Reader Request: Essie’s ‘Da Bush’ vs. OPI’s ‘Stranger Tides’ (swatches & review)

Something tells me that the military trend will continue to beat strongly all through the summer and well into the fall. It seems like every brand is releasing their own version of khaki, from very pale and muted to deeply vibrant hues and personally, I couldn’t be happier as I absolutely adore these shades! With Essie’s recently launched Resort Collection (reviewed here), ‘Da Bush’ – a pale and creamy celadon green hue, looked like a dead ringer to OPI’s recently released ‘Stranger Tides’ (reviewed here) – another pale and creamy celadon green hue, from their Ahoy, Me Hearties Collection. Apparently, I’m not the only who thought so, hence this reader request! All swatches are with Sèche Natural base coat, lacquer and Essie Good to Go top coat. Please note that for all swatches, index and ring fingers: Essie ‘Da Bush’, middle and pinkie fingers: OPI ‘Stranger Tides’.

So you can get the most accurate picture of how these two shades compare, I’m showing it to you by layer. With the first coat of each, you see the differences clearly, versus the final result. ‘Da Bush’ seems to be just a hint more yellow leaning as opposed to ‘Stranger Tides’ that looks like it might have a touch more green in its base. I also noted that the OPI was definitely more sheer and of course, the other big difference is the brush itself, with the Essie being so much smaller than the wide OPI brush.

Upon application of the second coat, ‘Da Bush’ has reached full opacity while ‘Stranger Tides’ still looked somewhat streaky, requiring a third coat to be as opaque as the Essie. Other than that, the shades look almost identical at this level.

Leaving ‘Da Bush’ with two coats, I applied a third and final coat to ‘Stranger Tides’ to give them an equal depth of colour. At this point, you would be hard pressed to see any differences, especially when viewed in full sun (top photo). In shaded light (bottom photo), you can definitely see that while they are extremely close, ‘Da Bush’ is at least a tone deeper, even though it has one coat less than ‘Stranger Tides’.

Final thoughts: If you missed out on the OPI, here’s your chance to make it up with the Essie…and vice versa! That’s how close these shades really are! However, I noted that while ‘Da Bush’ required less coats for full opacity, the formula was definitely thicker than ‘Stranger Tides’ which may create some bubbling if you rush the application. The OPI also seemed to be slightly glossier at the finish, but when a top coat is applied anyway, it becomes a moot point. Do you need both? No….that may be redundant. It comes down to availability, brand preference and which style of brush you prefer. I usually snatch up these shades whenever I see them, primarily because I can’t resist anything ‘military’ inspired! My thanks to “A Happy Peach” for putting this request in!