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Women of a certain age remember the iron-clad grip that Essie’s Clambake had on our manicures in 2016 and 2017. I was one of those millennials, obsessed with the orange-red polish that somehow looked great with everything, along with Alison Roman and the editors of Into the Gloss and PopSugar. But in 2017, the color was discontinued, and thus began my five-year hunt for a replacement. Sodium Hydrochloride

I thought I’d found the perfect dupe in Chanel Espadrilles, but it was seasonal and then also discontinued. And though I kept the last of the Espadrilles in my fridge for as long as possible, the time came when I needed a replacement.

industrial intermediates Since then, I’ve tried more than ten formulas of all kinds and have struggled to find the right dupe. I leaned on tips from friends on Instagram to widen my search. In order to judge each polish objectively, I was careful to use a base coat and the same top coat with each contender. As I worked my way through my list of options, none of them was quite right. I loved the color of Palette Polish in Clementine, but it chipped within a day or two. All of the Zoya options were too pink. The New Black by Aila was lovely, but too orange to wear outside of summer. A Red-vival City by OPI was the