this and it actually seems to be mending up! Also, it works well as a base coat. This is a win-win product.

I had originally wanted to my the Essie "Matte about you" but at the time the ULTA store I went to was out, so I just picked this up ($17). It didn't leave as great of a matte finish as I thought it would. There still was a bit of shine. I wanted it to be really flat. I just finally bought the Essie "Matte about you" and I recommend that if you want a REAL matte finish with no shine at all!

I have loved this base coat until I realized it was causing my nails to turn yellow. It would otherwise have been a great base coat - fast drying, smooth and strengthening.

tl;dr version:
- strengthens your nails wonderfully
- unfortunately stains yellow if not removed after a week (but no/hardly any staining if you do remove on time)
- nice semi-matte finish that can be used also as a topcoat

Long version:
I've been using this product for a few months now and the difference in the strength of my nails is striking! They still do seem to peel a tiny little bit but maybe I'm paranoid... it's only really visible when I cut them - the cut-off piece splits for some nails - but not on the actual nail (it sort of looks as if two of my nails are peeling or about to peel but they never actually split when I was using this product... quite hard to describe really...). My nails are amazingly strong now, though, no doubt about that - they have never been stronger before! (but I also never used other strengtheners in my life)

Regarding the yellowing - the directions say that one should remove the polish after a week and reapply. That's what I was doing for the first few weeks and didn't see any signs of yellowing. Ironically, though, this is an extraordinary base coat for coloured polish. Right now I'm on my 7th day of wearing 2 coats of Nail Evy Matte, 3 coats of OPI Into the Night, 1 coat of OPI topcoat applied immediately after the previous ones and one coat of MAC Overlacquer Finition applied 2 days after the initial manicure. There is no sign of wear AT ALL. My manicure looks as fresh and perfect as on day one, no chipping on the tips! This doesn't happen every time I use Nail Envy (I'd say it happened to me in about 20-30% cases, the rest of the time there is a little visible wear after a few days, especially when using a glitter polish) but on days like today I'm really fed up that I have to remove it and reapply when all I would prefer to do is just add e.g. a layer of OPI Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It for a fresh look (I've just tried it on one nail before removing - would look so gorgeous!). But if I do not remove the polish after a week the yellowing sets in. The first time I did it (I went over 2 weeks with one manicure because it just refused to chip...) my nails were yellow beyond what I could have imagined. Because there was 2 weeks worth of natural growth I could easily compare the colour to my natural nail and the staining was really striking. I probably shouldn't care because I almost exclusively wear opaque polish but it still bugs me. So what I'm doing now is - when I anticipate wearing a polish for longer than a week I use regular OPI basecoat instead which doesn't stain my nails no matter how long I have it on. It's still annoying on days like today, though, when I didn't anticipate wearing it for so long but now I'd like to... As you may have guessed by now I hate removing nail polish ;) Recently I've noticed, though, that using Cutex Nourishing remover whitens the nail a bit so I can push my luck and leave the polish on for a day or two longer without major yellowing but it's still very annoying that I even have to think about it and doesn't work for the extreme 2-week staining (mutes it slightly but it's still very well visible).

This product works great as a topcoat as well. Although called "matte" it's actually semi-matte to me but can give some polishes a very classy finish - it works especially well for me with solid colour creme polishes without glitter. Since I wear my polish for a week each time I like to use this product as a topcoat as part of my manicure and then after 2-3 days use the MAC Overlacquer Finition to switch to a glossy finish for a no-fuss minor change (and, of course, reapplying a topcoat prolongs the life of the manicure).

I heard so many great reviews on OPI's Nail Envy. This was on sale versus the original nail envy, which I really wanted. But I settled for this one regardless of its "Matte" - more suitable for men's nails. I didn't really care as it was something to strengthen my nails so I could grow them longer.

AND IT DEFINITELY DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

Never had I been able to grow my nails longer before using this. My long nails made my manicures look so much better and I got so many compliments on how beautiful my nails look, given length AND whichever polish I was wearing. It also makes my natural nails look better that bit of matte shine. I'm sure the original nail envy would have also done the same job but without the "matte". I'd want to try the original nail envy and make it my TOP FAVOURITE.