Hidden Treasure Dupe Fail leads to New Discovery

The week has quickly gotten away from me. I'm sorry for my short absence. I actually had some freelancing jobs and my boyfriends birthday. AND I'm still trying to potty train my chihuahua/mini pincher mix puppy (I don't think I've mentioned him yet. I'll do a separate post on my baby).   I've had a loooooong week.  So here is my mini post for today:


I love all types of beauty blogs, especially ones that obsess over nail polish. But be forewarned; Once you start reading them, you will soon find yourself driving all over town to see if you can find the last bottle of a limited edition polish (ie: Clarins 230, Gosh Holographic, China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out - I have a great dupe for this one). One such sought after varnish is:

Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure

Oooooooh....look at that oil spill. I had this on for a week with no top coat (notice the tip wear on the thumb) and I got compliments on it everyday. I encourage you to click on it to see it enlarged (HA! That's what She said) and magnify the awesomeness. It changes color depending on the type of light and when it turns all orange/gold, it seems to almost emit a glow.  This is one coat of Hidden Treasure over an NYC black  with no top coat on (And this picture was taken in the shade!). I didn't add a top coat since I had originally planned to photograph this on day one of the manicure. That never manifested.

But I did search high a low for a budget friendly dupe for Hidden Treasure (I believe Nubar and Nfu-Oh both have dupes but they are both over $10 bucks a pop).  And this is what I found:



NYX Blue Ave & NYX Peach Ave (average $5)





Sadly, I think I'm going to have to file this under FAIL. I really don't want to. But while it looks nothing like Hidden Treasure, I think is is lovely all on it's own and might be my new fave go to mani. Peach Ave has gold flakies with some that turn green, while Blue Ave has blue, green and lavender flakies. So when you layer the two over black you get this beautiful black rainbow effect. I LOVE it.

I did read some reviews on these and I got some mixed reviews. The biggest complaint was that the flakies were too chunky, would stick up through the polish and not lay flat.  I didn't have this issue. I did however add some Seche Vite but that's because I wanted to prolong the look. 

Either way, the quest for a budget friendly Hidden Treasure dupe continues. What do you think of NYX ave polishes?