Illamasqua Milf

Cheryl’s nails, 2 coats, sunlight

This is my last Illamasqua nail polish and boy, do I want more! Milf is a pale minty creme that looks like the perfect vintage green to me. I think this shade is extremely wearable, even for people who are scared of green. It’s not too bright, not too pale and not too cotton candy like. It’s kind of faded. The only grouse I have with this polish is that its thickness. The polish started bunching up by the second coat on Cheryl’s nails.

Liwen’s nails, with OPI Jade Is The New Black

This is a simple green manicure for Liwen, who wore this over Christmas, although I should have made it more festive by putting gold sparkles.

Illamasqua Throb

2 coats, sunlight

Oh Illamasqua, how I love thee. I only own three polishes from this brand and already I feel like its formulas are the best I’ve seen. Throb is a cool red creme and honestly, the colour is nothing to write home about. It’s a very nice red but as I mentioned before, there are only so many reds you c!n have in your stash. What’s incredible about this is the formula. Throb is thicker than the typical OPI creme polishes but still applied very well and has a very shiny red car paint finish. It was sturdy and stayed on my nails better than OPI reds.

Constant readers will know that I own a limited amount of reds. So here is Throb compared to OPI Comet Loves Cupid and OPI Red My Fortune Cookie. You can see that Throb is a darker and more womanly shade as compared to the two OPI shades. I’m glad that it looks quite different from them because I would be peeved if they were too similar.

Alicia’s nails, with China Glaze Love Marilyn

This photo came out quite poorly because it was taken in low lighting but this was Alicia’s Hello Kitty nail manicure. Illamasqua Throb was used as a base for all nails and the glittery Love Marilyn was layered over a few nails. On her pointer finger we painted Hello Kitty stickers.

Illamasqua Load

3 coats, sunlight

I’m back from Sydney with some Illamasqua goodies! Here’s Load, a jelly-like off-white polish with a yellow tinge. This is part of a trio from the 2011 Valentine’s Day collection. When I was doing my research for this polish, I noticed a lot of bloggers getting offended by the name. I know what the name means but perhaps because I don’t really hear anyone using it here, I don’t really get what’s so offensive about it.

With Nubar Yellow Primrose, 2 coats

Here’s a comparison with Yellow Primrose. The colour is virtually identical but the finish is very different. While Load has a jelly texture, which required three coats to make even, Yellow Primrose is more creamy and stark. I prefer Load. It has a translucence about it that makes for easy wear.

I found a random picture of me wearing Load and having breakfast.

With Illamasqua Throb and Essie Matte About You

Throb is the other Illamasqua polish in the Valentine’s Day collection. Here I attempted a heart-shaped manicure.  I don’t think it worked out very well though!