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Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish Review, Photos, Swatches

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish

Perfect for Fall: Baptiste

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish ($14.00 for 0.5 fl. oz.) is a stunning shade of shimmering royal purple with flecks of red and fuchsia-violet shimmer. It’s gorgeous in the light as well as out of it; it looks inkier when in the shade, but when the light hits it, all of the shimmer comes into play.

The formula was amazing! Smooth and easy to apply with plenty of pigment. I only used two coats on Baptiste, and it was completely opaque. It’s not too thick or thin–just right–which makes it easy to apply without worrying about streaking or patchiness. The wear was also excellent. Admittedly, I don’t do dishes (the boy takes care of that), but I do type all day, so sometimes that alone will show a polish’s true colors–Illamasqua stayed as pretty as when I put it on seven days later with just minor tip wear.

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish
Lament, Baptiste, Collide

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish
Lament, Baptiste, Collide

Illamasqua Baptiste Nail Varnish
Lament, Baptiste, Collide

55 Comments

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vanelle Avatar

Hey Christine,
Quick question: do you know if this chips easily like first few days (or even hours). You won’t believe the bad luck I had with Paradoxal Chanel nail polish, within hours of application it was chipping and all together didn’t last a whole week. I was so disappointed for a high end product I expected more. So I don’t want the same from illamasqua. Or maybe some colors are better than others!

vanelle Avatar

K thanks @ Baby in a corner. I have really long nails but I’ll cut them short from time to time.

Thanks Christine. Maybe Chanel polishes just don’t like me much, I don’t even have a huge preference when it comes to polishes. Just great color, apply well and last at least a week.

Thanks for your help.

vanelle Avatar

Well for this particular case none and that’s because I’m not really a big fan of the base coat I use(seche vite). But even when I do use the base coats on polish like OPI or essie, I never had any problems. But then again this goes back to the quality being ‘chanel’. I guess I’m meant to use a ‘good’ base for chanel, when I can use an average base or no base for essie and OPI and get great results. Lol

With the seche vite base coat, I just found it didn’t really do anything for me even keep the polish on longer. Maybe I’ll look into the zoya one. My beauty store is for some reason always out of zoya products.

Kate & Zena Avatar

I have nails a little shorter than Christine’s and Illamamasqua polishes NEVER chip on me. My manicure with Phallic lasted two hours of bowling last night. My nails get a lot of abuse from typing, my clumsiness, playing with my terrier, cleaning, et cetera as well. I have very minor tipwear after three days. If you don’t mind tip wear, it can last a week at least.

Oktavia Avatar

Chanel chips on me too, yet I absolutely adore Illamasqua. I got five days of wear without chipping out of it and then only had minimal chipping on one or two nails. I’ve used a Maybelline base coat under it and one from Alessandro.

baby in a corner Avatar

Love this colour, purple is such a good alternative to black on nails! but the other two colours are so summery! I await your verdict on them!

Oh and if he does the dishes, he’s definitely a keeper! 😉

Evelyn Avatar

I love this color!! My favorite purple and just gorgeous! Most polishes notoriously chip on me no matter what company they are from so I use a base from Nail Tek (I think foundation II) and top everything off with the seche vite topcoat and I get no chipping at all, or it takes a week for a small flake to pop off. I’ve used them with both the Baptiste & Paradoxal with no problems.

EfbE_0033 Avatar

Hi Christine! This color is absolutely gorgeous, it is love at first sight!!!
Do you know if it is available in France ? I haven’t seen any Illamasqua products here so far…

Deanna Avatar

I LOVE purples, and this purple seems unique!! I would love to have it 🙂 I’ve also seen swatches of Collide, and that is another must-have for me.
The only problem is that I can’t justify spending $14.00 on nail polish right now… I’m saving for college so most of the money I get goes to my college fund or daily necessities. Maybe one day I’ll splurge though… 🙂

Vale Avatar

I can assure you that in those pics Baptiste is not even half beautiful as it should. It is the definitive purple. My bestest purple ever! I love it! ^^

Farida Avatar

Wow, I really like this colour. Again off topic but Christine, do you know if China Glaze “in for Audrey, (I believe that’s what is called) is discontinued? I live in Toronto, Ontario and I can’t find it anywhere. After your reviews, I have been hunting for it but no luck. Maybe someone who lives in Toronto can please suggest somewhere. THX a bunch for everything!!

Matryoshka Avatar

That looks great Christine! What do you do to keep your cuticles so nice and non-ragged (like mine are, blech). I’ve tried rubbing oil on them, but it doesn’t seem to help that much.

Ms. Z Avatar

oh, that looks sooooo pretty.

Didn’t see that at Sephora today. Have you compared it to OPI for Sephora color Just a Little Dangerous?

I don’t like frosty or shimmery nail colors but these 2 shades of purple might just make me cave.

Ms. Z Avatar

I swatched them at Sephora last night; this definitely does look like OPI’s Just a little Dangerous.

Are you wearing a top coat? If yes, which one?

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