From L to R: Orly Artificial Sweetener, Zoya Gie Gie, OPI Pedal Faster Suzi,  and Essie Pink-A-Boo

From L to R: Orly Artificial Sweetener, Zoya Gie Gie, OPI Pedal Faster Suzi,  and Essie Pink-A-Boo 

From L to R: Orly Artificial Sweetener, Zoya Gie Gie, OPI Pedal Faster Suzi,  and Essie Pink-A-Boo

I was rummaging through my nail polish the other day, trying to decide what color to wear, and as usual I notice that I have a couple of colors that are close to each other. It shouldn't be a surprise to find a dupe within my collection, or colors close to each other. If I liked it once, I'm bound to like it again.

One of these I knew were close to each other when I bought them. I did a comparison of OPI Pedal Faster Suzi and Essie Pink-A-Boo a while back, and they're really not that close even though they look it in the bottle. 

The two obvious ones are Zoya and OPI. They are nearly identical except OPI is a bit darker, but not by much. They both have a similar shimmer to their color, which is the same color. Both have great formulas, and apply beautifully. The other two are off playing in the left field. They're not even close.

NARS Orgasm polish dupe?

Zoya Cassi-Left | NARS Orgasm- Right

Zoya Cassi-Left | NARS Orgasm- Right

As suggested by lovely commenter, Amber, on my Zoya Cassi swatch post I decided it was time to do another comparison post. This time it's between Zoya Cassi and NARS Orgasm. I also created a swatch post of NARS Orgasm, if anyone is interested.

Looking at the bottles I can see a similarity between the two. Both have a coral base, and both are shimmers.

There are two main differences with these polishes; 1) The shimmer color on Cassi is white where it's more of an orange-y tone on Orgasm, and 2)NARS Orgasm is much more sheer than Zoya Cassi. I had apply 4 coats of Orgasm to get it opaque, while Cassi only has two.

Now here are the real questions: Do I consider this a dupe? Kind of. They are very very similar, but not exact dupes. Which is better? That's a hard question. The orange shimmer gives Orgasm that dusk look. From far away, I don't see how it would really matter too much. They're both fantastic formulas, and wear really well. NARS Orgasm is $19 a pop, while Zoya Cassi is only $8. I don't see the problem in having both, personally.

How close are you willing to go with your nail polishes/colors? Do you mind having dupes? Is a slight variant in shimmer coloring enough to justify having two similar colors?

Mermaid's Tears | OPI Dupe

For Christmas I received Do My Back Please. Immediately I noticed a resemblance to Mermaid's Tears. I finally got around to doing a comparison of the two, and I figured for fun I'd include Don't Be Jade, which is too bright, but since it's Avon, the comparison may help some.

Key:

1. OPI Do My Back Please?
2. OPI Mermaid's Tears - Swatch
3. Avon Don't Be Jaded

It's pretty obvious that the two OPI colors (1 and 2) are identical. I thought one would have more of a grey tint to it, but I was wrong. Upon swatching them I noticed that there aren't any differences. Good news! If you missed Mermaid's Tears (2011 Pirates of the Caribbean Collection) you can pick up a dupe. I'm pretty sure this is in the regular collection.

The Avon color is the obvious odd ball. I think I have a color that's similar to it, so I'll have to dig it out and do a swatch comparison if I do. I don't know if you can still get this color, but it is a pretty one.

I also wanted to mention that Hellocotton is officially closing its doors on April 11th. If you follow my blog through Hellocotton you can use the links below, or to the side, if you want to continue receiving updates from my blog. Same goes for your favorite bloggers. Most have alternate means of subscribing, but you can always use a RSS reader like Reeder or Feedly for those who don't. GFC should be safe, but Google Reader is also shutting down in case you missed that as well. Hey, it could happen. I take a break for the internet from time time and miss a lot of stuff.

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Julep and Orly Dupes

Julep Julia and Orly Oui.

Julia is on the pointer and ring finger, and Oui is on the middle and pinkie. Pretty identical when all is said and done. Oui was more opaque, and generally easier to apply, but the end result is basically the same.

Click pictures to enlarge

Orly Androgynie and Julep Patti

Patti is on the pointer and ring finger, and Androgynie is on the middle and pinkie Androgynie has more of a dark brown base, and its glitter is colorful. Patti is black with silver bits. Patti also has more glitter pay off than Androgynie. But, Androgynie is more opaque and only required two coats, where Patti needed three. Close, but not exact, but Patti is a good compromise if you really want something similar to Androgynie.

Click pictures to enlarge

Orly Oui and Androgynie were released in 2011, and are easily some of my favorite polishes. Recently Julep released some colors that look really close to those two, and I decided to compare them together. I'm very happy with Oui and Julia. Julia is a great dupe for Oui, but Patti falls a little short in the dupe department, but on its own it's beautiful.

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Non-crackle dupe for Julep Sabrina

I was shuffling around the interwebs looking for a dupe for Sabrina, when I tell my husband that I want a non-crackle version of this color. He then precedes to open my nail polish drawer, and pull our China Glaze Riveting. What is a nail blogger to do? Swatch it of course! In the picture above, I have Julep Sabrina on top of CG Riveting. To the right of that is Riveting. To the right of Riveting, is Sabrina on top of Eloise which I posted about a few days ago.

How close are they? Well, the color is nearly identical. The finish is what is different. Aside from the obvious lack of crackle, Riveting has a shimmery finish to it, while Sabrina is a frost. They both have a gold/yellow sheen to it creating a semi-duochrome effect. They're different, but close enough to satisfy my cravings.

Do you know of another dupe for Sabrina, sans crackle? One that may be a closer match to Riveting?

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Maria and Fairy Lights Comparison

Julep Maria and Butter London Fairy Lights

As you can see, the two colors are basically the same. Buy basically I mean they're exactly the same. So, yeah. Quite blunt. It's kind of disappointing, the Butter London website let me down. I honestly thought that it was going to be soooo much more purpley in color.

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Deep Reds | Comparisons

Colors Used:

OPI Honk If You Love OPI

Essie Wicked

Essie Carry On

Essie Sole Mate

Personal opinion: Carry On and Honk look near identical. Wicked is awfully close to Sole Mate, but Sole Mate is a bit brighter than the former. Over all these colors are close enough that all four aren't necessary. These dark colors usually come off as black from far away anyways.

Shades like these are real popular for the fall and winter seasons, and Essie and OPI always pop one of these shades in there. There's really no need. Lined up, they all look near identical.

Green/blue Comparisons

I was curious about how the above colors compared to each other, and I figured that I can't be the only one! I heard a lot about how much people were comparing Mermaid's Tears to For Audrey. I even read that that Mermaid's Tears is everything they wanted For Audrey to be. I'm just glad that none of them are that alike!

Colors - Thumb to Pink

OPI Mermaid's Tears

China Glaze For Audrey

OPI What's With the Cattitude

Essie Mint Candy Apple

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

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Pink Comparison - Essie and OPI

Essie Pink-A-Boo is a light pink filled with micro glitter in shades of purple and pink. It is sheer, and requires about 3 to 4 coats to become completely opaque. OPI Pedal Faster Suzi is a deeper shade of pink filled with white micro glitter. This one only required 2 to 3 coats for complete opacity.

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Comparison: Essie Too Too Hot and Olé Caliente

I'm going to be blunt and say that these two are basically exactly alike. I think Olé Caliente is a bit more  opaque, but color wise, they are dupes for each other.  I hate it when companies do this, release a color that is so close to being the exact same as one released previously. The only reason I have Olé Caliente is because it came in that box I posted about a while back. Now I have a back up of a color I really like. I actually slapped on Too Too Hot on my thump and other hand, and called it a day. No one noticed, even when I pointed out that I had two colors on my left hand.

Zoya Mia Comparison

I decided to compare Zoya Mia with two of my OPI's that I thought were some what similar. I originally thought Sparrow Me The Drama was closer, but after I looked at the bottles Mia reminded me more of Dulce De Leche. Below are swatches of the three. I'll let you decide what you think of the three.

Comparisons: Maria and Poetic

Today I have a comparison of Julep Maria, and China Glaze Poetic!

I find that right next to each other, the bottles are extremely similar. Then, as I was swatching them I noticed right away that Maria had more pink undertones. Poetic is more on the copper side. Below are pictures in the sunlight and in my bright light box thingy. It's really not a box....

 

Till next time, toodles!!!