Illamasqua Optimist

Hey all! Today I have another one of the Illamasqua Rubber Brights to share with you-- this time it's Optimist, which is described as a "warm orange/yellow". Spot on, really. To me, it looks slightly more yellow in the bottle, but has a very strong orange tone. This does dry to the rubber finish, which is a slightly shiny satin finish, instead of a true, flat matte.

I have to be honest, I struggled with this polish. I found it to be streaky and on the thick side. Now, I did apply this during the summer, which was pretty darn hot and I might have had the fan on, which might have contributed to my issues, but I was really frustrated. I felt like I couldn't get it even, despite using a very light touch and thickness made it difficult to spread evenly and avoid leaving streaks in the finish. Argh! I have loved all the other rubber polishes Illasmaqua has made, so it was too bad this didn't work for me. Perhaps if I try again in the future, it will work better! I ended up using three coats here and wasn't completely satisfied-- but I also lacked the energy to try and make it absolutely perfect.

Artificial light (flash):

Unfortunately, with all the other highs I've experienced with Illamasqua polishes so far, I'm a little let down by Optimist. I think the color is fun (though I wish it were more yellow as opposed to yellow-orange [or orange-yellow]-- I feel like this has a very Crayola feel it, haha) but I do wish the formula had been better!