Essie Toggle To The Top vs Leading Lady

Hi!

I recently purchased 3 polishes from Essie's new Fall 2013 "Shearling Darling" collection. The ones I chose were Warm and Toasty Turtleneck, a dusky mink; The Twill of It, a purple/green duochrome, and Toggle To The Top, a black-based red glitter.

When I got them, I realised that I had probable dupes for all 3 shades already in my collection. I don't know why this happens - it's like a mental block. I've a China Glaze collection on the way and I could already pick out at least 4 dupes for one of the polishes. This nail polish lark does funny things to the brain...

Anyway, I've a dupe for Warm and Toasty Turtleneck to show you later on in the week, but for now, the ones I was most interested to compare were Toggle To The Top and last year's holiday red glitter, Leading Lady. I missed LL first time around and bought it on eBay earlier this year. To my shame, I hadn't even swatched it.

I also pulled out a few other red glitters from my stash - left to right we have O.P.I Stay The Night, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Essie Leading Lady, Essie Toggle To The Top, Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers, and China Glaze Lubu Heels.

Here's a look at the swatch wheel outside -

And a blurry one inside:

I think the blurred photo especially shows that none of these are outright dupes for one another. The three in the middle there - Ruby Pumps, Leading Lady and Toggle To The Top are most similar, but Ruby Pumps is a much finer glitter.

On to a look at the two Essies side by side:

They look incredibly similar in the bottle. So much so that there was an audible "shite" when I opened the packet and saw the 2013 offering. However - it's a different story when you get them on the nail.

Toggle is practically a one-coater. It's a jelly-like consistency in a dark base and it's packed with raspberry coloured glitters. Leading Lady is in a red base and needs a second coat. Both are shown here with two coats of polish and one coat of Poshé.

They're very, very similar, but they're not the same. Application is also different, Toggle being a joy to apply. If you have Leading Lady and adore it, then you probably don't need Toggle, but if you have Leading Lady and think that you'd like something just a tiny bit darker and a tiny bit thicker - then Toggle is worth picking up.

I buy my Essies from the very reliable Salon Supply Store on eBay - the 3 I chose cost me less than €18 including international shipping.