Comparison: Essence, Sinful Colors, Zoya, OPI

Hello lovelies,

It’s Monday again (already?).  I hope you had a lovely weekend!  I had quite a productive weekend even though it was a little busy.

In a few of the posts I did last week I had some requests to show comparison.  I thought I would combine it all into one post.  It might be a bit lengthy but here goes.

First up is Essence – Here’s My Number (mentioned here)  and  Zoya – Dahlia.  First of all, let me say it seems a little unfair to compare Essence with Zoya.  Quality wise Zoya will always win hands down, so I am not comparing formula, application or quality.  I am simply comparing the colour and appearance.

 

Here you can see the Essence – Here’s My Number is slightly darker than Zoya – Dahlia in appearance but I think that is mostly because Dahlia has much more silver glitter.  Here’s my Number does however have the holo glitter in it which the Dahlia does not.  I will say in real life if you don’t look up close they do appear quite similar in colour.  Dahlia is also slightly more textured but I also suspect it is because the texture grit is finer than Here’s My Number.  They are definitely not dupes (but I am sure we didn’t expect it to be). **This photo was taken with extra light to try and pick up the different glitters**

Next up is Essence – Me & My Lover (mentioned here).  I am comparing it to Zoya – Chyna but because I noticed the difference in the red tone I also decided to compare it to OPI – The Impossible.  As above, I am not comparing application, formula or quality.  Only appearance.

Right off the bat you can see Zoya – Chyna is a much darker red.  It also has red glitter.  Me & My Lover has majority gold glitter and is also a much lighter red.  I have even seen this described as a dark pink (which I don’t really agree with). OPI – The Impossible is again even lighter than Me & My Lover.  Texture wise they were all pretty even as far as grit and texture goes with Zoya being slightly more and finer textured. They don’t have the same texture, I am more referring to the amount of texture.  **This photo was taken with extra light to try and pick up the different glitters**

Next up is the Wet n Wild – Saved by the Blue (mentioned here) and the updated Essence – The Boy Next Door.

Here you can see the Essence – The Boy Next Door has much more obvious – and bigger – shimmer.  In the photo – in other words close up – you can see that she shade of blue isn’t exactly the same but in real life it does appear much more similar.  In fact, when I had this on I asked 2 other people and they didn’t notice a difference until they looked up close.  In the photo though, you can see that Essence is a little but darker and has the more obvious shimmer.  Definitely not dupes but both are beautiful bright blues.

Then I have something that I have not posted before.  Both are relatively new and it aaas actually acidicice that pointed out that they looked similar.  First up is Sinful Colors – Star Dust:

 

 

Star Dust is a slightly purple tinted base with purple micro glitter, bigger purple glitter and big pink (fuchsia) glitter.  I have one coat layered over black.  On my pinky I have 2 coats on it’s on and here you can see the tinted base.  I suppose you could wear it on it’s own in 3 – 4 coats but it does look best layered over another polish.  Just remember the tinted base might alter the colour of the polish you wear underneath.

Essence – Only Purple Matters

Only Purple Matters is one of the Essence Special Effects toppers.  It also has a tinted base but not quite as dark as Star Dust.  I have here 1 coat over black.  At first glance they do look very similar but there some subtle differences.  For one, the pink (fuchsia) glitter looks a bit lighter.  This one does have the micro purple glitter and the bigger purple glitter just like Star Dust but it also seems to have either a micro silver glitter or silver shimmer in.  Only Purple Matters might even be a bit more dense.

These two might look quite similar and I don’t necessarily think you need both but Essence seems to be a little shinier and glittery where Sinful Colors shows more of the colours of the glitter.  Both are glittery and shiny though and in my opinion, both are gorgeous.  I don’t think I need both.

Well that’s that for the comparison.  Turns out it wasn’t as lengthy as I thought it was 😉

I will be starting my stamping posts tomorrow so keep an eye out for that and then some nail art for the rest of the week.  It feels like forever since I have shown some of that.

What is your opinion on some of these comparisons?  I hope you have a great day! Before we know it it will be weekend again.

Thanks for reading!