My HG base coat it is silky smooth and fast drying love it. I love illamasqua in general

This Base Coat catapulted itself into my Top 3 Base Coats. Smooth and silky application, quick drying. Levels my badly ridged nails nearly to perfection. Polishes, also from other brands, apply like butter. No tipwear after 3 days wear at work, where I type all day!!! For chipping I cannot give any comment because I hardly ever experience it with any products. Will definitvely buy again.

Believe the hype! Illamasqua's base coat is now my only base coat. My purchase was off the back of reading reviews on the Internet (the Sephora product page has a good few) after interest was sparked when purchasing nail varnish from the Illamasqua online shop and I am glad I placed trust in these.


The product texture is somewhat creamy, but not thick and gloopy: when you apply and in the bottle it is a milky colour but it dries completely clear. Like all Illamasqua nail varnishes I have used so far it just glides on and evens out. It creates a very protective and smooth base on the nail. Definitely worth £10.00. Say bye-bye to stained nails! I repurchase whenever I am running low. I use the Illamasqua online shop and the Selfridges London counter to purchase all of my products but my last base coat purchase I used ASOS and took advantage of their free Super Saver delivery - tip for UK Illamasquas!


Typical sleek and shiny black embossed Illamasqua packaging. Bottle is square. I have no qualms with the square lid but the option to remove this cap is very useful for any awkward maneuvers.

A surprise great discovery. This brand has great polish colors but - at least for me, with my 2 purchases - they were goopy, thick and hard to manage. I thought perhaps the line's own base product might help things. It did. But it's also turned out to be a great base overall and I find myself choosing it over the lineup of other better-known products - Lippman, OPI, Anchor, Stickey, etc. - in my cabinet.

What makes it work: it beautifully covers ridges and leaves a very smooth undercoat, plus it seems to hold polish very well and for a crazy long period of time. I'm normally rough with polish but whenever I use this - with various brands of color - the coverage lasts at least 2x as long. I use either a Lippman topcoat or Seche Vite but since I've used them for years, I can only attribute this hold and finish to the base.

The product's in a clear bottle and has a milky pink color. No color shows up on the nails.

I originally bought a few items in the Illamasqua line only because I thought their colors/products were interesting and it was new and different. But to a product, I've found the quality to be terrific. This doesn't disappoint.