Put your Dupes Up: As Gold As It Gets vs. Here Comes the Queen

It's time for another edition of Dupes Up! This weeks contenders:

Deborah Lippmann: Here Comes the Queen from the Juicy Couture exclusive three pack

Retail cost: $16 ($48 for a set of three)

vs.

Essie: As Gold As it Gets from the Luxe Effects collection.

Retail Cost: $8

Photo taken in natural light.

A close up shot of the bottle shows that the two are nearly identical.  They're both gold glitters in clear jelly bases and both have a coppery gold shimmer to them.  The glitter is not uniform and is almost a tiny flake type glitter rather than your standard round, square or hex shape.

Photo taken outdoors.  (Overcast)

 I swatched these over both black and white polish.  The effect over white is very subtle.  Even in person you don't get much gold from one coat though the subtle shimmer is nice.  This is one coat each over Hard Candy The End and Ulta Snow White.  You can already tell from the black swatches that that Lippmann glitter is much more compact.  One coat of it nearly covers the nail with flecky gold glitter while the Essie is a bit more sparse.  

Photo taken indoors. Artificial light.

Indoors the effect is a bit more pronounced but it's still apparent that the Lippmann has more oomph per swipe.

Photo taken indoors. Artificial light.

 A close up of the black swatch.  The Lippmann is on the left and the Essie on the right.

And the white.  Since the jelly base is clear it's really more of a glittery effect than an overall gold appearance.  I like the Essie but I think I like the Lippmann better.  It's more expensive, sure, but since you get double the effect in every coat it seems to me the cost is really roughly the same.  One thing is for certain, while they may not be EXACT dupes owing to the Lippman's more compact glitter you could certainly use two coats of Essie to achieve the same effect.  If you're looking for a flecky gold glitter this season, one of these two is sure to satisfy the want!

Essie As Gold As It Gets can be purchased at Ulta and drugstores nationwide. Deborah Lippmann Here Comes the Queen  is available exclusively through JuicyCouture.com. 

Thanks for following! Do you have either of these polishes?