Dupe: Essie Leading Lady vs. Essie Toggle To The Top

Essie Leading Lady Dupe

Hello my lovely readers! So I’ve done a couple dupe posts now and I’m not quite sure if I want to categorize them as so. Many people think as ‘dupes’ as similar products for a lower price point, and so far the products I have compared are within the same brand or price range. Although dupe is not one of my favorite words, it will have to do for now! Onto the review!

Essie Leading Lady

From Essie’s Winter 2013 Collection, I bought ‘Parka Perfect’ (see my review here), and ‘Toggle To The Top’. I previously thought I would not buy ‘Toggle To The Top’ because from the promo photo, I found it very similar to a shade I already owned, Essie’s “Leading Lady.” But when I got to the store and was marveling over the newest collection display, I couldn’t help myself from picking it up. Although I couldn’t tell what the difference was from memory, there’s no way Essie would release an identical color two years in a row, so I thought I would give it a try. And I’m so glad I did!

Essie Toggle To The Top

Essie’s ‘Toggle To The Top’ (above) is described as a sparkling crushed garnet red while Essie’s ‘Leading Lady’ (below) is described as a supreme deep red with glitter.

Essie Leading Lady

I applied ‘Toggle To The Top’ on my left hand and ‘Leading Lady’ to my right so I could do a proper comparison. Right away I saw that ‘Toggle To The Top’ was much more of a ruby glitter while ‘Leading Lady’ was more red and warmer toned. ‘Leading Lady’ kind of reminds me of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. I love both shades but I did find that ‘Toggle To The Top’ had a much better formula while Leading Lady seemed more streaky to me. It’s hard to choose one that I like better because they are actually very different when compared side by side. But I would have to say I’m more of a ‘Toggle To The Top’ fan because I personally like cooler toned colors better. I would also recommend this one over ‘Leading Lady’ because of the quality of the formula and ease of application.

Availability

Buy Essie’s “Leading Lady” at DERMSTORE.

Have you tried ‘Toggle To The Top’ yet? What about ‘Leading Lady’? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 🙂

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2 thoughts on “Dupe: Essie Leading Lady vs. Essie Toggle To The Top”

  1. I have Leading Lady in my collection and although they might not be exactly the same colour is seemed a waste of money to buy Toggle to the top as wel.
    It’s nice you write a comparison, comes in handy when you have a big nail polish collection and you dont want to risk buying colours that are very very (very!) similar to the ones you already have

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