I have to say that my love for MUA has dropped dead low after all the social media drama lately.. why MUA, why?! I believe that Karla Powell was such a strong brand personality that I sort of understand that MUA as a company must be gutted that she left, but hey - life goes on & it should be seen as a challenge rather than an obstacle! And to be fair - the lady that's running their blog now seems to be puttin' loads of effort into her work *thumbs up*! Anyways - no matter how much I may dislike the brand behaviour, some of their products are still doin' it for me - like these new nail polishes (& their breath-takin' dupeness!).


Okay, maybe I shouldn't call these dupes but absolute rip-offs. I actually caught myself staring with my mouth open at the bottles in Superdrug when I first saw them. No one (unless your their lawyer, I guess) can argue the close resemblance of these two nail polish bottles. N-o o-n-e. But then, if you can have the same thing for a quid instead of £7.99, then, why would we moan, right? All the ethics and morals aside, this new line of nail polishes is pretty damn cool! Now the question is - are you gettin' the same thing when you buyin' the cheaper version or are you just gettin' the same impression but very different products?!  


As you can see in the picture above - there are some strikingly similar lookin' shades! I don't own that many Essie nail polishes so couldn't compare the whole load (in addition to these 4, I think the new MUA blue looks very similar to Bikini so teeny - check that one out!). So we know that the new MUA bottles are very much like little babies of the Essie ones, but really - what are the differences?
  • brush - the new Essie nail polishes have got wider brushes, which someone might like someone might dislike, but they are wider; the MUA nail polishes have got the same thin brushes like the old line, maybe a teeny weeny bit thicker (but that might just look because of the creamier consistency).  
  • amount of nail polish per bottle - Essie gives you 13.5ml for £7.99, MUA gives you 6.2ml for £1; do the maths!
  • consistency - this is quite a difference - Essie seems rather runny to me, and I'm often havin' hard time building it up to an opaque finish, however if you wish to have a natural lookin' manicure, you can just go with one coat and it offers you a nice polished look; the new MUA nail polishes are very creamy and you are forced to build up the colour to opacity - although that's not a difficult job, usually 2 coats are enough!
  • chippin' - I find the chippin' just about the same, Essie maybe stays on for a day longer? But then, my nails are really thin and pretty much anything chips on them almost immediately *sigh*


The most obvious dupe to me is Essie Mint Candy Apple - MUA Pistachio Ice Cream. These two are very similar - the only difference is that MUA is slightly lighter in colour, which doesn't even reflect in the photograph properly - you can see it a bit better in the photograph above with the bottles lying next to each other! It's got that tiny bit more of whiteness than Essie, but otherwise - I'd say buy MUA first, see if you like it, then you can splurge on Essie if you're a fan of the shade! 


Essie Ballet Slippers - MUA All Nude seemed like a pretty good match to me when in the bottles, but once applied you can see the difference - it illustrates the consistency I talked about above. Essie is much thinner and runny, MUA is thick and creamy and therefore builds a very opaque finish. This particular shade of MUA is not even very nude to me, it's an off white/almost white creamy colour.


Another pair I thought was gonna look much more similar was Essie Muchi Muchi - MUA Natural Days. Essie is a more off white pink than MUA - that one is rather a very light baby pink/powder colour. They actually do make a good dupe, but you can see the difference on the bottles!


Essie Mod Squad - MUA Bright Pink seemed like a decent match in bottles, but oh dear! Essie is an actual bright pink compared to MUA, which is a coral pink maybe? Either way, Essie is a proper Barbie pink!

What do you think about the new MUA nail polishes?
Yay or nay?