Monday, July 16, 2012

Dupe it Out - Choose Me!/Charla/Haley's Comet

On my Zoya Charla post the other day I had several comments about how this is a dupe for Orly Haley's Comet and Essence Choose Me!

Since I have all three (don't judge me, I have a problem), I decided to do a comparison post.

As some of you may know, I'm a former mathlete and as such all things numerical appeal to me, so I'll be rating them in different categories!

Here is the photo of all three (with labels), each has two coats with no top coat or base coat.   As you can see, all of them are pretty close to each other.


Category 1 - Cost:

First place - Essence Choose Me!  For $0.99 it blows the competition away, tied for second is Zoya and Orly, both of which can be purchased for 8.00 at Ulta.

Category 2 - Application:

First place - Zoya Charla - great application and formula.  Second place - Choose Me!  This actually applied with less goofs, but the first coat was very streaky, with Charla you could almost get away with one coat.  Last place - Haley's Comet - holy cuticle pool Batman!  This application and clean up was a nightmare!

Category 3 - Staining:

First place - Zoya Charla - no staining when I took it off 1 hour later.  Second place - Orly Haley's Comet - minimal staining (yes, after only 1 hour!) it did come off with a little elbow grease though.  Last place - Essence Choose Me!  Holy crow, totally stained my nail after only 1 hour.  ONE HOUR!  It is still stained 2 days later.

Category 4 - Overall Look:

They have subtle differences, Choose Me is a little lighter, Haley's Comet is a bit darker and Charla is in the middle.  All of them look stunning in the sun.  For my personal preference I chose as follows:  First place - Choose Me! - I liked the lighter bits of green.  Second - Charla and Last - Haley's Comet.  I didn't like the darkness as much.

Rating:  3 points for first, 2 points for second, 1 point for last.

Totals:
Choose Me - 9 points
Charla - 10 points
Haley's Comet - 6 points

So the winner is..... Zoya Charla!  But not by much.  For $0.99 if you want this polish, Essence is a good substitute.  Sometimes, money trumps all else!  (Just be sure to pile on the base coat to avoid staining!!!).


Clicking on the photos will enlarge them. Please see the disclaimer for this blog.

3 comments:

  1. Great comparisons! I don't own any of these, but love the look/color!

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  2. theres also another one - mystical dragon by fashionista that is a dupe for these as well. i love your scoring system!

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    1. Thanks for the heads up on the other dupe! Glad you like my scoring!

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