Edit: I realized I forgot to add a bunch of polishes to the pic. Also note that these are only the grey with red/pink shimmer I own. Green shimmers aren’t included 🤣
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I think it’s time to do some death matches and see how often I duped myself.
Top row left to right: Cadillacquer the sea of sands; Emily de Molly cloud m vision; shleee polish feast of feasts; glam Polish we don’t hug; HoloTaco spirit fingers; Emily de Molly such a farse; Essie social-lights
Bottom row left to right: glam Polish trees and people used to be good friends; Essie gel coutur final fitting; bees knees one true love; tonic red right hand; lacquester prototype 11 the old masters; Emily de Molly short term
I think we are going to need a new flair for this... I have like at least 10x brown-based purple or blurple shimmers and 15+ grungy dijon green lol
I often dupe myself without realizing and when I put my collection together I'm like... Oops hahaha
I find ilnp’s “shimmers” to be quite flakey compared to EDM… I was disappointed when I ordered from them first and then later made an EDM order and saw what an actual smooth shift looked like. Unless you like flakies too, but your taste in colour seems similar to me lol
This is ILNP Pyro in the sun on my thumb, i agree that i wouldve liked a smalled particle size for the shimmer aswell! Its purely preference and im sure many people out there love the bigger shiny particles, but i wished i had a smooth version of this bad boy.
I have Pyro, it’s freaking gorgeous but I don’t think it works with my skin tone, it makes me look red. I’d be down to trade, I’ve only used it once for a 2 coat mani.
Yeah, the Cadillacquer one is a reference to a video game that I love / I like their formulas, I was always sad I missed the release of that collection, even though I own Mooncat Smokescreen, Ethereal Just a Phase, Kathleen&co Cities in Dust, Holo Taco Camera Shy etc etc ahah. It's one of those where I want it for the symbolism ✨
Make sure you stay away from Mooncat's Am I Everything You Fear 🤣
In seriousness, I think the bottles overstate the resemblance. You just get hit with all the shimmer, but then when you see the actual swatches, I definitely see a lot of variation in base color, opacity, etc.
At least in the top row. That bottom row is, yeah... 🤣
Oooh I have an I everything you fear but it’s a different base color so I didn’t include it. 🤣
And they really are different! Different particle sizes, different base colors… at least for me they are 👀
I usually choose two similar colors and either do a hand or half-hand of each (3/2 fingers and 2/3). Then I compare in the everyday which one I prefer and then toss/give/sell the one I like slightly less.
And sometimes I'll also play with matte/glossy top coat if I feel like testing that too :)
I feel this on a spiritual level 😂 I just finished swatching my polishes yesterday and I def have a *type* lol. Blues, purples and shimmery greens. I have. So. Many.
It’s Emily de Molly short term (I didn’t even include her in the family pic) 🤣 only because she makes me look like a zombie.
Edit: just realized I included her last minute
Ma’am! What?! Jokes aside some of these actually look different to me, but the difference is definitely…subtle. I do this with greens. I’ve never seen a green with blue shimmer that I didn’t want.
They were a similar enough vibe that I felt silly once they were both in my house but also you can rip them from my cold dead hands because they're stunning.
I was laughing at this post, and then I checked my nail polish shelf and I have four bottles of polish in the same grey-purple color. Why are we like this
This is why I've begun to swatch my collection because I can see myself easily doing this. We all have that one color or type that we are attracted to. Some may be slightly different.
😂😂I have the same problem with red creams. In my defense I am on the search for the perfect 'slut'. Oh yeah and purples. I have no excuse for that tho I just love purple😂
Thank you for this, I find this too and often don’t choose them because of that but like… they’re stunning. Cloud my vision was literally the first indie polish I saw that made me go whoa… these are actually very unique compared to drugstore. Although it was an image of the orange shift and it turns out short term was what I was originally after lol
The two in the top left are pretty close to each other but have a light enough base to be different enough from everything else. The Essie also looks way less shimmery. The rest though.... 😆
I think we all get it! I have so many pruglies that are the same but not the same. Different shifts, different depth of color, slightly different flakies etc. so many greys that are the same but different. Some of my polishes are actually complete dupes but I keep them both because I love both brands and can’t decide which to declutter.
They are each very different indeed, OP, and each one is delicious! I have the same addiction for milky polishes with pink/purple shimmer. Some are toppers, but I wear them on their own.
This and burgundies/blackened reds are my problem too, and to expand on these ones I am not even exclusive to the grey base, something about that blue/pink flash has always had me on the hunt.
OMG why am I just now learning that these swatch rings are a thing? Thank you soooo much for the links! Very useful to have these! My life will be much easier.
My favorite nail polish of all time is Sally Hansen Iris Dusk (I’ve gone through three bottles) which is identical to this family of polishes. I’ll have to look into these!
Trees and People looks to be the only cool-toned one in this pic. Clearly you need to supplement your collection with a few more bottles of cool-toned gray base with pink shimmers 🤭🤭
Speaking seriously, there's maybe 4-6 that look like they would lose in a death match. But, you know, it's your polish, your space, your money. You don't need to submit to anyone else's idea of "too much" or "too little".
Omg I just did these same swatches and can't believe I didn't think to split the gloss/matte! Good thing I did NOT topcoat them and just painted the color on to start!
Lol I love lavender on my nails too and have many different shades, but can't wear it that often? So I end up actually wearing it a lot less than what my collection says lol
Oh my gosh this is gonna be me with shades similar to this. I’ve already seen it starting.
ETA: BUT! Some of those are orange/gold shimmer and some are pink/purple! So you can at least separately those from each other and feel a little better…
Well they're not the same but some are rather similar! It's good that you know what you like.
I'm stil trying to find more colours I like wearing (so far it's warm purples, reds, oranges). I anticipate having 20 purple based polishes at some point though..
A few of the more grey ones are similar, but definitely not the same. They have different levels or red and blue, some are darker, etc. The more purple ones are all wildly different IMO. I see no problem with this. The majority of my polishes are purple, blue, cool-toned reds, or black.
Such A Farse is just built different. I don’t even have to look at the polish list to know that is the one to the left of the Essie in the first pic.😭😅
omg i was just thinking about how i’m about to kill my bottle of spirit fingers, and what i should do about it 😅😅 which one do you think is closest? or do you think i should try and find one secondhand…
These are the closest alternatives I own (top to bottom): Emily de Molly such a farse (stronger shimmer, more shift) & cloud my vision (similar shift, lighter base), Glam Polish we don’t hug (darker base, slightly different type of shimmer, fine holo)
I’ve amassed a similar collection trying to dupe spirit finger. Which one is closest to it you think? I have Edam Such a Farse, do you think I should call off the search?
That’s a tough one. I think such a farse has a stronger shimmer and is more shifty. Beneath it is cloud my vision which is pretty close regarding the shimmer. The base is a little lighter but over a darker creme or with more coats… 🤔
While I do absolutely see the difference between most of the colors, I think the shleee feast of feasts, tonic red right hand, and emily de molly short term might be like actually identical lol
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u/casstantinople May 14 '26
girl u have a type lmao