Essie Dupe? | MUA Pistachio Ice Cream

Essie 'Mint Candy Apple - £7.99 & MUA 'Pistachio Ice Cream' - £1

For me MUA has always been very hit or miss, especially when it comes to the nail polishes which usually I hate. That being said, I was walking round Superdrug last week and came across a new line of polishes they have released which could honestly at a glance be dupes for Essie! So much so that dupe may not be the correct word, copies, would be more appropriate. If Essie brought out a mini version of their polishes it would basically be what MUA has done; how they got away with this I'll never know. So here we have two identically packaged products, one smaller, but for a mere £1 and one for around £7.99, surely go for the £1 one right?! 

Nooo! Step away from the MUA stand, turn around, and head right back to Essie immediately! I only own two Essie nail polishes and for the sake of this post I'll compare Essie's 'Mint Candy Apple', with the new MUA polish in 'Pistachio Ice Cream' as they hold a striking resemblance in the bottle and even on the nails. I will say though that Mint Candy Apple is slightly darker looking and less white, like Pistachio Ice Cream. 

One huge reason why I dislike the MUA polishes is for the application. When Essie released their diffusion line in Boots they brought out the larger brush, which in my opinion makes application so much easier and, especially with lighter colours, less streaky. MUA however, have opted for a super thin brush meaning I found it really difficult to get a smooth look and I also had to apply several coats as apposed to the two coats for Essie, which is always a drag! 

One final thing, Essie polishes usually last on my nails a good four or five days before any significant chipping appears, whereas the MUA polish only lasted around two days before it started to wear and then chip off. Not good MUA, not good at all! 

Now I'm not saying don't try the MUA polishes, I'd recommend you try them out purely to see if you like the shades and then you can invest in the Essie one if you do. That way you don't waste £7.99 on a colour you wont ever wear and you might even really like the MUA dupe, these are just my thoughts! 

Have you tried the Essie 'dupes' by MUA? What are your thoughts? 

Emma xo

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