OPI Merry Midnight vs. Orly Fowl Play

Ding ding ding! Alright alright... in the red corner we have reigning champ Merry Midnight from OPI's 2009 Winter/Holiday Collection... in the blue corner, we have newcomer Fowl Play from the recent Orly Birds of a Feather Collection. How do these two contenders stack up? Are they truly dupes as many claim them to be? Scroll forth dear reader. It's gonna be a lengthy one...

So can you tell the difference? Do you know which is which?

Sun

Shade

Indoors

These were taken outdoors without flash

These were taken outdoors with flash

Top row is Merry Midnight. Bottom row is Fowl Play

From L to R: Bottle pics, one coat, in the sun, in the shade, indoors

So, are they in fact dupes? Time to put my hyper-critical eye to the test (I knew my anal retentive tendencies were good for something).

• On Base Color: MM's base is more of a maroon/reddish hue as opposed to FP's darker plum/purple looking base. 
• On Flakies: While both seem to carry the same color shifting orange-to-yellow-to-green flakies, MM's was noticeably larger in size when compared to FP's. As far as amount of flakies go, they both seem quite evenly dispersed in number.
• On Glitter: If you stare closely enough (like the distance your parents used to yell at you for when your face was glued to the TV as a kid), you can see hints of what seems to be a duochrome blue/purple glitter in both polishes. FP's glitter looks to be more vibrant and a little bit more in number than MM's.
• On Microshimmer: Even on both counts. The one thing that is definitely identical between the two.
• On Application: MM's base color was slightly more sheer than FP's. The first coat of FP actually covered the nail more so than MM. FP's formula was also noticeably thicker (some have actually opted to thin out FP's formula even prior to first use). Overall application was easier/smoother with FP than MM.
• On Finish: Prior to top coat, MM had a much rougher/textured finish as opposed to FP's more even finish. But of course, all this means diddly squat with a good top coat such as Seche Vite or the like. Don't skimp on a good top coat for this one folks (or any other polish for that matter). The Polish Gods will strike down on you with the force of a thousand suns for it. Don't say I didn't warn you.
• Total Coats for Opacity: MM - 4, FP - 3
• Smexyness Factor: MM - 10/10, FP 10/10... Both are bonafied smexy queens (I have no real rating scale for this. Alls I know is that both are Totes McGotes smexaaayy).

Final Verdict: Which one packs the bigger punch? Oyy, it's a close one buuuut if someone were to hold a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I'd have to say Merry Midnight - by a hair. A hair.  Then I'd kick said person in the shins. Both are seriously gorgeous people, it's incredibly difficult to make that kind of decision. As far as being dupes go... well, are they? From the list above, I guess you could venture to say that I don't think so*. I'd label them more as first cousins. Who only see each other during big holidays. And are constantly being compared to one another but actually are each fabulous in their own right. Or maybe this is all just a huge excuse justification to own both polishes. BTW, as both are limited edition polishes MM is now somewhat hard to come by while FP has been disappearing off the shelves at an almost alarming rate...

*Take this with a huge grain of salt. I am in fact still a polish newb and the two are close enough that many will not notice or even bother to consider the differences I listed above. Do you need to own both? No. But this is not a matter of need. It's a matter of these polishes are freaking amazing so why the heck not?! ^_^

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