Doppelgängers Layla vs. Nfu Oh

I mentioned that I picked up Layla Ceramic Effect 52 at Winners a few weeks back and how much I knew even before purchasing that it looked to be close to a polish I already owned, Nfu Oh 51.Both gorgeous flakies are comprised of a blurple jelly base, multi-chomatic shimmer and opalescent flakies. I decided to buy it anyway and LOVED every bit of wearing it, but how does it really stack up to Nfu Oh?

In the bottle the two polishes appear to differ in a few ways. First of all 52 appears to have a slightly darker base. 51 appears to have larger flakies. Does this translate to the nail? Not exactly. Since the formula of 52 is thinner, on the nail once built up to opacity the purple jelly base appears to be very similar to 51. That being said, 51 only requires two coats for opacity, where 51 requires at least three, or to be layered over a base colour. Below is a close up of the polish in the bottle. Totally reminds me of a nebula in space.

Can you tell the above macro shots apart? The one on the left is Layla 52, and Nfu-Oh 51 is on the right. The flakies are more dense and larger in 51 than 52, both in the bottle and on the nail, however they are both the same colour and give the same opalescent, multichrome effect. Below is a look at  52 in direct sunlight and shade at two coats:

Bellow is a look at 51 in direct light and shade at three coats.

So should you buy one over the other or even both? Seeing how both of these polishes can be hard to come by I would say no. They are similar enough that whether you have one or the other you will still get the same effect on the nail. 51 is probably best worn over a similar coloured polish for the best effect, where 52 is good on t's own at two coats.

Doppelgängers! Featuring China Glaze Howl You Doin?, OPI Merry Midnight and Orly Fowl Play

Today I have a trifecta of a comparison! China Glaze Howl You Doin? is going up against OPI, Merry Midnight and Orly Fowl Play, pretty festive for the month of December ;) Although the colour and sparkle may appear the same at first glance there are some differences between all three polishes, lets start with a short description of Howl You Doing?

China Glaze Howl You Doing?
- deep purple base
- jelly/crelly texture base
- opaque jelly/crelly
- jam packed with blue/purple glitter
- copper orange flakies
- dull finish
- two regular coats for opacity

sunlight

shade

OPI Merry Midnight
- red based purple base
- jelly texture base
- translucent jelly
- opalescent flakies, colour change
- fine blue micro shimmer/glitter
- glossy finish
- four thin coats for opacity

sunlight

shade

Orly Fowl Play
- deep blue based purple base
- jelly texture
- translucent jelly

- opalescent flakies, colour change

- fine micro shimmer/glitter

- glossy finish

- three regular coats for opacity

sunlight

shade

Merry Midnight and Fowl Play are closer to each glitter/flakie wise, where Howl You Doing and Fowl Play are closer base colour wise! I do not consider any of these dupes, but you definitely don't need all three. For an in depth comparison between Fowl Play and Merry Midnight refer to this Doppelgängers post. I personally would be happy with the OPI and China Glaze only since they are different enough, but I do think Fowl Play is a good substitute for Merry Midnight should you be unavailable to find it.

Doppelgängers - Cult Nails vs China Glaze

Wow, been forever since I have done a Doppelgängers post, which is a good thing. I'm trying to avoid polishes that are too similar to the ones I already own. I actually noticed a resemblance of Cult Nails Blazed to another polish in my stash right after I purchased it, I hate when that happens!

Which is which?

First up here is Blazed, this polish consists of copper and gold glitter in a clear base. two coats:

The polish Blazed is going up against? China Glaze I Herd That from 2012's fall On Safari collection. This polish consists of coper, gold and holo glitter in a clear base. 2 coats.

At first glance in typical lighting these polishes look pretty darn close, but lets take a closer look. Blazed actually appears slightly warner than I Heard That, while I Herd That has the holo sparkle. although I find these to be very similar, and you probably wouldn't need both in your stash they are not 100% identical. The slight shade variation of the gold/silver glitter and holo sparkle in I heard that sets them apart.

Doppelgängers! Holo Edition, Featuring Layla and Nfu Oh

I hope those of you who had a long weekend emjoyed yourself, I know I did :) Today I will be comparing two awesome holos! Like I said in this haul post although I have around 4 other silver holos, I could not give up the opportunity to purchase Mercury Twlight from Layla when I saw it in store. Maybe one day will do a comparison on all of them if you are interested, but for now I picked Layla's strongest condenser in my collection, Nfu Oh 61. For your reference this this is the newer formula. So let's compare them shall we.

First close ups of the bottles, for whatever reason both of these holos hide in the bottle, doesn't really look like anything too special. I have noticed however that if you shake them up real good you can see a rainbow. I didn't capture this on camera because it goes away too fast.

Next up is formula, both polishes are different. Layla is very thin where Nfu Oh is thick and gloopy! Although I prefer the application of Layla, it does take longer to build up, for a full mani I would probably want three coats. In the swatches you see in this post, both polishes are two coats.

Although I have not worn either of these polishes yet I have worn the same brand and finish just different colours. From what I remember even without a top coat these lasted a long time! Definitely longer than my China Glaze holos. So which is more holographic?

... The winner is on the left, the Layla!! My camera sucks at capturing holos, Layla was sooo holo in person! Look how pretty!!

Layla is on the right in this photo, upside-down!

One last thing before I finish this post, check these two out in the shade. I love how the Nfu Oh looks like a chrome. For that and just not being holo enough I'm gonna have to day they are not dopplegangers. Do you need them both then? Probably not, I just cold not resist picking up a stronger silver holo :)

Doppelgängers! Duochrome Edition Featuring China Glaze & Revlon

While in Sally's the other day deciding if I wanted to pick up Deviantly Daring I was reminded of another colour in my stash. I have been doing that a lot lately, trying to make a mental note of the polishes in my stash and they are close to the ones I want to buy. This way I can leave it if I have something similar. Usually swatch wheels aid in this, but they didn't have one out on display at the time.

The one polish that came to mind was Revlon's Ocean Breeze I wore not too long ago. I almost left the China glaze behind, but I am so glad I didn't!

So let's see a close up, first Deviantly Daring 

and Ocean Breeze.

And now both snatched side by side, Deviantly Daring is two coats and Ocean Breeze is at least three.

Both pf the photos above and below were taken in direct sunlight at different angles.

And the last photo shows them in the shade. Look at that shine on Deviantly Daring! I love it :)

So these are obviously not as close of dupes as I thought they were. It you couldn't see it in the photos here are some others reasons why:

- Deviantly Daring is darker in colour

- Deviantly Daring has a chrome-like finish

- Ocean Breeze is thinner formula wise and requires more coats

- Ocean Breeze has more of a duochrome effect. You can see the colour of this polish better in this post.

- Ocean Breeze leaves more brush strokes behind and has more of a frosty finish

Even though Deviantly Daring doesn't have a strong duochrome effect I still prefer it over Ocean Breeze and I cannot wait to wear it as a full mani soon :) which do you prefer?

Doppelgängers! Featuring Color Club and Wet n' Wild

Today I have a green foil comparison between Color Club's Kiss Me Mistletoe and Wet n' Wild  Jungle Fever. After wearing and sharing  Jungle Fever  with you on Monday I was reminded of a Color Club I picked up not too long ago, so here we go let's see how close they are!

Here are come close ups of the bottles, first Jungle Fever.

And Kiss Me Mistletoe.

 The above photo are both polishes at full opacity, left to right Jungle Fever and Kiss Me Mistletoe.

sunlight

shade

Kiss Me Mistletoe only needed one coat! The formula was thick and easy to work with. My bottle did need a good shake though.Jungle Fever needed two thin coats.

As you can tell they are not dupes, but pretty close, Jungle Fever is warmer with tones of yellow where Kiss Me Mistletoe is a lot cooler.

Some other differences between the two are:
- Kiss Me Mistletoe is scented!
- Jungle Fver is quick dry

Doppelgängers! Featuring NYX Glided Gold

Today's installment of Dopplegangers features some gold glitters. They are not your regular glitter, more like irregular flecks of gold pieces.

I will be comparing NYX Girl's Glided Gold and American Apparel's Meteor Shower.

Here are some close ups of the bottles, first NYX

And American Apparel

As you can see in the bottle shots above, these two are not identical, NYX has smaller, softer fleck of gold while American Apparel has larger chunks.

Below is each polish at one coat, left to right, Glided Gold and Meteor Shower.

At first coat you can see that GG has a bit of a goldish base, where MS's base is clear.

Two coats below is where I stop, for the second coat I had more polish on the brush and blobbed it on a little more to get the glitter pieces to adhere better. As you can see, GG builds up nicely in two coats, although I initially thought to use these as top coats over other polishes.

So, these are obviously not dupes, so why did I post about it? GG was one of those polishes I really really wanted, but thought it was to similar to MS which I already owned. I almost didn't get it, but I did, obviously lol. I'm glad I took the chance, but other times I'm not so lucky... as my past posts have shown you! I am glad to own both, and wanted o show you my findings so you know how they compare.

Doppelgängers! Featuring China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Oops, accidentally posted this for 9:30 PM, not AM, just realized now. Sigh... long day today! here's my post anyways!

Today I have another installment of Doppelgängers! I purchased this next polish specifically because it reminded me of China Glazes Strawberry Fields, but I didn't realize how close they really were until I swatched them side by side.

I found this Sally Hansen polish at a liquidation warehouse type store a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure how readily available it is now, but it's called Tip Toe Tulip. Since you all know what Strawberry Fields Looks like, let me describe Tip Toe Tulip for you; it has a deep pink/magenta base with a golden sheen of micro shimmer. Although they are not glass flecks, they are still very pretty. Here they both are in the bottle.

Now let's see some closeups! First is Strawberry Fields.

Next we have Tip Toe Tulip. Both of these bottle shots were taken in direct sunlight.

Here they both are again at 1 coat. Left to right, Strawberry Fields and Tip Toe Tulip.

2 coats,

And 3 coats.

I think it's easy to see the differences in these polishes. Although very similar, the glass flecks sets them apart from one another. Tip Toe Tulip's shimmer is also not as prominent as Strawberry Feilds.

I wonder when this polish was first released, it's in the old insta-dri bottle, I can't remember when exactly they switched over. Such a great shade, either polish!

Doppelgängers! Featuring OPI Merry Midnight

A festive comparison today, Orly's Fowl Play vs. OPI's Merry Midnight. I was shocked when I saw that Orly's had released this polish, I mean, come on! Why are there not more dupes for amazing hard to find discontinued polishes?

I would describe both of these polishes as a purple jelly base with irregular duochome flakies, tiny blue shimmer and random pieces of opalescent blue glitter.

I swatches these both side by side to show you just how they compare to one another. The photo below shows 1 coat, left to right Orly and OPI.

At one coat I could see a difference right away, the base of FP is more blue than MM, which is more red. It is a slight difference, but noticeable to me I'm so glad it shows in the photo! Sometimes when I do comparisons the differences are more apparent in person.

Other than the slight base colour difference, I also noticed that the flakie size differed. MM has larger chunks where as FP has smaller flecks.

Here they both are again at two coats...

And three coats.

Different angle from the light to see the base shade better. Top to bottom, Orly, OPI

Left to right, OPI, Orly

Natural sunlight, left to right, OPI, Orly

The verdict
These differ slightly from one another so I wouldn't say that they are dead on dupes. However, if you couldn't get your hands on Merry Midnight when it was available, Fowl Play is a great substitute!