Illamasqua Baptiste vs Essie Sexy Divide

I got Baptiste as a gift from my very dear friend and loved it instantly. Essie Sexy Divide has been one of my favorite purples for a long time. How do they compare?

Let's see:
Very different in the bottle: Baptiste has a distinctive red undertone; and Essie features a strong blue one.

Let's look on the nails now, shall we?
/don't forget you can click to enlarge/

Not so different, huh?
I have SD on my pointer and ring fingers; Illamasqua on middle and pinky.

They are definitely not dupes; but Essie is a very acceptable substitute, even by mine "buy-all-dark-purples-ever-released" standards.

I prefer Baptiste application-wise. Other than that, they are really close. Difference? Illamasqua has this strong, dense glow to it; Essie shows more of a sparse, star-like sparkle.

PS: Please excuse my deformed pointer. I had a bad cooking accident back in September, when I chopped off a big part of the nail bed; it's still in recovery.