Oh, dear..... sad face.....Illamasqua Raindrops

 

It's all very well. Looks quite nice. A very pretty polish. But application? Blimey.

3 coats. Then I just couldn't help myself. I had to apply another. 

4 coats! I can live with that but I had to be so careful.

Too little polish on the brush and I got fearful drag.

Too much polish and I had a puddle.

It's a jelly. I love jelly polishes usually and have never found them difficult to apply but this baby...? Whoa.

The photo makes it look a tad blue whereas it is a genuine grey.

Tricky. Coming to a verdict - tricky. I do love it but it is in my top 10 of silly buggers as regards behaviour. Maybe top 5.

Funnily enough this is one of the 'suggest a colour' polishes. I got in the top 50 in that competition. Or DID I? I've read a lot of bloggers who've had that particular email. D'you think it possible that Illamasqua flattered us in order to foster brand-loyalty/sales? I'd love to know how many of those emails went out! Allegedly. Just insert 'allegedly' in every sentence in this paragraph. *fingers crossed*

Jenni

Couleur du jour?

Maybe even couleur du mois/ de l'annee!
Orange.

Illamasqua Insanity. Even WITH a bubble it's simply the best orange there is and moreover the best polish I've bought for a long time. £5 in the sale! Superb result. How chuffed am I.
3 coats is plenty. 2

So what d'you reckon is the genuine, current couleur du jour?
Orange
Coral
Other

And would that be a creme formula?

Oh, a little pointer for those who weren't sure. The large square cap on Illamasqua is MEANT to be removable. In fact you SHOULD remove it and leave the smaller cap for proper control. I have heard some say Illamasqua polishes are unwieldy. That need not be the case.

Jenni

Twitter will be the death of me...

Do I need more excuses to time-waste?
But if it were not for twitter I wouldn't have been alerted by Lena to something I at first dismissed out of hand as ridiculous.

I got the promo for this in my inbox but I get so much Illamasqua spam I didn't bother to open it.

HOWEVER.....Illamasqua are now tied in professionally with an undertaker's business to do funeral cosmetology.  NOT something I'd ever thought much about. I have now!

I've never seen a dead person. Not as far as I know. Certainly not reposing in their coffin! Do the British do that open coffin thing? I believe it's much more common in the US but I have no clue as to the customs surrounding funerals worldwide. Please enlighten me.

So I was hugely derisive at first. Make-up when you're dead! No, no, no. Once I googled it I realised how run-of-the-mill it is in the US. I just can't see 'funeral cosmetician' as a prime career option somehow. I know I've limited vision. Who am I to make mock...

What d'you reckon to a bit of slap in such circumstances? Consoling to the bereaved? A sign of respect? Look your best at all times? Somewhat superfluous?

I think my current position is that it perhaps detracts from the gravity of the event. Cosmetics are very much a part of life. Cosmetics (delightful as they are) are transient and of the world whilst death is perhaps the time to think on higher things.

Jenni
PS A very good initiative commercially by Illamasqua, I think. Suits their image and marketing strategies. Innovative. Bold.

Not quite an outright fail so much as a partial success.....

 

Not so good

• The tape-strips weren't of equal width because I was too lazy to be particular with the cutting thereof. What else is new?
• The silver crackle didn't crackle properly on 2 of the nails. Maybe I didn't apply enough?

Acceptable aspects

• Kinda messy and decaying vibe to it which fits with the Toxic Nature theme
• Not so bad IRL
• Can make the nails look more slender if you have pudgy paws as I do
• Oh, dead easy to do
• The BB Couture Top Rock topcoat is very shiny

How often do you use tape to mask off areas of the nail and do a bit of "art"?

1. Too fiddly
2. Don't like the effect
3. I've done this a lot and it works really well for me
4. It's just one of a huge range of techniques I use

Jenni

Illamasqua Bacterium

 

It's kinda dirty and odd and strange. Doesn't sound like an attractive cosmetic item, does it? But I love it. 2 coats and fairly thick but manageable. Looks much darker most of the time when there's no direct light source. It looks 'goldish' in the photos (almost Urban Decay Twisted) but I don't see that IRL. Complex polish. If you like Illamasqua (what d'you mean you don't?!), you should love this. I conjecture.

I look forward to 'sellotaping' it. What would make a good contrast colour? What would complement this colour well? Any ideas?

Jen

Illamasqua Purity + Barielle Blossom

(Ever so slightly washed out by the flash.)

How thick is Purity? Thicker than a very thick thing with added thickitude. But it covers in 2 coats which is remarkable for a chalky pastel so no complaints really....

The Barielle has a reputation for being thick and possibly unworkable but actually it behaved quite nicely. Also 2 coats. And when, pray, is Barielle going to introduce some new polishes? Hm? Well? Come along, come along. We're waiting.

Recommend me some peachy shades, please!

Jenni

Boots 17 Nail Xtras Matte Top Coat

I even shocked myself with the generally lousy quality of my last post. Therefore attention was paid to the nails and some improvements made.

An extra coat of Illamasqua Viridian was added to each nail and then I put a matte top coat over one nail to give an accent. It's actually more matte IRL than the photo suggests. An easy way to add a bit of variety to a mani. I'm going to use it to do matte tips as well. Also simple. I hate matte polishes but a layer of matte TC over one nail I can tolerate.

I looked for a buffer in Boots but there was little choice and they were all made in China so that's a no-go. I did get a ridge-filler. Haven't used it yet. Likewise very little choice. My town is really sucky as regards cosmetics availability. Oh, got a great Barry M lip crayon. I want to show you that soon.

Should I draw a red circle on my nose on Friday for Comic Relief? Just nose or nose and cheeks?

Such a dilemma....

Jenni

Illamasqua Viridian ombre + a total disaster

Here it is in all its hideousness. No point in tarting it up.

 
And how the nightmare was wrought.
It was NOT a good idea to franken with the myface polish because it was thick and streaky on its own so why did I think it would make a good base for adding Viridian? Because I'm a cheapskate, that's why. Thought I could use it for good. Who am I? Superman?

So - DON'T use rubbish polishes for frankens.
DON'T neglect the thorough blending of the 2 shades.
DON'T persist with it when it's obvious from the first nail that it's no ruddy good.

Such a shame as the Illamasqua is a lovely polish.

Two for just over a tenner from asos.  That's not a lot for such quality items. And I eff it up bigtime. Maybe I should try foils or something. Something FOOLPROOF for people like me who are fools. *grump grump*

Off to Boots to see if they have the new Barry M crackles in stock. And get a nail buffer.

Jenni

Illamasqua Ruthless + red cremes

Got this with a lipstick for a good price on asos.

Btw this is emphatically not a Valentine's mani. I acknowledge Christmas and Easter and that's about it. Hallmark and all the other card companies can take a running jump. If you can only be loving/thoughtful/considerate one day of the year (after a great deal of hinting etc) then you're not the woman for me! Not that I'm looking anyway.

This photo is taken on day 3. Three coats. Excellent quality.

A red creme is a red creme. I don't have many because what's the point of THAT then? These are the ones I DO have. I'm quite impressed that I don't have many similar polishes in my collection. I do try not to duplicate things.

Nails Inc The Hurlingham (untried) - veering orange?
Cover Girl Candy Apple - my first! really good
Illamasqua Brigitte - lovely jelly finish
Illamasqua Ruthless - see above (bit on the blue side?)
CG Phat Santa - also good, the darkest

It's hard to formulate a poor quality red creme. It's one shade that seems to be fairly foolproof.
Tbh the Nails Inc and the CG were in sets and I wouldn't have bought them separately. I wanted the others in the set.
The CG was in a set too with a sparkle topcoat. For me the CG was fine as my solitary red creme. But I'm getting a bit of an Illamasqua obsession so I will buy stuff I find on sale whether I need it or not. Foolish woman!

Why do we do stupid things whilst knowing full well that we should not?

Examples

• continue to buy nail polish we neither need nor can afford
• persist with partners whom we no longer love nor respect (could be just me and it was a few years ago)
• eat foods that we know will make us fatter and less healthy
• drink to excess when we know we are very likely to have a sore head or do something desperately embarrassing
• the list goes on...

People are odd.

Jenni

Illamasqua Victory

Another quality polish from Illamasqua. Such a shame my first experience with the brand was the ghastly "Rare". But I can't otherwise fault them.

This is 2 coats of perfection. Even copes well with my ridges.

The extra sparkle on the index finger is courtesy CND Gold Effects. Had a discount in the Illamasqua sale. Definitely worth it.

One of my top 2 golds. Misa Disco Queen is the other. Quite different.

Bit of a short post. I have one more in draft form. Unfortunately my mother (aged 83) was admitted to hospital with a brain bleed on Thursday and it's a two-hour drive so I shall probably be less than regular in my posting habits.....

Jenni

FAIL - FAIL - FAIL- black pearl

Black + pearl makes black pearl, non? Well yes, but not in a good way. Maybe applying this in artificial light didn't help matters. Look at Don't look at the tips.

It ought to work. I knew it would end up blue. I didn't want a Chanel-type Black Pearl because I don't like that but I did want something other than a streaky mess. Will try again with another black. I think this is a case of operator-error.

Misa Wishing on a Star + Illamasqua Prism are the culprits polishes used.

Pretty.

Would you or do you wear pearls? I'm wearing a Majorica pearl at the moment. I just wear it. I don't look at it and never noticed the green tinge before. Hm. So maybe Chanel DID get it right with this pearl business. Still don't like that shade though...

Jenni

Illamasqua Poison

From the sale. Going vampy/dark these days.

Plus a bit of lipgloss in the centre. Looked at my other lip-pix and was shocked by how meagre my lips now appear. Plus the odd angles I seem to have achieved in error. So went a little beyond the lipline with this.

 

The flash has thoroughly washed this out. It's dark and matte. I don't think I'm going to develop a major lipstick addiction akin to my passion for polish. Even lip products I really like don't absorb my interest the way polish does. My account seems to haemorrhage money as it is!

So here's the pic from the Illamasqua website. Cool, huh?

CBA now.

I know not what it may mean to you. Perhaps it's an acronym for Chartered Business Accountant. But I care not for such things. I should as I do have an accountant but his qualifications are his own affair. As long as I don't get into trouble with the taxman (could be a woman, I don't doubt it) I am a happy bunny. Cute Baby Animal.

Newborn at Paignton Zoo. The keepers hoped the mother was pregnant but weren't sure. Arrived at work to find this! Great way to start your working day.


Jenni

Illamasqua Hectic - another grunge-tastic green

3 coats. So smooth. So yumptious-scrumptious. So cheap!

Well, the 'cheap' bit was a downright lie. Even with 25% off it wasn't cheap. But it is ruddy good.

For cheap (and similar but clearly not a dupe) you can still get the Cutex on ebay. It's called Sweet Pea. If I did comparison swatches then you'd see exactly what I mean - but I don't. So .... tumty-tum.

It's a 10/10 for Hectic.

Tonight I am recommending keeping out of the rain and 'The Terror' by Dan Simmons. That book has kept me on tenterhooks for the last few days!

Jenni

Illamasqua Brigitte

This is 3 coats. Of jelly, liquid flow-y scrumptiousness.
Half-price in their sale.
It's a little more pink than in the pic.And a lot less orange-y. Still not got the camera settings right.

If you google Brigitte then you're likely to discover it's a German women's magazine.
But to me it's the actress who once looked like this. Brigitte Bardot (born 1934 so a bit younger than my mother).

And now looks like this.

We're all supposedly obsessed with weight gain and ageing.

My views are:
WEIGHT I'm too fat from a medical point of view but not as fat as lots of people I see in the supermarket (my personal litmus test!) so I'm relaxed about it.
AGE Never had it so good as now. I'm 55 and I like it! Apparently 30s and 40s are the time women are least happy. Work pressures. Relationship problems. All that stuff. I'm over that.

Where do you stand on weight and age? Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4) has spent 2 days on women and weight and I just want to shout at them to shut up. Are we not more than our lb and oz? Ffs. I know that's a bit odd/hypocritical coming from a woman who spends hours on fashion blogs but all that whining gets so tedious. RANT OVER.

Jenni 

Illamasqua Harsh + Barry M Instant Nail Effects

Bear with me. I'm not going to tire of the Barry M for some time.
Wanted to see how it would apply over a glitter polish.

I didn't do enough coats of Harsh. It needs 3 or 4 but that's not hard to do.
The Barry M works better if you slop a lot on. I didn't put enough on my little finger. You live and learn. So forget all that business about not overlapping coats. You don't have to be precious with this.

That's about it really. Better go and apply a bit more Harsh and get out in the autumn sunshine with these here dogs.

Harsh occasionally flashes some other colours but it's hard to capture. Good polish but I'm glad I didn't pay full price.

Jenni

Illamasqua Rampage

They say the camera never lies. But I'm not so sure.....

This looks way worse in the picture than I think it does IRL.
But IRL I'm 5' 6" with flowing golden locks and the body of a minor divinity....So what do I know?
Forgot topcoat because I have a filthy cold. Stay back. Back. No, FURTHER!!!! You really don't need these germs. 2 coats. It's a jelly. At least jelly-ish.

Finally succumbed to greed and shelled out the £ahem required to secure this rather super polish. Irritatingly it was reduced to almost half-price only 2 days later in the bl00dy asos bl00dy sale! I'm nonetheless glad I got it. Lemmings rarely live up to expectations but this one did. Aha! Aha inDEED.

What kind of camera do you have?

• Fancy with all the gubbins and lights and lenses, you technoholic you
• Mid-range
• Rock bottom
• Hey, I've got a 'phone - who needs a camera!

Jenni

Illamasqua Force and Prism + Miss Sporty

OK, pic shows 3 nails.

Indoors.
The Miss Sporty looked a bit like the Illamasqua Force so I decided to compare.
So it goes like this...
L Miss S 2 coats
Mid Force 2 coats
R Force + Prism 2 coats + Prism makes 3

In sunshine. Obviously they're not the same. The coat of Prism (see bottle pic below) makes a subtle change and I'm going to play with layering it over black and green and other colours.

Nothing great about any of them.
The Illamasqua were reduced at asos. No way on earth would I pay £13 for them. The Miss Sporty is cheapo as we know. If anything, the Illamasqua doesn't dry as glossy as the Miss S.
I'm not really happy with the coverage but I'm back at work and not exactly back in da groove with m'nails. So 2 drossy coats will have to suffice.

 Unlike this lady. She's very soignee. Very nicely turned-out. 1965 this is from! 

What's your favourite berry?

Jen

Calvin Klein Barefoot + Illamasqua Prism

I know you are going to look at the pix and wonder what I'm making such a fuss about but these 2 polishes are quite simply - 2 of the best polishes ever to be mixed in a mixing-thing.

2 coats of Barefoot.
You see ! I KNEW you'd be thinking I need my bumps feeling.
The quality of this beauty defies belief.
The bottle is itself a desirable object.

Then add Prism.

Same as above but an added coat of Prism.
And everybody says this - so tedious but true for all that - but you cannot capture the ever-changing beauty of this polish in a photograph.

My work here is at an end for the day.
FINIS.

Jenni

What a nightmare!

Illamasqua Rare
Goody! I've got an Illamasqua (does little dance). It cost £6.50 from asos. Hurrah!

Hmmm. That's where the celebrations ended.
This is described on the Illamasqua website as neon and glossy.
Yes, neon AND GLOSSY.
I thought that was unusual.
Yes, it's very unusual. So unusual that it's not even true.

Let's start with my Eyeko Nude Day 4 (middle). Other layering is Hard Candy Cosmic and Nubar Tan Me. I like this mani. But today this came off.

I wanted to try my Illamasqua. So I removed this.

This is what I got after 3 coats. 3! Streaky and thick and gloopy and MATTE! Ignore nasty filing.
Yes, I shouldn't have believed the description. Everyone knows neons are matte but I DID believe them.

So I had to top this - I do like the colour, you see - with CG Fairy Dust and my Misa Breakneck TC.

I have emailed Illamasqua and got an instant response offering to change this and to amend the website description so that's good service.

I was a fool. I may change it. What should I change it for though?

HELP!