Dirty Purple Nail Comparison

As I have quite a few murky purple or gruple polishes I thought it would be interesting to do a little comparison post. It wasn't so much to find dupe shades but funnily enough I discovered that Nails Inc. Thayer Street is a very similar to Paradoxal. Unfortunately, it seems this shade was only available as a mini in the Summer Sizzlers set but I like this nail varnish very much. You could almost get away with a single coat as it's quite a thick formula.

As you can see from the picture above, I wanted to compare the following: Models Own Purple Ash, OPI Parlez-Vous OPI?, Chanel Paradoxal, Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and Nails Inc. Thayer Street. Here are the colours on my nails. I've included several photos to show how the colours differ in different lighting.

Purple Ash is the most red toned purple in this group and almost a warm, plummy colour when compared to Paradoxal. Parlez-Vous OPI? is much lighter and doesn't really have any grey tones when compared to the other. I'm sure you have all seen plenty of swatches of Paradoxal. Depending on the light, it can look more grey than purple. The sparkle isn't really evident in these photos but it's fair to say you can't see it all the time when you're wearing it either.

Metro Chic is quite a mousy grey and has only the merest hint of purple but I think it's a pretty good benchmark in this line up. I've not really touched much on consistency but I feel it's worth mentioning that is the thinnest of all the polishes. I think it might even have benefited from a third coat. Thayer Street, as I mentioned, is very similar to Paradoxal. It's another dark grey purple. I think it might be fractionally lighter than Paradoxal but there's not much in it and the only thing it lacks is the shimmer.

So, all in all, five lovely colours with only one possible duplication. May I take this opportunity to apologise for the lumpy application on some if my nails. Half way through I realised that a baby and toddler don't make good manicure companions!

Models Own Purple Ash

I bought the Models Own Purple Ash nail polish when I was ordering for the giveaway. If you're not already aware, the Car Key collection is Models Own's answer to the exclusive Chanel Khaki collection. I really wanted Khaki Rose but it had sold out before I had opportunity. Purple Ash seems to be the 'dupe' for Khaki Rose but I have a feeling it's more similar to the promotional pictures than the polish itself. Certainly the Models Own version is more purple than Khaki Rose which is more rosy brown in colour. You can see swatches of Khaki Rose on London Make Up girl's blog and on Karlasugar.

The polish applied quite well. It's a thick formula so I had to be careful to remove excess from the brush before applying. It wasn't streaky and was reasonably opaque after a single coat. The pictures below are with two coats.

It may not be a good dupe but I like this colour nonetheless. I love murky purples so this is definitely my sort of shade. As ever, I'm reluctant to make comments about the durability of the polish. I applied last night and as you can see there is some tip wear already. I didn't apply any top coat though and I'm forever washing my hands so this doesn't help.

I bought the Car Key polishes from the Boots website. You have to look carefully for the names: Grace Green, Becca's Brown and Purple Ash, as they are listed amongst the permanent line with no swatches.