Finishing off the swatches from my
butter London Coterie order is All Hail The Queen, a beige with holographic shimmer. If it wasn't for the Coterie sale, I probably never would have picked it up because I was convinced it was a near-dupe to the Orly Nite Owl I already owned and loved dearly. Happily, I was wrong.
All Hail The Queen is absolutely packed with holographic shimmer; I would already love the flattering beige base if it was all by itself, but the holographic effect makes it extra-special. I admit I'm not a big fan of holographic polishes, but in All Hail The Queen it's there just enough to add dimension (subtle enough that you can get away with wearing it in a very conservative workplace) but still wows you when you look close enough.
Orly Nite Owl (ring finger) from the Birds of a Feather collection also has a beige base that I thought would be identical to All Hail The Queen, but side-by-side you can see Nite Owl is taupe-ier and is cooler-toned, helped along by the fine silver shimmer. This was my favourite "beige with a shimmer twist" polish, but it's been replaced by All Hail The Queen; I like that it's a bit warmer and something about it is just so, so pretty and elegant. Nite Owl looks a bit thick here because I applied three coats to match the three needed for All Hail The Queen, but only two are necessary.
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| Close-up, with flash |
Despite the differences, I still don't think it's necessary to have both. They are still very close. Nite Owl is a gorgeous polish and roughly half the price of All Hail The Queen, something to keep in mind if you're on a budget. I wish I could have photographed them in natural light though, my indoors/artificial lighting doesn't do either of them justice, not to mention it tends to make my fingers take on a lovely red lobster-iness.
(Edit 12/17: I've added some marginally better photos in natural light at the bottom of the post!)
Which would you choose? Are you a fan of holographic shimmers?
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| Natural light! |
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| Flash in natural light |
We had some rare sunlight so I whipped out my camera ASAP to snap a few more photos. These were taken on day 3-4 of wear, so there's a bigger gap now between the polish and cuticle. Hopefully these are a better example of the closeness of Nite Owl to All Hail The Queen.
