Illamasqua raindrops: does what it says on the tin

Piff asked me if I had this in my stash. I do, and shamefully, I hadn't even tried it. Which is odd, because I normally gravitate to greys - it's one of my favourite neutrals, and a colour I wear often. I picked up this colour mostly because I loved the name and idea - here's the inspiration - so I was pleasantly surprised that the polish lived up to my rather inflated expectations.

This is definitely different from the plentiful other greys I've tried. Firstly it's sheer. Not something I'd usually be overjoyed about, but in this case, I think it works, especially since it allows the little silver flakies suspended in the polish to peek through. (You can see them better in the bottle than on the nail, but they are visible when worn, and it's an unusual touch). Secondly it's a blue-based grey. I tend to prefer the taupe-y side of the spectrum (Essie playa del platinum being the one I pick up most often) and I'm not sure if ths works all that well with my skintone. In this I think the almost baby blue undertones add to the delicacy of the polish - it really does make me think of summer rain drip-dropping on my windowsill. Spot on nomenclature!

This is three coats. Four would probably get rid of the VNL, but it didn't really bother me and it takes a bit of a while to dry, so I went without. Especially since I did coat three on the train to work and I think a forth might have resulted in me smearing the stuff all over my colleagues.