Da Bush and Stranger Tides

Happy Thursday!  =)

So I realize that this color comparison is waaaay late from the release dates, but I honestly just realized it myself.  I've had these two colors sitting my hoard collection and saw them next to each other.  Then I thought, "Hey, that looks exactly the same."  The colors I'm talking about are Essie's Da Bush and OPI's Stranger Tides from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, both of which are from last year's summer collections.

Yeah, I know, my bad.

In the first picture I have Essie Da Bush on my index finger and OPI Stranger Tides on my middle finger.  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but to my eye they are exactly the same.  There might be a fraction of a shade difference, but that must might be from lighting in the photo.  These are perfect dupes for each other.  They're both a murky gray toned sage greens, and they're both cremes.

The second pic is of the two in the bottle side to side.  I figured Da Bush would be more different because Essie tends to dry darker than what you see in the bottle.  But I was wrong.  Granted these are minis of the shades, so I didn't end up spending a gob of money on two bottles of the same thing, but still.

Formula wise, the OPI is thinner and more watery than the Essie.  In the picture I used two coats of Da Bush and lucked out with two thick coats of Stranger Tides.  Normally I'll choose OPI over Essie, but in this comparison you get more bang for your buck with Essie.  Essie normally has very cute names for the colors, but OPI's are more bitchy and interesting.  So if you're deciding over marketing and presentation between the two, go with OPI.

I have no idea if either of these are still available en mass at, say, Ulta, but OPI Stranger Tides retails for $8.50 US and Essie Da Bush retails for $8 US.