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Yesterday we showed you the new pigments from Illamasqua’s Theatre of the Nameless collection. Today, it is the turn of some of the nail varnish. When word got out that Illamasqua were doing rubberized nail polish, the nail community was alight with anticipation and excitement.
The colours didn’t initially look that interesting or unique from the press release but once I’d had the chance to get up close and personal to them, I changed my mind. The story goes that the prostitutes of Berlin wore colour coded boots in these shades in order to show the punters what their particular area of expertise was. Well I never.
Kink is unmistakeably bottle green (and no, I don’t know what “service” this relates to). This is two coats and it covered perfectly and evenly. It dries super-fast which is really great news as obviously you can’t use a topcoat here
or the effect would be ruined.
In terms of the “rubberization”, it isn’t quite as, well, fetishy as I expected. It doesn’t feel rubbery, or bouncy – more smooth and sleek. It doesn’t look as rough or flat as a matte shade. Regular nail bloggers and readers of nail news will have seen this before, although referred to as “satin”. Diamond Cosmetics and some other American brands have done this before. However, the general UK polish lover will be new to this kind of finish, and I noted that other bloggers were really excited about this – I’ve been to a few events since the launch of these and there was at least one blogger wearing an Illamasqua rubberized shade at each one.
Kink lasted two days on me before chipping and looking tired. Still, it is a gorgeous deep shade of green that I haven’t seen anywhere else. Also, I adore Illamasqua’s rubberized lids that accompany these shades – please can you keep these??
Helen
Vice is another shade from the Theatre of the Nameless collection, an oh-so pretty magenta which doesn’t strike me as particularly erotic with the theme these polishes derive from. I’d have imagined a blood-red to be more fitting. I echo Helen’s sentiments on the effect of Vice alone. I’d classify it as something between a gloss and matte finish. I am new to this kind of finishing but I think its appearance is far more appealing than matte. It dries incredibly quickly and is a thrill to apply. I also love the rubberized handles – it really completes the packaging.
After a couple of days, you can see the tips have started to wear off. The polish also dents quite easily (maybe that’s where the rubberized effect comes into it) and I needed three coats for Vice. However, with Faux Pas (a dirty violet), only two coats were needed and the outcome was entirely different to Vice – Faux Pas is proper pervy rubber looking! Check it out – no top coat. I must admit it looked a bit ‘meh’ in the bottle but on the talons it’s awesome. Sorry Vice, but Faux Pas turns me on more…
Sheenie
There is a fourth shade available too – Taint. We are wheeling out a third hand here, in the form of long-term friend of Just Nice Things, Grace from London MakeUp Girl. Grace informs us that Taint took two coats and was a little streaky at first but evened out beautifully. She likes the “weird texture”. Thank you for letting us use your swatch!
So, what do you think, team? Is there anything here for you?
Illamasqua nail varnishes cost £13.50 and are available to purchase here.
*PR samples*
I really don’t want to know what the brown booted ladies of the night did :S
I like the texture, it’s really weird.
I’m not a fan of these at all. The colours are nice enough, but it just looks like you’ve forgotten to put top coat on.
Loving the look of Vice! Also Kink looks lovely. Got to hand it to Illamasqua, pushing the boundaries and all that! I just wish they weren’t quite so expensive… 🙁 xxx
I’m going to buy all of these. I love the finish on them. Kink is my favorite. Wonder what those women did when wearing those colors? Watch out ladies!
I have and really like Vice. I love the pervy rubber look of Faux Pas on Sheenie, it really does look the most rubbery of the four nail varnishes. I agree with Grace too, I don’t want to know what the Taint girls did!!
I was in London at the weekend and had some time on my hands and wandered around the Oxford St and Carnaby St area and spotted the Illamasqua shop – naturally I had to go in. I have always liked the look and style of their products but have always resisted before now due to the price. However, they had a some sale items which lured me in, and I also bought my first of their nail polishes: Faux Pas. I was interested by both the rubbery finish and really liked the colour. I have it on now… I was very impressed with the formula – really easy to apply, and 2 coats were ample, but as with matt’s it is quite unforgiving to uneveness – be that in the nails or the application. Thus in the end I put Seche Vite over it, and this got rid of both the rubberiness and the blemishes, but shows of the colour amazingly – it is a really great colour, not quite like anything else I have. Sorry for waffling on…