I recently added a few CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polishes, ahem, nail "glosses", sorry, to a drugstore.com order. I'll do a more thorough review of the formula and performance of them generally soon (spoiler: great), but I wanted to alert you to a dupe first. I ordered the shade "Midnight Magic" suspecting that it might be a dupe for Zoya "FeiFei", and it turns out I was right! The difference is really negligible, though I think the CoverGirl might be a exact match for OPI "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which is itself for all intents and purposes identical to FeiFei, but I don't own that one to compare here.
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| In natural light, left to right: one coat of Zoya "FeiFei", one coat of CoverGirl "Midnight Magic", three coats of Zoya "FeiFei", three coats of CoverGirl "Midnight Magic" |
The CoverGirl has a sheer base that is tinted more blue-gray, while the Zoya is slightly more purple. This is where I think the CoverGirl might be a bit closer to the OPI version, but the difference is not noticeable at all after a couple of coats - it's only really visible with one thin coat. The CoverGirl polish is much more opaque, as you can see in the single coat swatches above. The Zoya is much more sheer. The CoverGirl formula will be completely opaque in two thicker coats or three thinner ones, while the Zoya requires at least 4 coats, and even then it can be a little patchy. In both polishes, the multicolored shimmer/microglitter is identical (I can see blue, gold, and purple/pink). (The slight greenish tint that appears in the photo above is just from the difference in angle, making the gold sparkle more prominent.) The CoverGirl brush is a little wider, which I like it, but your preference will depend on your nail shape. I didn't notice any real difference in wear time between the two (I wore one on each hand for a few days).
Overall, I really prefer Midnight Magic.
You get 11 ml of CoverGirl nail polish for $4-5 (36-45 cents/ml) and 15 ml of Zoya for $8 (53 cents/ml). Usually I don't consider the price per unit for nail polish too carefully, since I almost never finish a bottle (unlike topcoat), so I prefer the one that is cheaper per bottle. If you think you'll go through the whole bottle, it might be worth considering the difference in size, especially if you can get the Zoya polish on sale. Still, it's more likely you will get the CoverGirl for even cheaper since drugstore brands frequently go on sale, and the quality is better anyway. Right now drugstore.com has 20% off all CoverGirl cosmetics, plus if you buy two of these nail polishes, you get $3 off (tick the box below the color choices and above the price), so that brings them down to about $2.50 each. Definitely worth it.
What do you think? Do you already own any of these?
How did you find they play with topcoat? I love these type of glitters, but some of them can be real topcoat eaters.
ReplyDeleteLove the colour. I usually stick to China Glaze/Color Club/Orly, etc for my polishes, but I might have to check out some of these if they have them around here (i.e Walmart or Shoppers, the 2 stores in town that sell polish >.<)
They're not bad with topcoat. You'd have to use two coats to get a perfectly smooth, glassy surface, but one smoothes them out and add enough gloss to make me happy.
DeleteSounds awesome! Definitely have to hunt it down then. Thanks!
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