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

 Essie: Pure Pearlfection from the LuxeEffects collection

Retail Cost: $8

vs.

Orly: Twilight  from the Holiday Top Coats Collection

I know what you're thinking. She's crazy, right? These look nothing alike.  I would agree with you at first glance...but there's more to these two than meet the eye. 

I apologize first for the awkward angle of my index finger in this picture.  It was the only way I could get the shimmer to show.  These are both swatched over Hard Candy The End and Ulta Snow White as per ususal.  I'm sure you've already noticed why I'm 'dupe testing' these.  They are both multi-tonal shimmers packed into jelly bases.  Yes, the Orly is packed into a lilac base while the Essie is in a clear one.  But tell me, do YOU see a difference?

Naturally I assumed that on a white base it would be blatently obvious which was the Essie and which was the Orly.  Not so.  The lilac base in the Orly didn't even show on white after THREE coats.  After which point I stopped trying.   To my eyes they look exactly alike.   In this picture, the Orly looks a bit murkier but I can assure you that this is mostly due to the lighting and the shadow in the picture.  It also seems that over white, they lose a lot of their multi-tonal effect and show mostly as a white-ish, silvery shimmer rather than a colorful one.

 Over black they look exactly the same as well.  The colorful shimmer is easier to see here than it is on the white but again, the murky lilac base of the Orly Twilight makes no appearance here.  From what I can tell, these polishes are essentially the same.

Verdict: Close enough for spades.

I know the price difference on these two isn't much BUT if you weren't lucky enough to snag the Essie LuxeEffects polishes you may have been able to score the Orly at Sally during their winter clearance sale for just $1.67.  Yes, you read that correctly. One dollar and sixty-seven cents.  Orly's do also contain a SMIDGE more product than their polish counterparts.  The Essie is a 15mL while the Orly is 18mL.

Where to buy: Both of these are from 'limited edition' collections this winter.  The Essie was available at Ulta and select drugstores nationwide.  Orly can be purchased at Ulta and Sally Beauty Supply stores.

Rematch!!

Essie Pure Pearlfection 

vs.

Retail Cost: 4.99

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

vs.

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

Retail Cost: $8

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.

 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.  

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

 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.