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Illummi Blue Lagoon: One Step Gel Polish

I’ve been dabbling in gel polishes recently – although nothing has made it to the blog as yet – and I am loving them.  After years of polishing and top coating, then taking care to keep my hands out of trouble so that they dry without any mishaps, I am amazed at how gel is instantly dry and hard. And how durable my nails are with it.  They have never been this long.

But if you’re put off using gel polish because it sounds so complicated with all the stages … base coat, cure, colour, cure, colour, cure, colour, cure, top coat, cure … not to mention all the wiping of the sticky layers – then Illummi one step gel polishes might tempt you. They really do only have one step: colour, that’s all you need.

The one I tried is awesome. Blue Lagoon is a very “me” colour – a bright cyan shade. I love blue and I love bright blues.

I just made sure my nails were clean and free from oil, then painted the first coat, and cured for 2 minutes in my UV lamp. (They cure in 1 minute in a LED lamp). Then I repeated that and I was done.  There’s no base coat or top coat to worry about, and no wiping of tacky layers. After they had cured, I added some cuticle oil and was good to go. My nails were done and perfect in under ten minutes and I was out the door! (And this was at 7.30 in the morning just before the school run). Amazing!

Illummi Blue Lagoon gel polish
Illummi Blue Lagoon gel polish

I’m so impressed and really pleased with Illummi. Being a one step process not only makes gel nails really quick and easy, but also makes them much more affordable. The polish costs £12.99, which is about average price for a gel polish, but where you save is that you don’t need to fork out on special base coats and top coats on top of that. They do sell a non-wipe gloss top coat, which gives extra shine, but it’s not necessary, and I found that the nails are perfectly glossy without it.

Illummi Blue Lagoon gel polish
Illummi Blue Lagoon gel polish

Removal is simple; you just wrap your nails in acetone-soaked cotton pads and secure with some foil. After ten minutes, you can gently push the gel off with an orange wood stick. I am currently still wearing these, so haven’t removed them yet, but I’ll update the post with how it went at some point in the future.

One thing to note: if you add something like nail art or stamping and then remove it using non-acetone polish remover, the surface of the Illummi polish becomes matte. I found this out because I did indeed stamp over this manicure and then removed it. I was going to add a normal top coat to restore the shine, but before I did that, I had added cuticle oil. It got on my nails, not just the skin, so I rubbed it in and hey presto, the shine to the nail was restored. To check the longevity of this, I washed my hands, and I was pleased to discover that the shine remained.

You can buy Illummi one step gel polish via the Illummi website for £12.99. Shipping is free and there are 19 colours to choose from.

 

For this manicure I’ve used:
  • Colour: two coats of Illummi Blue Lagoon


All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
Products shown in this post were sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.

 

 

 

Comments

Jessica

This blue is gorgeous on you, and your nails are looking amazing!

julia

I’m Always so surprised when I see the quality of your swatches 🙂
The pictures look Always so stunning and beautiful. The lighting looks Always great!
I’d like to try this polish myself as well <3