Illamasqua Nail Varnish Competition Winners

In March of this year, Illamasqua came up with a unique idea where it held a nail varnish competition, with a twist. Fans could now actually design their dream nail polish color and submit it to Illamasqua with an inspirational image.

6000 people submitted descriptions from which only 3 were selected and given the form of nail varnishes. The legendary Alex Box, the Pixiwoo sisters, cutting edge nail artist Sophie Robson and Selfridges Beauty Director David Walker-Smith were on the judge panel.

I have two of these shades with me now namely Shrapnel and Raindrops.

Raindrops is what I would say is quite exact to the description provided for the competition, “Inspired by a photograph I took from the monorail in Seattle, through the rain on the window you glimpse the Seattle Space Needle. I want a polish that looks like raindrops on my fingernails. A light, creamy grey with the sheerest silver glimmer, lightly reflective... like a raindrop.”– Ann, California

This is a creamy blue based light grey. Illamasqua calls it a jelly finish varnish. It is quite creamy and sheer on first application. A good 3 layers is what gives the result below, which translates pretty well on the nails. It dries really fast so I would overlook the layers it requires. Also, I guess they have kept the finish sheer to make it reminiscent of how raindrops would actually look on the nails. Now they would not be very opaque would they?

It has these gorgeous white/silvery particles in it, which is not glitter but blends so well with the polish that you can hardly tell. This looks stunning with any pastel or light colored apparel. Gorgeous is the word for this.

Shrapnel is supposed to mimic the appearance of a shiny new penny. This is what the competition entry looked like. “I have NEVER found my dream nail colour, a pink based metallic copper, like a shiny new penny – pure sex!” - Loren, Toronto, Canada.

Illamasqua again did a fabulous job of creating this stunning colour. It is exactly like a shiny new penny, dare I say much more shinier. I don't usually like copper colors anywhere near my dresser but this baby is uber pretty as it has golden pink undertones to it, somewhat like Nar's Orgasm Illuminator? It is a pinky-bronze color - very sexy indeed! Having said that, I think this color is a bit more common compared to Raindrops.

The consistency of this polish surpassed my expectations. One coat gives you a fantastic color payoff that looks exactly like how it looks in the bottle. So unlike the previous nail varnish, this is not quite buildable, as it delivers fantastic results in the first go.

On the whole, I adore the colours. They have a third one too which I am keen to check out. It's a greyish purple, something I don't own yet. Ignore my sloppy application please, I had  a really shaky hand that day!