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.

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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!

Illamasqua Nurture

 Let's kick off the week with a Matte Monday post! Remember when I went on an Illamasqua kick? I haven't forgotten about them! Today I have another polish from the Rubber Brights collection to share with you, Nurture. Nuture is described as a "candy apple green" with a rubber finish, which is not quite a flat matte-- there is a slight shine to it, but not the high gloss you would get from a creme. I find "candy apple green" to be a slightly amusing descriptor-- Nuture IS reminiscent of those green apple Jolly Ranchers. Traditionally not one of my favorite candies, but this is still a fun color!

Nuture had a decent formula. Mattes tend to be thick, and it was a bit on the thicker side, though not unworkable in any way. All this hot weather hasn't helped either! I did find Nuture to just the teensiest bit streaky and I ultimately used three coats to make sure I had completely even coverage. And really, that's not a probably, though these polishes do tend to get thicker as you use them, which can sometimes be frustrating. This wasn't terrible, but next time I might try to use two more careful coats to avoid a third one! The drying time is pretty typical of these mattes-- quickly, but not too quickly (which is a very important distinction when applying nail polish, hah).

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Bright is right! My photos make this seem almost neon-- Nuture is definitely borderline neon, though not what I would call a true neon green. I don't wear a lot of greens, so this is a little outside my wheelhouse, but I did like wearing this! I love brights for summer, no matter the color.

Hope you all have a good Monday! I can't believe we are already halfway through August!

Illamasqua Serenity

Just a quick post to slide in here before Monday is over-- I was totally lame this weekend with all the heat and didn't get anything done. We'll call this "Matte Monday" because I have a fun matte polish to share with you today. Today I have Illamasqua Serenity, which is described as a "bright turquoise" and has a matte rubber finish. It was part of the Rubber Brights collection, which was released back in 2012. I picked this beautiful baby up off Hautelook!

Serenity has a good formula-- it wasn't too thick and applied easily (though along with most matte polishes, it will want to thicken up as you use it). I think I used two coats here, though it's possible I used three. With the rubber finish it did dry down quickly, so I waited until each coat was completely dry before adding the next coat. But you can see that it self levels and doesn't look streaky or lumpy.

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Perhaps not surprisingly, I love Serenity. It's blue and it has the rubber finish, which I think is awesome. So this checks all the right boxes in my book! Looking forward to trying the other rubber finish polishes I picked up; hopefully sooner rather than later!

Illamasqua Marquise

Sorry for the lapse in posting-- we traveled out of town last week to visit family and celebrate our birthdays. That was just exhausting so I didn't get anything written up for Friday or today. Oh well. That's life, right? Today we're back with a "Texture Tuesday" post from my new favorite brand: Illamasqua! Today I have Marquise, which is what Illamasqua calls a "shattered star finish" aka a sparkly, glittery texture-- very similar to the original Zoya Pixie Dusts. I would call Marquise a coral orange with a strong gold sparkle.

Marquise has an absolutely fantastic formula and is practically a one coat wonder. I used two coats, of course, to make sure I had complete coverage! The formula was smooth and not too thick and was easy to apply, no issues at all. Like most textures, Marquise dried down quickly. And even better, it was super easy to remove! 

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I am in.freaking.LOVE!! with this polish. It was perfect in every way! Illamasqua has very quickly worked their way up to being one of my favorite brands. I will definitely be bring you more Illamasqua polishes in the future and looking for more opportunities to snatch them up. (Please Hautelook, have another sale!) Happy Tuesday all!

Birthday Manicure!

I'm 32 today!! Yikes, how did that happen?! Hahaha! I still have trouble accepting I'm an adult sometimes. But here I am anyway! Luckily, I can say that my life is pretty good so really, aside from being another year older, I don't really have much to complain about. It'll probably be a pretty quiet birthday-- we're going out for dinner to our local brew pub and then we'll have a bigger celebration later on because my husband's birthday is in another 8 days! June is always a busy month around here.

For my birthday manicure, I went with something simple in my favorite colors: blue and gold! So I used two new to me polishes: Illamasqua Serenity and Zoya Maria Luisa. Serenity is a gorgeous medium blue with a rubber finish and Maria Luisa is a gold flakie topper. They were both easy to apply so this got thrown together fairly quickly, which is always a good thing these days!

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It's not much, but it's fun! I really like the blue and gold combo and I'm excited to use Maria Luisa over some other polishes!

Illasmasqua Noble

It's been awhile since I featured an Illamasqua polish on the blog! Even though they are currently hard to come by stateside due to Sephora no longer carrying the brand, they have been popping on Hautelook recently. Which is a double bonus because they are discounted! Woo! Who doesn't love that? And so, accordingly, I have bought several *coughcough* many Illamasqua polishes recently thanks to Hautelook. Sorry not sorry. Well, my wallet is a little sorry. ANYWAY... today I have Illamasqua  Noble to share with you!

Noble was actually released in a fall collection (in 2012, wow) and I recall liking it at the time, but never got around to picking it up. Noble is described as a "turquoise blue" and also as a robin's egg blue. This polish is incredibly vibrant and bright, so it was love at first sight for me. Personally, I didn't see the turquoise in this for awhile and it definitely looks more blue in my photos, but it does have a hint of green to it to move it into turquoise territory. The formula was good-- I used two coats here and the polish was easy to apply.

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Personally, I am in freaking love with this shade! Even though this was originally a fall release, the brightness makes it perfect for spring and summer! I even got compliments on this polish from one of the sample girls at Costco while I was wearing this. Bonus! Given how awesome this was, I am definitely looking forward to wearing all my other new Illamasqua pretties!

Purple Friday: Illamasqua Faux Pas

Hey all! I'm technically squeaking this post in on Friday, though most of you will probably see it on Saturday. I've decided to shift from Football Fridays to Purple Fridays, because that's the weekly "spirit day" we have at UW before every football game. Plus, I figured that calling it Purple Friday would be more of a reason to actually review the polish. Or something. In any case, I'm giving it a try!

Tonight I have Illamasqua Faux Pas to show you. Faux Pas is described as a "blue violet" with a rubber finish. This was released several years ago (in 2011) but I grabbed it a couple years ago when it showed up on sale at Sephora. This was my first exposure to Illamasqua as a brand and I was definitely pleased. Faux Pas has a great formula and applies really easily. This could also be a one coater, but I used two in photos below-- I have wide nail beds so it gets a little draggy if you try to use too many strokes. While Faux Pas does take slightly longer to dry down to the rubber finish, it didn't feel like it was very long and you can complete your manicure fairly quickly (always a bonus in my book). The rubber finish is a not a true matte but as a subtle shine to it, making it look kind of like vinyl. Personally, I really love the finish but if you're looking for a true matte, this isn't it. Overall, I love this polish and I regret not buying all the other rubber finish Illamasqua polishes when I had the chance. Maybe they will re-release them someday (I can only hope)!

Quick note: photos are making this a bit brighter and more blue than it is in real life.

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Faux Pas is still available to purchase, but unfortunately you can't buy Illamasqua at any brick and mortar stores in the US at the moment-- you can only buy it from their website and then pay to have it shipped from the UK... which means $$. But Illamasqua will definitely ship internationally so that's an option if you really want this and have money to spend!

Football Friday: Apple Cup Edition

This week is end of regular season football and means that, in general, it's time for all the annual rivalry games that fans eagerly await. Rivalry games, especially in-state (and sometimes, inter-state rivalries) stir up a lot of crazy feelings in the fans and a lot of times, the games are crazy in and of themselves. Our annual rivalry with our other in-state public university, Washington State, is called the Apple Cup... mostly because Washington (the state) in known for it's apple production. This year is a little bit odd because not only is the game after Thanksgiving (it used to be the weekend before), it's also on the Friday after Thanksgiving! This is the second time this year that the Huskies will play on a Friday-- something that is highly unusual for us. Of course, this game is highly contentious in my extended family, as many of in-laws are WSU Cougars, while my husband and I are UW Huskies.

Because it's the Apple Cup, I decided to pull out all the stops. I purchased my first two Illamasqua polishes at the beginning of November, but only just got to play with them because I sent them to my parent's house in Portland (hooray no sales tax!). First I pulled out Prosperity, which is an eye-searing neon purple. I used this on my pointer, middle, and pinkie fingers. Then I pulled out Jindie Nails Geaux! which was inspired by the LSU Tigers (boo, hiss) but according to Jindie Nails description is supposed to be worn to support any football team with the same colors, which UW has. As a superstitious sports fan, that works for me. On my ring finger I decided to go with American Apparel Gold Flash and a UW nail tattoo. Then on my thumb I decided to go back to my very first Football Friday manicure of the season and do the UW football helmet. For that I used Gold Flash, Illamasqua Faux Pas, and the Stripe Rite white stripper polish. Ta-da!

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Go Dawgs! Beat the Cougs!