A (Indie) Dark Purple Comparison: Cult Nails Vicious vs. AEngland Elaine

There are those unavoidable instances when you don't have any recourse but to purchase a bottle of nail polish online. I try to refrain from doing so just to make sure I get exactly the color that I want. But when availability (or lack of, in store) is thrown into the mix, sometimes, it's just the more convenient way of getting your fix around to it. That's where Google image search and my trusted bloggers come to the rescue. I realize that photographs aren't the best way to judge color. The settings on your monitor/laptop screen/mobile phone/tablet aren't always going to show you the most accurate color. And sometimes, the two nail polishes you'd like to see side by side can look exactly the same in various photographs and lighting. So what's a girl to do? Well, you take your chances. Today's comparison is actually borne out of my own recent dilemma.

See, AEngland had a sale a little while back. And as always, it was free shipping with no minimum. Pretty hard to resist, plus, it was the perfect excuse to snag the other colors I wanted. I had my eye on Elaine but I already have Vicious. I don't like having duplicates of the same color, as much as possible, so I wanted to know how these two vampy purples compared. But as far as Google was concerned, they looked exactly the same depending on the lighting. Huh. Well, AEngland had a fantastic formula so I figured that if they were dupes, I wouldn't really mind. Besides, what are the chances that two indie brands would dupe each other? Highly unlikely, is what I thought. So for anyone else who wanted to know, here's the two side by side:

A Coral Comparison: Borghese Mediterranean Coral vs. CND Poppy VS. Sally Hansen Salon Mangoes Loco

Earlier this week, I mentioned a coral comparison that I would be doing with Sally Hansen Salon Mangoes Loco. I would normally lump this in with the actual post but it's such a close call that I thought it deserved it's own time in the spotlight. (Besides, I didn't want the one post to be way too lengthy.) I honestly didn'teven  realize how close these three were until I had brought them home on separate occasions. Does that ever happen to you? Gravitating towards a particular color then coming home to realize you had 2, 3, even 5 others that look almost the same? Well, once I swatched Mangoes Loco on a nail wheel, I knew for sure that it reminded me of another color I had. Which in turn lead me to another one. And so here we are, comparing three corals:

Don't they look somewhat similar?

Grey/Purple/Green Multichrome Comparison featuring Butter London Knackered vs. Essence Where's the Party vs. Nubar Purple Beach vs. Wet N Wild Grays Anatomy

Yep, I'm running a bit late today. But never fear, today's post is here! (Hammie just cringed at that. Oops.)

Anyway, jumping right into it, remember when I swatched Butter London Knackered earlier last month and how I wasn't all too pleased with how similar it seemed to all the other purple/green/grey multichromes (duochrome? But "duo" only means two!) I already had in my stash? Well, this curious cat needed to know exactly just how close it compared. I don't happen to own all of the other duo/multichrome polishes that share the same color family so this is, by no means, an exhaustive list for comparison. Off the top of my head, I'm missing Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game and OPI Not Like the Movies but as you'll see in a bit, the others I do have sort of make up for it.

The contenders. Let's get ready to rumble!