Friday 8 June 2012

Accessorize Colorado - Covent Garden Ballet Dupe?

Hi Everyone,

Today's post is something of a victory for me. Well, kinda...

You see, my friend Beth - you know, my fairy glam-mother, has also become addicted to polish. Which is awesome! She now buys a LOT more polish, and has a tendency to buy more for me too! <3

Anyway, she text me one night, asking if I knew of any dupes for a Nails Inc polish, called Covent Garden Ballet. Oooh, I said. Haven't seen much of that one!

So off I googled for a swatch. It's a beautiful soft grey (I do love grey) with a pink shimmer running through it.  My heart sank as I realised I was falling in love lust with this polish. My heart sank further when I realised that this was only available as part of a set - the A-Listers Collection. I hate paying full price for one Nails Inc polish, so buying an extra three I don't want? Sacrilege!

I googled and I googled. I was very sad to report that I had not found a dupe. Very sad. As this particular polish was stuck in my brain now. STUCK!

Covent Garden Ballet

Let's fast forward to last Bank Holiday weekend, when Beth came to stay! Weeeeee!

A montage of words describing said weekend: Pimms, noms, shopping and lounging. Awesome.

On one of our various shopping trips, we stumbled into my local Debenhams store to peruse the beauty counters. It has had a bit of a face-lift, so everything was moved about. We finally found a Nails Inc counter and spent a few minutes checking out the range. There was a special little stand dedicated to the A-Listers Collection. So Beth grabbed the tester and gave it a swatch.

Very pretty. Looked like a good formula too, I'd say two coats for opacity. I cried a little inside.

Beth confessed, she had ordered the set on ASOS as they had it on offer with free delivery.

/Sigh.

We wandered around the shops, with me sighing and mumbling about how surely some other brands will bring something similar out soon. Or how I should just try experimenting with pale greys and sheer pink shimmers. You know, convincing myself NOT to order one too!

Into Superdrug we go, land of more bargainous beauty! We're about to go charging through the aisles, and I stop at the Accessorize stand. I quite like a few of their polishes, as you may remember if you read my blog regularly. The prices had changed slightly. The polishes were normally £4 each. Now a lot of them were just £2.95. (You can almost imagine me rubbing my hands together with glee, can't you?!) And, they had 3 for 2 on. There was definitely a squeal of approval.

There are a couple of colours I really like, but didn't buy as I already have similar shades. 3 for 2 cancelled out any sensible ideals I may have had, and Soft Jade went straight into the basket. As I was perusing, I spotted this. It looked familiar...



A soft grey - check. Pink shimmer - check.

I yelled for Beth, managed no further intelligent words and shoved one at her! Sorry Beth :)

We shared a look that said one thing. We found our Holy Grail. A dupe. A CHEAP dupe at £2.95. We both bought one.

Now for the important stuff. I hate to admit it, but the formula isn't particularly good on this one. It's ok, but the Nails Inc one looked better. My swatches showed three coats for opacity, with a top coat to finish and remove any streaks. The shimmer is there, but not as evident as the CGB. Despite all of this, I would still buy the Accessorize over the Nails Inc. I hate being forced to buy three polishes I don't want. I might have been convinced to fork out the £11 for one, but £25? Nah.

Take a look for yourself. And yes, I have some blurred photos - they caught the pink shimmer better!!







So what do you think? A worthy dupe, or will you be buying the Nails Inc version instead?

I think I'll be going back to Superdrug for a back-up!

Happy polishing,

Love Charlotte x

4 comments:

  1. I have been looking for a dupe for this as well. I will check out the one you mentioned!

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  2. I am so desperate for this set... saw it on ASOS sale for £15.50 and wish I'd had the money to grab it there and then! Alas I didn't and it's now out of stock, sob. I'm on the lookout for a dupe too! x

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    Replies
    1. £15.50 is a good price I suppose, if it comes back into stock AND you like the other colours! If not, try the Accessorize one - I love it :)

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