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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze: a khaki green comparison

I've always consider khaki green to be the "gateway green" into the world of green nail polish. In other words, khakis have just enough green in them to be considered "not brown", but they're not as bold as a full-blown green polish. If you're new to greens, I think that once you try a khaki, you'll probably find yourself on the path to wearing a full-blown green in no time!

When I finally spotted Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze in my area (it's part of this LE collection), I knew I had to have it, even though I've never had luck with the Instra-Dri formula (more on that in a bit). I have a thing for khakis, and even though the word "bronze" is in the title, it's definitely got some khaki undertones going on. Plus, I keeping hearing that Bronze Ablaze is a nice alternative to Chanel Peridot (if you know of a blogger who has done a dupe comparison of these two shades, please let me know!).

 Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Fast Dry Nail Color in Bronze Ablaze
(retail: around $4.99, 0.31 oz)







In certain lights, Bronze Ablaze can look a bit more on the bronze side of the spectrum, but in most lights (for me at least) I can see those rich, khaki undertones. Or if you want to get technical, the correct web color name would be "dark khaki".

But here's the funny thing: comparing it to some other khakis in my collection, it DEFINITELY looks more bronze. Let's take a look:

  • CQ Golden Green is one of the newer CQ shades that started popping up at Rite Aids back in March of this year.
  • Maybelline Khaki Fringe is probably my best Dollar Tree score to date (I found it at DT back in 2009). It was my very first khaki polish and it's still my gold standard and all-time favorite.
  • oke.doke Camo Loco is not a khaki green, of course, but I thought would help to see a greener polish for perspective.

Coats required for what you see in these swatches:

CQ: 3coats
SH: 2 coats
SH: 2 coats
Maybelline: 3 coats
oke.doke: 3 coats


I can honestly say that I don't have another shade like Bronze Ablaze in my nail color collection. I think it's pretty darned unique, and I'm glad I bought it! Oh, and I want to let you know that I think I finally discovered the trick to making Insta-Dris last longer on my nails (they always seen to chip and/or peel within a day or two for me). I've been wearing Bronze Ablaze without any base or top coat lately and WOW, what a difference! The manicure pictured in this post lasted me four days without chips!

So...what do you think of Bronze Ablaze? Do you already own it? If not, is this a must-have shade for you? If you own Chanel Peridot, would you consider Bronze Ablaze to be a nice drugstore alternative? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

All of the products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds.
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16 comments

  1. I can't comment on the Chanel (not in my price range) but I think it's pretty groovy and your review/comparison was alot of work, thanks for this! So no base or top, who'd a thunk? Great post!

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  2. Sequin Scandal looks so nice! I wish I would have picked it up back when it was in stock in store. :-(

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  3. I did my NOTD on this color today - I love it. Wish my pics were as good as yours though lol

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  4. I've only seen the bottles of Peridot and Bronze Ablaze in stores in real life, never seen them on my nails, but from the bottle, they don't look the same at all. Peridot has this greenish duochrome that Bronze Ablaze doesn't have. hth

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  5. My friend has a polish blog with pics of Peridot on it...not close enough, but still very pretty!


    http://nailpolishrequired.blogspot.com/

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  6. As soon as I saw the swatches it reminded me of Chanel Peridot!! I personally don't have either of them but from the swatches I've seen on the blogosphere I can definitely see some resemblance!

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  7. I have this color and it's pretty nice. :D Thanks a lot for the comparison!

    I have a favor to ask... If you end up getting Owl's Night from the new L'oreal collection, could you possibly do a comparison of that and Sequin Scandal? I'm hoping they're close enough to kill my craving for Sequin Scandal. I've compared Owl's Night in the bottle to my bottle of China Glaze Midtown Magic and at least in a lot of lighting they look pretty similar. Owl's Night just has more and smaller shimmer.

    Thanks again!

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  8. Please get well soon,my friend. Missing you on Twitter. :-( xoxo P. S. Have you seen the Sesame Street parody of Glee? It made me think of you...the kids were in a G club. Look it up on YT ...so cute. We are all in your G club here . Muahhhh

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  9. I do have Peridot and by looking at these swatches the most similar to me would be the CQ "Golden Green" or oke.doke "Camo Loco" (this one is def more green then yellowish). I LOVE "Bronze Ablaze," the color is beautiful but more so because I think the Sally Hansen Insta Dry polishes are so wonderful!

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  10. I have both, Bronze Ablaze and Peridot. Bronze Ablaze is definitely more bronze vs. Peridot, which is more of a golden green.
    I'm doing a review of Peridot tomorrow. I will try to do a comparison at www.thequeenofthenail.com.
    Hope you like it.

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  11. Thanks so much for all the helpful feedback, ladies. It sounds like this color is similar, but not a dupe after all.

    Hana: Will do! A very sweet friend of mine is actually sending me Owl's Night, so I'll be sure to do a comparison for you. :)

    bobbysgeel: OMG, I have not seen that video, but now I MUST! :) Thank you SO much for the sweet words--you really know how to brighten my day and I appreciate it so very much. xoxo

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  12. I have both and I don't think they are even close. I did a side by side comparison and took a pic, but I just deleted the picture off my phone yesterday.

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  13. Great post! I found Khaki Fringe at the Dollar Tree too & it's one of my all time favorite polishes.

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  14. I FINALLY got around to the comparisons between Bronze Ablaze and Peridot (I also threw in butter LONDON Wallis). Check it out here. http://www.thequeenofthenail.com/2011/10/sally-hansen-bronze-ablaze-nail-polish.html

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  15. I LOVE this color. Can't find it tho :((( I found a few of the others from that collection at Dollar Tree a while back - but never this one.

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