Good evening! Sorry for the late post but I was up at 7am and out on the soccer fields watching my kids play in a tournament all day long. No seriously, we didn't finish until 4pm. Fun day but man I am tired, and sunburnt. So today I decided to feature Illamasqua. This awesome brand from the UK has fabulous, buttery cremes that are a dream to apply. I've also fallen hard for their shimmers. Of course they have other finishes as well - something for everyone! This brand used to be much easier to come by as it was stocked at a few US store counters, but they've been pulled from the shelves. At least we can get them shipped directly from Illamasqua OR you can wait for Haute Look to have a sale with them and pick up odds and ends to fill the holes in your collection! So enough blabbing, let's look at our spotlight brand today.
*nothing to disclose*
Up first is a real beauty, Melange. This is a gorgeous soft green, kind of sagey, kind of minty, full of gold shimmer and flecks and some purple sparkles. The formula was fabulous. Melange covered perfectly in 2 coats. I finished with a layer of topcoat.
Facet is another gorgeous shimmery shade. This one is a taupey/mushroom/brown color with loads of copper shimmer/sparkle. I loved this one so much more than I expected to. This was another fabulous formula. Facet applied like butter in 2 coats and 1 layer of topcoat.
Moving along, here's Boudicca. Boudicca is a bright fiery orange full of shimmery flakes. This one was a bit more sheer so you can see my nail line. I probably should have gone for one more coat. But is still had a great formula and applied nicely. I used 2 coats and finished with a layer of topcoat.
And then there was Marquis! I really love this red-coral texture. The added gold shimmer is really pretty and makes the color so bold. The texture has a nice feel, not overly gritty, but not too fine. While this color isn't overly unique (Zoya Destiny, Julie G Sugar Rush, OPI Jinx are all similar) it's still pretty and I don't mind having it. I used 2 coats of Marquis and no topcoat.
Here's Peruzzi. I didn't even know about this until I saw it on a Haute Look sale. It was so pretty i just had to have it. Peruzzi is a golden yellow full of larger metallic silver glitters. This is a chunky texture polish, created by a mixture of the glitter and base. The formula was really easy to work with and I reached full opacity in 2 coats. I did find this one unique and the only other polish I have to compare it to is Zoya Solange. Rest assured they are not the same as Solange does not have the metallic glitters. I used 2 coats of Peruzzi and no topcoat.
While I still have quite a few untried Illamasquas I plucked Hemlock out of my helmer drawer. This is a very sheer nude/opal base full of green/gold shimmer. You can actually see that it's green in the bottle but on my nails translates more golden. I'll be honest that I'm not the biggest fan of shades that are this sheer. I wanted to wear it alone, but clearly it should be layered over a creme base color. The formula was just as nice as the others. I used 3 coats of Hemlock and 1 layer of topcoat.
