OPI – Peace & Love & OPI with comparisons

Sometimes it seems like nail polish brands are on the same wavelength; with OPI’s San Francisco Fall 2013 release coming out at the same time as that of the Essie Fall 2013 launch, the shade that stood out from both collections was a gorgeous duo chrome. Naturally, I needed to know how close the two really were and that curiosity led me to hunt out a couple more similar shades. The following breakdown is how they compared:

All swatches are with base and top coats.

index finger: Deborah Lippmann ‘Wicked Game’ – the sheerest of the four, most apparent lilac tones, grey in the base quite subtle

middle finger: OPI ‘Peace & Love & OPI’ (reviewed here) – medium density formula, a couple of degrees brighter overall, the teal & mauve tones the most predominant of the four

ring finger: Essie ‘For The Twill Of It’ (reviewed here) – the thickest formula of the four (still an easy application, however), the closest in look & finish, the thinner brush of the Essie scores points for leaving behind fewer visible brush strokes

pinkie finger: OPI ‘Not Like The Movies’ (reviewed here) – mid-sheer formula with pronounced lilac undertones, the only one of the four bearing silver & gold micro glitters, the grey base is more apparent than the others

clockwise from top left: Deborah Lippmann ‘Wicked Game’, OPI ‘Peace & Love & OPI’, OPI ‘Not Like The Movies’, Essie ‘For The Twill Of It’

OPI San Francisco Collection – Peace & Love & OPI with comparisons

It’s quite obvious from the swatches above, that both OPI and Essie have achieved similar results with their respective duo (multi) chrome lacquers and while to my eye there are a few differences, they are minimal at best. Deborah Lippmann’s ‘Wicked Game’ has the honour of being the first out of the gate with this ethereal kind of shade, and I like the fact that it’s still available today (part of the permanent range). Do you need both the OPI and the Essie? I’d say probably not – your choice will be determined by either your brand favourite (OPI vs Essie), or brush preference (the thinner Essie vs the wider OPI). Then again, if you are a collector of this type of finish, you’ll want both. Or all. I’m just sayin’…