Illamasqua Bacterium Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Bacterium nail varnish was released with the Toxic Nature collection earlier this year. I think it was actually my favourite item from this particular collection. The colour is a joy to wear as it changes a lot according to the light. It's a pearlescent beige taupe, the colour change is a lot like that of a beetle shell. There are definite flashes of green in there. It actually reminds me a lot of the lighter colour from the NARS Dogon eyeshadow duo. 

This is two coats followed by BECCA top coat. Unfortunately, it must not have been completely dry before I went to bed as there are imprints which spoil the finish somewhat! The polish went on easily. I had to be careful to wipe the brush off before applying though, as if the brush was overloaded, I found the polish could go on a little streaky. I found the brush easy to use but I do wish the handle was a little bigger.

As ever, I cannot offer any comments on the wear. I believe Illamasqua polishes are generally pretty good in terms of wear time. I have nothing similar in my collection to compare this colour to but I spotted a very interesting comparisons of Bacterium to Chanel Quartz from the Illusions d'Ombre de Chanel on The Swatchaholic. They're not dupes but they're quite similar when applied. This is certainly a useful comparison for anyone pondering the Chanel Autumn collection.

Toxic Nature: Swatches of Delirium, Emerge and Gamma

Here are the pictures and swatches of Delirium, Emerge and Gamma as promised.

Emerge, Gamma and Delirium

Delirium - Rosy Taupe

Delirium is a matte rosy taupe and I have already posted an eye look using this colour as a base. I imagine I will use it quite a bit this way as I like the effect it creates with a taupe wash over the top. This colour also works well on cheeks. I can't pull this off on my lips as it makes me look a bit too cyanotic but I was surprised by how good the coverage was when applied to the lips.

Emerge - Peach

Emerge is a peach colour. This can be used as a cream blusher but I think it suits a more tanned skin than mine. It can also be used to brighten dark circle. I had a go at this myself on my undereye area but found I couldn't achieve a well blended finish with my fingers. I think a brush would be best for this kind of application. I used it on my eye above the crease (as per the Into The Palette tutorial) and found it very brightening. On my lips, this acts a bit like concealer to blot out my natural colour. I think if you are more adventurous you could experiment mixing this pigment with other colours to interesting effect.

L - Delirium, R - Emerge

With flash

The finish of the cream pigments is matte but they feel comfortable and creamy to apply and wear, with no hint of chalkiness. As I reported in the eye look post, I did experience some creasing when I used Delirium as an eye base.

I had wondered whether Emerge might be similar to Illamasqua Rude Cream blusher which I already own. As soon as I opened Rude, I realised I had been wrong to think they were alike. Emerge is much lighter in comparison and obviously peach to Rude's coral. I think the swatch also demonstrates the matte texture of the cream pigments.

L - Emerge, R - Rude Cream Blusher

R - Rude, L - Emerge

Gamma

Gamma nail polish is a neon orange. I wasn't really sure how this would look on my nails. As it turns out it entirely depends on the lighting conditions. In bright sunlight, it looks great but in overcast light, it brings out the red in my hands. This one will be best reserved for the summer months for me I think. This was my first experience of an Illamasqua nail varnish. I'm not sure it is the best example to start with though as I found the coverage was a little patchy, even after two coats. I have a feeling it's because of the neon colour as I had similar problems with the FG Blah lime green I posted about here. I don't think it will put me off my lust for Bacterium!

The Toxic Nature collection is available now from the Illamasqua website and will be out on counters from 17th March. I'm not sure yet when it will appear on ASOS and Debenhams.

Edit: Ingredients list for Cream Pigments

Disclosure: The products shown were those I received in my event bag.

EOTD with Illamasqua Delirium

I used the Illamasqua Delirium cream pigment in an eye look yesterday and despite my usual habit of showing you swatches before looks with the colours in use, I'm going to do things in reverse order.

Delirium is described as a rosy taupe. I think that's fairly accurate, as you can probably tell from the pan it's quite a murky colour. When sheered out it's not dissimilar to the colour of the natural shadows on my face, so it's good for adding definition. I've used it here as an eyeshadow base but I have seen others use it to good effect as a blusher.

Breakdown
MAC Painterly paint pot
Delirium applied with fingers from lash line to just above the crease
Spectacle eyeshadow from the Le Metier Le Cirque Kaleidescope, applied over Delirium
MAC Brule used from above crease to brow (to blend out any hard edges)
Highlighter end of RBR Eyes Wide Open pencil to highlight brow bone
Brightener end of RBR Eyes Wide Open used on lower waterline
RBR Lacquer liner
No.7 Exquisite Curl mascara

I somehow managed get a very lopsided application, hence the lack of face on pictures. Personally I prefer the heavier application on the right hand side of the last two pictures. Despite using an eyeshadow over the cream, I still experienced some creasing after about 5 hours wear. Next time I will use Too Faced Shadow Insurance instead of Painterly to see if this minimises creasing further.

The Toxic Nature collection was released on the Illamasqua website today, have you ordered anything already? I still have Glister and Bacterium at the top of my list.


Disclosure: Delirium cream pigment was one of the items in my event bag. The No.7 Exquisite Curl mascara was also a PR sample.