Nubar's "Spark" a dupe for Butter London's "All Hail McQueen"?

Butter London "All Hail McQueen" and Nubar's "Spark" in bottle - dupe or no dupe?

So I went to Farmers on Friday night - the first place in New Zealand to sell Butter London ... well, at least that I know of - some nail salon may stock it or something, but I don't frequent those places?  Anyway ... to Farmers, to check out their stock of Butter London ... I sort of was expecting for it to all be a bunch of bull - but whaddya know, it's TRUE!

HOWEVER, of the colours I really wanted, they only had "All Hail McQueen" and "Marrow" - no "Bumster", "Victoriana" or "Minger", so I just got "All Hail McQueen" - no "Marrow" as I have to sell off some of my purples before I get another.  Oh, and I know the name "All Hail McQueen" has apparently changed to "All Hail the Queen" ... who knows why, perhaps her majesty complained ... or perhaps McQueen's camp didn't like it ~ you think they might have consulted them first though, so I can't imagine what the problem is ... all I know is the name of it and fact that it was inspired by McQueen ... along with "Bumster" (which apparently has also been renamed to "Burn" or something like that) are what initially attracted me to this brand in general!  But ANYWAY, my bottle says "All Hail McQueen" so that's what I'm gonna call it!

So here's the thing - because we can't get Butter London here in New Zealand stores, until this week that is, and because online sellers charge high postage (as they have to) and eBay sellers ask exorbitant prices (for both the product AND shipping), I got Nubar's "SPARK" from their prism's collection because it looked like a good dupe.  Whilst doing that I continued to scour eBay looking for a bottle of All Hail McQueen that someone would send here - all the while looking for someone online who could definitively say whether it Spark was dupe for All Hail McQueen ... and haven't found anyone, so I'm gonna do it myself!

For starters, in the bottle - they look similar, but I truly think that "All Hail McQueen" looks softer - "Spark" looks sparkier!

And here they are on nail - this is 2 coats for both.

And to tell you the truth, I really can't see TOO MUCH obvious difference between the 2 - if there was one, I'd say that SPARK was frostier ... the holo particles are perhaps more silvery, bluey; where as All Hail McQueen's holo particles are warmer, maybe even smaller, yes, smaller even - and overall All Hail McQueen is maybe a tiny bit golden-peachy whereas SPARK is more taupe-ish.

And in bright sunlight, SPARK goes more holo - which you can't see in any of these photos I don't think - sorry.
 

In terms of application - I really like both Nubar and Butter London formulas -  but I might just have to rate All Hail McQueen as slightly better - only slightly - like after one coat, I could have let it be ... whereas Spark could have done with one more layer.

 

And in terms of actually applying, they're both sweet ... I always put a LOT of product on the brush so that I don't have to keep dipping into the bottle, and that's why I like Nubar ... and Butter London so far (even though I only have 2 bottles ... oh wait, 3 ... just got another one today in the post, bought it off eBay ... before I read the Farmers catalogue) because in my opinion they're not gluggy, don't go on streaky (no bald spots ... well MAYBE Spark has the potential to do so - I think it even tried to do a bald patch on my thumb but due to the nice formula I was able to move it around and cover it), and don't try to dry before you finish (like some of the Orly polishes I have) which means I can keep brushing and moving the product around to get good coverage.

So, despite a slight difference in particle size and maybe particle colour and perhaps particle effect in bright sunlight ... what's the main difference?  PRICE of course!  All Hail McQueen cost me $29.95 ... and a trip to Farmers at St. Lukes Westfield with my hubby - a rare outing without our offspring.  Spark cost me about $15NZD, a little bit of time looking for on-nail pix of it on the net, half an hour (well, maybe an hour, 1.5 hours?) or so looking for the cheapest one on eBay (as well as cheapest shipping) and then a little, no, a LOT longer looking for a seller who sold the rest of the shades in that collection plus a few (well, a LOT of) other colours that I wanted ... then finding some dosh to pay for it ... but all in the comfort of my own home =)

Oh, and Spark is 15ml; All Hail McQueen is 11ml.  So economics wise, Spark is probably the go-to shade.  But no ... I had to have All Hail McQueen =) coz I'm fussy like that!

Oh, one more difference - you can't get Nubar in New Zealand.  So, if you live in New Zealand, like/want this shade and don't do eBay, get Butter London's All Hail McQueen ~ mind you, not all Farmers stores will stock it, so maybe wait for someone else to buy it, not get so buzzed out by it and then sell it on TradeMe ... like me ... hehe, not; I'm keeping mine.