OPI Stranger Tides

Recently got OPI Stranger Tides from nailvibe since they were offering a 10% off (with min $50 purchase). This is the last of the OPI Pirates polishes I got because I wasn't interested in the two pinks and the grey. I've been lemming for Stranger Tides ever since I swatched it on my thumb at BHG, even though I already have Essie Da Bush (which is a very close dupe). So if you've been wondering how much they look alike, look no further!

Before any pictures, let me just tell you what's on my digits so I won't have to repeat myself for every picture! All pictures were taken under indirect sunlight and without flash.

Index: OPI Stranger Tides

Middle: Essie Da Bush

Ring: OPI Stranger Tides

Pinkie: Essie Da Bush

This is one coat and it's really hard to tell the two colours apart.

Here they are with two coats and immediately you can start to see that Stranger Tides looks more yellow and Da Bush looks more blue. Da Bush was pretty opaque upon the second coat but Stranger Tides had some bald spots so I had to do a third coat. I feel that with shades prone to bald spots (perhaps due to the fact that they're not as pigmented), painting with lighter strokes helps. That way, the brush doesn't press too hard on the polish and create bald spots. Lighter strokes with a little more polish on the brush!

Even though Da Bush didn't need a third coat, I still painted it on for comparison sake. With a third coat, Stranger Tide is now fully opaque sans any bald spots. I must say that even though Stranger Tides required three coats, they were very easy to paint on because of the pro-wide brush as well as the formula of the polish. It wasn't too thin (ahem, Essie Turquoise and Caicos, I'm talking about you) nor too thick. Da Bush also had a nice formula and was also easy to paint on.

Here's a bottle shot! Da Bush on the left and Stranger Tides on the right.

I find that recently with Essies, their formulas have either been a hit or a miss. Take for example Mint Candy Apple, Eternal Optimist and Borrowed and Blue. From my experience, even these three colours were rather pigmented and only required two coats, they were pretty thick and hard to control, which resulted in ugly brush strokes or flooding of the cuticles. So kudos to Essie for getting Da Bush's formula just right!

I also asked my mum if she could see a difference between the two shade and she honestly couldn't tell that Stranger Tides has a yellow undertone compared to Da Bush's blue undertone. She only said that Stranger Tides looked lighter than Da Brush but the difference was so minute she started nagging me about wasting money on polishes again. So verdict wise, like I always say, unless you're crazy like me, or you love colours like these or a back up of sorts, you really don't need both. Personally, I do see a difference and do not regret getting both but when it comes down to actually wearing them and deciding which one to use, I'll probably just flip a coin cuz they're pretty much similar.