Illamasqua Nail Varnish Collection Megapost

~ stashy

Today’s post is dedicated to Julija of Infinitely Awkward, and pays homage to fivezero’s megaposts.  In one of the comments, Julija asked me how many Illamasqua polishes I owned – I did a quick count from my inventory spreadsheet, and the answer was: 47.  😮 (Correction, the number of unique shades is actually 44, I purchased back-ups of certain shades which I will indicate with an asterisks) Arguably, Illamasqua are one of my all time favourites in terms of formula and colour selection. Up until last year, I had easy access to the brand but unfortunately, Illamasqua decided to exit from the North American market. Many of the ones I own were purchased during the clearance sales. Here is my Illamasqua collection, grouped by colour:
Illamasqua_mega3 Illamasqua_mega4 Illamasqua_mega5 Illamasqua_mega6 Illamasqua_mega7
I also recently purchased these nail swatching spoons – I’ve been looking for ones with short handles (on the right) rather than the long ones that are meant for display purposes (left):
Illamasqua_mega2
I’m pleased with these shorter ones, now I can see swatches of all my polishes easily and store them on a ring.  I’ll probably do series of nail polish megaposts with other brands in my stash.  Here we go – every single shade of Illamasqua nail polish I own swatched.  These are listed alphabetically and shown with 2 coats (no base / top coat) – shade descriptions are from Illamasqua’s site where possible.

(Mild NSFW warning: some of Illamasqua’s shade names are of a raunchy, sexual nature. They make Nar’s Orgasm and Deep Throat seem tame!)

Alarm – bright flame red, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_alarm
Bacterium – pearlescent ash ochre
Illamasqua_m_bacterium
Baptiste – deep royal purple, shimmer finish
Illamasqua_m_baptiste
Blizzard – snow glitter, glitter finish
Illamasqua_m_blizzard
Boosh – pure black, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_boosh
Charisma – deep raspberry pink
Illamasqua_m_charisma
Collide – bright neon pink, satin finish
Illamasqua_m_collide
Creator – magical black (shimmer finish)
Illamasqua_m_creator
DWS – cement grey
Illamasqua_m_dws
Facet* – grey crystal
Illamasqua_m_facet
Faithful – coppered metal, metallic finish
Illamasqua_m_faithful
Faux Pas – blue violet, rubber finish
Illamasqua_m_fauxpas
Fire Rose – shattered pink (shattered star)
Illamasqua_m_firerose
Gothiqua – deep plum polish with bright green microshimmer
Illamasqua_m_gothiqua
Grab – grape magenta, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_grab
Harem – bright mauve pink
Illamasqua_m_harem
Hemlock – pale opal green iridescent
Illamasqua_m_hemlock
Jo’mina* – electric lilac
Illamasqua_m_jomina
Lament – bright coral pink, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_lament
Load – creamy white
Illamasqua_m_load
Loella – bright candy pink, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_loella
Milf – bright mint gloss
Illamasqua_m_milf
Monogamous – creamy flesh pink, matte finish
Illamasqua_m_monogamous
Muse – deep teal blue, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_muse
Nomad – bright jade, glossy  finish
Illamasqua_m_nomad
Obsess – bright fuchsia pink, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_obsess
Phallic – deep midnight blue, shimmer finish
Illamasqua_m_phallic
Pink Raindrops – sheer cool pink (silver glitter)
Illamasqua_m_pinkraindrops
Poke – bright violet purple, shimmer finish (review here)
Illamasqua_m_poke
Purity – peach (review here)
Illamasqua_m_purity
Raindrops* – sheer light grey, jelly finish (silver glitter)
Illamasqua_m_raindrops
Rampage – dark green jelly, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_rampage
Ruthless – bright scarlet red, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_ruthless
Scarab – deep ruby red, metallic finish
Illamasqua_m_scarab
Stagnant – grey mauve
Illamasqua_m_stagnant
Stance – fuchsia violet, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_stance
Swinger – glistening platinum gold metallic finish
Illamasqua_m_swinger
Taint – stone brown, rubber finish
Illamasqua_m_taint
Throb – blood red
Illamasqua_m_throb
Trilliant – shattered champagne (shattered star)
Illamasqua_m_trilliant
Unnatural – rich burgundy wine, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_unnatural
Untold – red glitter, glossy finish
Illamasqua_m_untold
Venous – bold blue green
Illamasqua_m_venous
Viridian – peacock green, metallic finish
Illamasqua_m_viridian
My favourite colours are of course, the 3 back-ups I purchased: Facet, Raindrops, and Jo’mina – as well, I love Bacterium, Ruthless, Scarab and Viridian.  I hope you enjoyed! 😀  I will continue to post swatches on my hands of the Untrieds since technically many of these (50%) I have never actually worn on my nails. 😛  As you can imagine, this took a while to swatch, photograph and edit everything but I’m really glad I finally started to swatch all my nail polishes.  Do you own any Illamasqua nail polishes?  Which ones are your favourites?

50 thoughts on “Illamasqua Nail Varnish Collection Megapost”

    1. It did take a while but I’m so pleased with them! I love being able to have a library of swatches to refer to if I’m in the mood for a certain shade, I can just pick it out from the ring. 😀 I really like DWS too, it’s a great grey that doesn’t lean too blue or green.

      Like

      Reply

  3. I think I just died and went to nail polish heaven! LOVE the shades Bacterium, Charisma, Facet, Hemlock, Phallic, Raindrops, Scarab, and Viridian. I never bought any when they were still available…so sad we can’t buy them anymore!

    Thanks for doing all the swatches 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Your favourites are mine too! They’re so unique – I’ve honestly never come across a shade like Facet before. I’m so glad I bought a back up. Some of the shades – like Face and Raindrops – were initially limited edition ones but they proved so popular that Illamasqua made them permanent.
      Illamasqua DOES ship internationally but the conversion KILLS us… the nail polishes cost $17 at the Bay… now they’re $30 excluding shipping – OUCH. There are a few shades I’m lusting after but I just cannot justify the cost.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Hehe I also noticed that we both liked the jewel-toned ones or the unique ones like Raindrops and Facet, both of which I’ve heard tons about!

        Had no idea they were leaving the North American market…I was wondering why I stopped seeing the brand in stores lol. Now I’m kicking myself for not picking any up during clearances at the Bay! But agreed, $30 is rather steep to be paying for a nail polish.

        Like

        Reply

  4. Holy crap! I loooove these. I think my jaw dropped when I saw the first pic with all the bottles lined up! ❤ I only wish I'd gotten into these a bit sooner – most of mine are from the clearance at Hudson's Bay. I only paid FP for Alarm and Boosh – those got me hooked.

    I love Alarm, Bacterium, Baptiste, Gothiqua, Lament and Poke the best of all. (I actually looked at Alarm, gasped, and then felt relieved when I remembered I have that one.)

    MORE megaposts, please!!! Your stash deserves to be seen.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’ll work my way through my collection. Which is SMALL in comparison to YOURS, missy! Have you thought about swatching your stash onto nail spoons like this? I am so pleased about how compact these are – all of the shades there for me to choose from.
      Gothiqua was a Hudson’s Bay exclusive – did you know that? I was like GIMME GIMME NOW. I haven’t actually worn Alarm on my nails – it’s SUCH a bright shade of red, I think I’ll save that for summer.

      Like

      Reply

    1. Trilliant is an amazing colour! A little outside my comfort zone since it’s quite a textured glitter.
      And yes, I have quite a few Illamasqua products: foundation, blushes, eye shadows, brushes. I had quite a love affair with the brand when they were here. I enjoyed going to their counter because the makeup artists weren’t trying to push every product onto me. I can do swatches of my other products if you want. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. Wow! Such a great post- thanks for sharing and for taking the time! I have yet to try Illamasqua’s polishes, but I hope I will get to grab some in the future, they look gorgeous!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. DANG GIRL! You’ve got your swatch on! I feel somewhat bittersweet about these, not as many ‘unique’ colours as I expected, but definitely some more bright colours than I expected, especially from you! Do you actually wear those bright colours? 😛 Is Blizzard matte white glitter, or reflective (non-matte) white glitter? I like Charisma, but I’d like it more in a creme finish I think. I really like Gothiqua, Raindrops and Viridian!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. True, the colours aren’t as unique as one might imagine coming from a brand like Illamasqua (and that was the fallacy of the brand – people all thought it was SO edgy and perhaps TOO edgy, but in reality, a lot of their product & colours were quite tame – just the promotional imagery and branding made it seem that way). But what makes the polishes special to me is how well they apply and last on the nails. The pigmentation on these is insane. And as I showed in the Purity post, even their pastel cream shade was nearly a 1 coater.
      Blizzard is a matte glitter – the pieces look kind of like vellum. I haven’t worn this on my nails yet but I think it’ll be perfect for a wintery look!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Amen to the first part! One would think they’d have all these glamorous, unique colours that aren’t so widely common among other brands! That’s good though, the quality is good for the value then! Sometimes these kind of brands are complete misses when it comes to quality, the price is just in the name and that’s it. Oohh that would definitely be nice for a wintery manicure, it’d look like falling snow!

        Like

        Reply

  11. First off, props to you for taking the time to swatch every color and create this extensive (and informative) post! I don’t own any Illamasqua nail polishes, but after reading this post, I really need to find a way to order some! I can tell why you got backups of Facet and Raindrops- they’re beautifully unique colors! I’m not a huge fan of pink, but Pink Raindrops would definitely be something I’d seek out. Great post! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I was soooo excited for Pink Raindrops but unfortunately I have to say it’s not nearly as beautiful as the original Raindrops. There jelly translucent quality that made Raindrops so memorizing is missing from the Pink Raindrops – it’s still a pretty shade but I suppose I have really high expectations for it!
      I do hope you get a chance to try Illamasqua polishes – they’re really high quality.

      Like

      Reply

    1. Throb is a really pretty shade of red – I just love the pigmentation on that one. I love how Phallic looks in the bottle and under certain lights but mostly it registers as a dark shade on my nails. I do love it though. Do you have some Illamasqua polishes that aren’t shown here? I’ve love to see!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  15. Pingback: My Personal Favourite Posts From 2015 | stash matters
  16. Pingback: I bought a few things off AliExpress… | stash matters
  17. Pingback: MyLipAddiction.com Beauty Podcast: I Almost Peed My Pants! | stash matters

  18. Really enjoyed this post thanks for linking me, given you a follow on here and on Bloglovin 🙂 Think the ones that look the nicest are Pink Raindrops, Baptiste, Phallic and Gothiqua 🙂 Sadly I don’t own those, I did have Vice but wasn’t keen on the rubberised finish, now I have Viridian (which I love but chips quickly on me) and Noble 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed this post! I can’t wait to do more of these. 🙂
      I haven’t had issues with Illamasqua chipping on me, luckily. Which base and top coat do you use? I use Orly Bonder and Poshe top coat and they seem to work well with most polishes (although Zoya polishes just never seem to stay on me, sadly!).

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  19. Pingback: My Two Year Blogiversary! | stash matters
  20. Pingback: My Current Holy Grail Beauty Products | stash matters
  21. Pingback: My Blogging Highlights | stash matters

  22. In case you’re wondering… I’m catching up with your favourite posts from before we “met”. 🙂

    I remember when I found your blog. It was in early 2016, I believe. I think you had wrist issues at the time…
    Back then I thought OMG ther’s another girl who really hoards beauty stuff, skin care and toiletries (not just one of those imposters who pretend to be overwhelmed by their 20 nail polishes, 10 fragrances and 5 blushes!

    I will email you as soon as possible. Here’s what happened: I have a pinched nerve. The first week I couldn’t do anything. I felt like a stroke victim because I couldn’t move. It’s getting better, but my arms and shoulders are still killing me when I type a lot. I haven’t checked my emails in almost 2 weeks now (I’m scared!) but I hope to be able to get on top of things asap.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh man, pinched nerve is no fun! I hope you’re resting it as needed and / or exercising it appropriately (I have no clue if you’re suppose to let it heal or help it along somehow…) Don’t worry about those unread emails – they can wait!

      Funny how you deemed me worthy of “hoarder” status! 😆 Thank goodness I’m no imposter… 😛 I still wrestle with the knowledge that I have over 150 blushes but the last time I pulled out my baggie of blushes that I hardly ever use, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of any of them – not one!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Comment: