Is Illamasqua Cameo a dupe for the original formulation of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue?

... That was the question that went through my mind when I saw the Illamasqua polish on the shelf in my local TK Maxx store (selected stores now sell Illamasqua polishes for £3.99). 

Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear line isn't officially sold in the UK (sometimes the odd bottle turns up in Pound World & Pound Land), so us Brits can't rummage through store displays to try to find remaining older polish bottles. Amazon and EBay sell various shades, however my favourite one - Pacific Blue - was reformulated last year and I can't find bottles of the original formula on UK sites.

Will Cameo fill the gap left by the formulation change to Pacific Blue?

Flash

The short answer is no. They're very close, but not quite dupes. As you can see in the photos, Cameo is a touch lighter.

No flash

Don't get me wrong, Cameo is gorgeous and has a great, hard-wearing formula, and I highly reccomend it. It's just missing that slightly more inky tone that Pacific Blue has.

Let's get a closer look:

Cameo is the lighter of the two, leaning slightly towards periwinkle rather then ink. The formula is streak-free and even with two coats. 

The formula is hard wearing - Illamasqua polishes last the longest on me before starting to chip.

The famous original Pacific Blue [the new formulation is darker and has a thinner, slightly shimmery formula] has a richer undertone to it, and is a one coater. 

It wears very well - just as well as Illamasqua, OPI, Nails INC etc.