Monday, August 30, 2010

Recessionista- OPI Italian Love Affair Dupe

Unfortunately i don't have the OPI anymore (used it for about half a year) but i discovered a great dupe for it. It is a very cheap nail polish from the South African Golden Rose cosmetics. I don't know how easy to find are they since i got the nail polish (plus other stuff) at a small shop in Italy.
The stuffies look quite cheap, no fancy schmancy packaging so this might put people off a bit. I did find some amazing stuff while looking for nothing in particular, so my suggestion would be that if you come across them, don't turn a blind eye, maybe you'll find something cute or a dupe for a favorite product.

Now, getting back at OPI's Italian Love Affair. The usual photos that pop up while Google-searching for it are not realistically enough to depict the real shade. Even on their website the color appears a bit darker than what the real thing looks like and it's really hard to realize until well, you buy it and put it on.
(image found on Google)
The color does NOT look like that in real life, it's much lighter. The only realistic depiction i found was this one (OPI polishes- Atomic Orange, Chapel of Love and Italian Love Affair in a row)

(image from www.recenseramera.blogsome.com)
As you can tell, the first picture might resemble the second one, bottle-wise, but the nails are a much darker, bubblegum-ish pink than what ILA looks like.
Too bad i don't have it anymore. However, this is what i found and i think it qualifies as a dupe:
On white background (perfect way to see the real color)
Pink background (makes the pigmentation pop)
Neutral (beige) background, natural light

A gorgeous, natural color that works perfectly as a dupe of the aforementioned shade. The bottle used to have something written on it but it faded away; however, it still has '28' embossed in on the bottom so i assume that must be the number of the shade.
My final point is that if you can't find this (which is highly possible), there are a thousand other polishes that can constitute a perfect dupe for any pink or nude shade; the jazzier, matte ones and the glittered polishes are difficult to dupe because they're really special, and those are the cases when one has really got to purchase the product.
Of course, this polish is not going to be as resistant as the OPI one, though i clearly remember my Italian Love Affair didn't last quite much, a maximum of 2½ days per average and then it chipped a little. If i 'take care' of my nails this baby can last up to a whole week with no problem whatsoever.

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