Grey & Smiling; The Other Grey Paint Brush Colours

     And like any fad in Neopia, Neopets from all over are rushing to the Rainbow Pool to paint themselves Grey. I mean, even the local shopkeepers of Neopia Central seem to be jumping on the trend! (Obviously painting themselves for Grey Day and for no other mysterious or potentially nefarious reason whatsoever…*cough* *cough*)

     But what if you didn’t want to buy some Birthday Kawaii Contacts to hide your Usul or Kacheek’s tired eyes? Or if you need your Battledome Pet to maintain good posture whilst they are training to avoid injury? Or maybe you simply want to avoid going all the way to Umbra’s Styling Studio to grab a UC Grey outfit (though I’m not sure why you’re trying to avoid Umbra, they’re a very kind Neopet!)

     Well you have come to the right article, my fashion forward Neofriend! Did you know that there are many other Paint Brushes you can use to make your Neopet Grey, without buying a Grey Paint Brush for 8,000,000 NP at the Trading Post or Auction? How? Well, I’ve made a list below of the must-have Paint Brushes for this Grey season without sacrificing your morning Borovan.

      *PLEASE note that all prices mentioned in this article are from the current market value, with research alongside the Shop Wizard, Auction Genie & Jhuidah the Island Faerie as of the Month of Eating in Yr26, so prices will be subject to fluctuations in the future*

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      #1 – Pirate Paint Brush

     Now the Pirate denizens of Krawk Island aren't exactly the first place that comes to mind when you think of “fashion forward” I must admit. But once you remove all the eye patches, striped shirts and golden hooks do you know what you are left with? A Grey Neopet with the BIGGEST grin on their face!

     Pirates are very much known for their jolly attitudes. I mean, have YOU ever heard of a sad Pirate visiting the Golden Dubloon? I didn’t think so. And with a price tag between 890,000 – 1,000,000 NP it’s also surprisingly one of the most affordable Paint Brushes as well. No wonder they have a smile on their crooked dial!

     Sure, there are some species that will err a little closer to a blue colour than a Grey, and there are some with incredibly bushy eyebrows or scars that you might need to take to the Beauty Parlour to tidy up. But ultimately I would say that the Pirate Paint Brush is the most consistent Grey colour you will find on the market. You could put sunglasses on a Grey Blumaroo & a Pirate Blumaroo, and you would think they were twins!

     And if there’s another thing that pirates are known for is that they also LOVE to get dressed up. So just show them the difference between a bandana & a beanie and you’re ready to set sail down the runway! Though make sure you read “Pirate Small Talk” first, so that you can understand the difference between a “Arr!” and a Yarr!” (I learnt that the hard way when my Pirate Uni made me walk the plank!)

      #2 – Silver Paint Brush

     So you are looking for a Grey colour, but also want to make it shiny? BOOM! The Silver Paint Brush is for you! Not only do these Greyscale Neopets always look like they’re part of the Jazzmosis band, but their Paint Brush is among the cheapest on this list. It goes for a market price of 400,000 NP, with some out there going as cheap as 315,000 NP!

     Now when people first think of a more metallic Grey style, the Robot is usually what first comes to mind. Well firstly, Robot is only available either through random chance from the Lab Ray or from Naia at her Rainbow Fountain (which dunking an electric robot Neopet into a pool of water arguably sounds riskier & more hazardous than the Lab Ray).

     And secondly, you will also encounter the fact that metal alloy comes in a huge variety of colours, with one primary & one secondary colour per robotic Neopet. After doing the tally on all colour combinations, I found that only 14 of the 57 Robot Neopets had a primary or secondary colouring of Grey/silver; with Blue, Red, Green and even Yellow surpassing it in popularity (a lot of copper on the VirtuPets Space Station apparently).

     No, if you want what is probably the most consistent full body metallic Grey colour on this list, then Silver is the way to go! And beyond the classic monochromatic silver medal look, there’s a couple silver Neopet species like the Flotsam & Xweetok that show a little more vibrancy in using the full Grey rainbow!

      #3 – Checkered Paint Brush

     This one was actually quite a fun surprise whilst researching this article. Let’s say you’re not looking for the aforementioned full body Grey look. But you still want to keep to the monochromatic theme. The easiest way to do this is to split the Grey into its two base colours; black and white!

     Now there’s quite a few paint brushes that play with the black-and-white theme, right? Shadow, White, and a personal favorite of mine if you don’t mind the smell, Skunk. But all of these rely on leaning into either fully black or fully white to give their fullest dramatic effect.

     Enter the final metaphorical tuxedo-suit into this black-and-white tie event; Checkered! Do you know what’s quite wonderful about this particular Neopet Paint Brush that gives enough of an edge above the others to successfully make the list? On every Neopet species, these chessboard colours never truly hit true black nor true white. And do you know what colour that makes? ALL Grey, baby buzz!

     I truly want to tip my hat to the creative Faeries on the Neopets Team that helped to discover this mime-like colour palette, because it truly encapsulates the idea of how you can still find vibrancy amongst all the shades of Grey. I think my Peri Dot needs to use a Morphing Potion to become a Checkered Pet for her next fashion show!

     And if you thought that the Silver Paint Brush was cheap? Well wait until you hear that the Checkered Paint Brush’s market price is currently 300,000 NP. And at the time of writing this article, I had the Shop Wizard find one as cheap at 255,000 NP! What a steal!

      #4 - Get Off My Lawn Paint Brush (Elderly)

     Okay so I did just have a huge gripe about certain colours not fully fitting into Grey theme, but this is more for those who want to lean more into the representation of Grey rather than the literal meaning of the word. And no one wears Grey well on their heads quite like our elders!

     I could have chosen other colours like Ghost, Zombie or even Transparent for this idea. However I wasn’t going to suggest a macabre trip to the Haunted Woods Weaponry shop for this one, so I wanted to pick a colour that was more… “lively”, as it were. *clears throat*

     As the name suggests, the Get Off My Lawn Brush also privies your Neopet to a lot more personality than the Grey’s melancholy; such as “Have you seen my false teeth?” or “Back in my day, Faerieland was in the sky!” or even the ever classic “Do you remember my NeoBank PIN number?”

     What I’m trying to say is that you can have a lot more fun than you think with this paint brush. You can even throw away the curmudgeon-y cardigan energy to make room for a debonair Draik Duchess in a sparkling blue gown or maybe a handsome Silver Lupe in a flashy silver suit, both ready to hit the town/bingo parlour for a wonderful night. It’s always good to look to your elders, and it’s no exception for both fashion and having a good time!

     The price tag is admittedly a little higher on this one compared to our other brushes on this list, the Get Off My Lawn Brush is also considerably cheaper than the Grey Paint Brush at a market price of 5,900,000 NP. It costs a lot to look this wise!

      #5 – Relic Paint Brush

     And if you thought being painted elderly was old, we’re going back to the Stone Age with this one! What is the Greyest thing you can possibly think of that is in nature? Rocks of course! Did your Neopet want to know how it felt for the Faeries that got turned to stone by Xandra whilst also being on the Grey trend? Why, the Relic Paint Brush is the one for you!

     Now there is a lot of upkeep with this particular paint brush style; most of the relic Neopets regularly collect moss and leaves, with some even going against the Grey fad with explosions of colourful crystal geodes all over their body. But in the name of looking like a sculpted statue right out of Altador that doubles as a lovely water feature for your garden, I would say maintaining the cracks here and there will be well worth it!

     All of the joking aside, Relic Neopets are known to be strong and steadfast beings that always have a smile on their face, so will be perfect to add to any Neofamily. And besides the odd crystal gem, they meet the brief of being a strong Grey colour as well. This Paint brush sits pretty much in the middle of our list as far as cost is concerned at a market price of 1,500,000 NP.

     But like Robot Neopets, maybe avoid large bodies of water with this one. Otherwise your Neopet might end up in the depths of the Maraquan Ruins like The Darkest Faerie was for a long time. I’m surprised that she didn’t have to pop her ears while she was down there!

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     I wanted to add a couple honorable mentions such as my personal faves the Maraquan Meerca and the Woodland Wocky, but ultimately I wanted to end this article saying that it takes many hues to make a rainbow, and Grey is no exception! So however it is you have chosen to celebrate this dreary and gloomy Grey Day period, I hope that you looked stunning & fashionable doing so!