a-England King Arthur v Ciate Velvet Tuxedo: Comparison

It's dupe comparison time! In a previous post, I wrote about a-England King Arthur, a gorgeous gunmetal grey. I thought it looked similar to Ciate's Velvet Tuxedo, so I decided to do a comparison to see if these were dupes or not.

In the bottle, both look quite similar. Both are deep gunmemtal greys with shimmer in them. My Ciate bottle used to have a cute ribbon on it (I actually have a super old NOTD and a bottle pic of Ciate Velvet Tuxedo on the blog - it's super old, so look at your own risk). But over time the ribbon came off, so now I have a ribbon-less Ciate bottle. No cute ribbon...it actually makes me a little sad.



Here's a swatch picture of the two in natural light. You can't really see it in the photo, but Ciate Velvet Tuxedo is actually a shade darker than a-England King Arthur. It's not a big difference, so for some reason the camera didn't pick up on it. The shimmer is the same in both colours, though.

L-R: a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo, a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo

Below is another swatch picture, this time in more shaded lighting conditions. You can see the shade difference a little bit more clearly here. The Ciate shade is a shade darker than the a-England shade, but otherwise, both are quite similar.



L-R: a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo, a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo

So, the final verdict - do you need both? To be honest, I feel like they are both quite similar. I'd get a-England King Arthur over Ciate Velvet Tuxedo, just because it's lighter and thus looks a little more grey and less black, especially in lowlights. But unless you wore the two side-by-side and looked closely at them, it's easy to think they're the same colour.

(a-England product was sent for review. All other products were bought. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

A-England King Arthur: Gorgeous Gunmetal Grey

So I finally got around to trying A-England polishes! After hearing all the hype about them, I kinda felt like I was missing out. The UK-based brand does have some gorgeous colours, and a lot of their polish names are themed around medieval England. So good colours, great names - what's not to like?

A-England King Arthur, the colour I tried, is a gunmetal grey with a shimmer finish. It's a basic colour, but still very nice to have. I think I'll have to make a comparison post to another gunmetal shade I have in my stash. But I love the name King Arthur for this polish. It kind of reminds me of the blade of his sword, or the metal of his armour. Very romantic and evocative.



One of the things I really liked about this polish is that even indoors, it doesn't look black. It looks grey most of the time to me, which is always a plus. I also like the shimmer inside the polish. A-England describes it as "subtle diamond shimmer" (another very romantic description I love), and although it's subtle indoors, when the sun hits it, you can really see the sparkle. I'm all for bling on my fingers, so I love it.



Application of King Arthur was good, and I had no issues with either the polish formula, or the brush size and shape.



I can see why these have been so hyped-up lately. They do have some pretty colours with great formulas. Also, perhaps equally adding to the hype are all the very evocative medieval names. The only downside is that they aren't widely available. Within Asia, you can get them from Singapore-based Mei Mei Signatures, which is an online shop selling all kinds of hard-to-get-within-Asia nail polish brands. They also carry Nubar, Nfu-Oh (two other awesome brands), and a range of others, so do check it out if you're thinking of getting some!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)