So, remember in the last post where I said you could have first dibs on which Butter London I swatched first? I, er, lied, apparently. This parcel turned up two days later and as I was unwrapping it, my mum (who took delivery for me) was looking over my shoulder as I admired Thames and said 'Oooh! That's amazing! You must wear that!'. I decided it would be rude to disappoint my mother. Plus, I really liked the colour. However, it did look a bit familiar: I was wondering if it would be a dupe for Illamasqua Viridian. And they do look very similar in the bottle. There's a bit of extra navy swirly-ness in the Illamasqua, but it's very close.
On the nail, though? Definitely not dupes. Below is one coat of each. Yes, that's ONE coat of Viridian, no top coat, no voodoo...it just is that awesome.
Three coats of Thames, one of Viridian. Thames is lighter, and feels like tonnes of shimmer packed in a sheer grey base. Viridian's base is darker, bluer, and much more intense. There's also more duochrome swirly shinyness (not sure what's happened to my command of English...).
Three coats. (Sorry it's a bit rough and ready - I had to dash and forgot to do clean-up). Dry time is average and wear seems good. It is a really nice colour, and I can't find a ready dupe in my collection, so I can happily justify owning both this and Viridian (especially given my sick problem concerning shiny blue-greens). But if I only had $14? I'd get the Illamasqua. 
