Monday, May 27, 2013

$2 dupe for Chanel Azure nail polish (picture heavy)

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People seems to be pretty fucking excited about the new Chanel nail polish, called "Azure". It's a greenish-teal-blue metallic duochrome - which, frankly, is not an original or unique shade of nail polish. It could be that this is one of those situations where you have to see in person to appreciate it's super-specialness, but I seriously doubt it. I think instead that this is a case of Chanel bringing its trend-making power to making an already common type of nail polish trendy (redundant much?). And then charging $27 for it. The formula isn't even anything special, apparently.

But I have a $2 nail polish that is mind-bogglingly gorgeous, and it looks like a dupe for the Chanel polish - or close enough. Check it out:
It's Spoiled "Good Karma". This is one that you also need to see in person to really appreciate - it's stunning. It is also metallic and shifts from greenish to teal to blue. The best I can do is show you a whole bunch of pictures in different lighting conditions and at different angles  to try to give you a sense of the range of colors you can see. To me, the green stands out more in the photos, while the blue stands out more in person. (Sidenote: I never understood why bloggers would apologize for their cuticles, because who gives a fuck about cuticles. And then I took macro photos of my nails. Yikes. Sorry about my cuticles.)






I obviously don't have the Chanel polish to compare directly, so feel free to doubt my duping chops. To my eye, photos of this look just like photos of Azure. This polish is opaque in 2 thicker or 3 thinner coats. You'll get some brushstrokes, but not worse than the Chanel, maybe better. Let me suggest to you that if have a CVS nearby, you should pick this up if you are attracted to Azure. Hell, if you don't have a CVS nearby, you can buy this online, and even if you pay $5.50 for shipping, that still a hell of a lot cheaper than the Chanel crap.

Here's the thing, though: Spoiled polishes have shitty, shitty brushes. They are fat and irregular and annoying. But you can still paint your nails with them and not make a mess, especially if you don't have tiny nails. You're just going to be rolling your eyes at their stupidness while you do it. (I've been wondering if I could clean off the cap from a used-up topcoat bottle of a different brand and replace the Spoiled brush with that. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll get back to you.) The downside of ordering online is that it's best to check the brush in the store before you buy to make sure it doesn't have splayed bristles.

Another alternative is China Glaze Deviantly Daring, which Temptalia says is close, though not as green. I'm sure there are literally dozens of other dupes for this at a variety of price points - I just don't own any, since I already have Good Karma.

Do you know of another polish that looks like a match?

3 comments:

  1. Nope, I'm Canadian-born, though my last name is Scottish. (I do prefer to avoid language like "retard", though.)

    This one leaves some brush strokes, too, but it doesn't seem any worse. I really, really don't understand brand loyalty. It completely baffles me. I'll keep my money and not fangirl over a luxury company, thanks!

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  2. To clarify, I think swearing a lot is funny and harmless, but I'm not out to hurt anyone, so I won't use slurs.

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  3. I have that Spoiled color, too, and I love it! The Chanel one looks like it has a little bit of sparkle to it, whereas the Spoiled one doesn't have the sparkle, only the iridescence.... a little sparkle definitely isn't worth $27 though

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