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Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish Review, Photos, Swatches

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish ($17.00 for 0.50 fl. oz.) is described as a “bold blue green.” It’s a medium teal with a hint of green in a cream finish. China Glaze Exotic Encounters is darker, greener. MAC Salad Dressed is a bit lighter and bluer. MAC Ocean Dip is very similar–perhaps a bit deeper. Essie Turquoise & Caicos is lighter and greener.

It was fully opaque in two coats, and the consistency wasn’t too thick or too thin. It applied evenly, smoothly, and fluidly, which made it a breeze to apply. I didn’t experience any bubbling, streaking, or pooling of the color along the edges of the nail. Venous lived up to Illamasqua’s lacquer reputation–excellent in every way. I typically get at least a week of wear (as long as 10-14 days) out of Illamasqua’s formula with very, very little tip wear and no chipping.

Also, heads up: Illamasqua has raised their polish prices from $14 to $17 sometime in the past few days. This particular shade is actually coming as $14 (which as far as I can tell is merely an oversight/mistake), and some readers mentioned the price still being $14 in stores. I’m disappointed to see such a large increase (21% as compared to the 5-10% increases on other prices, within their range, which is more in line with most price increases) — I think it may shift the polish out of the comfort zone for some — even if it is a standout formula.

Venous

LELimited Edition. $17.00.
A+
A+
10
Product
10
Pigmentation
10
Texture
10
Longevity
5
Application
100%
Total

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish
Illamasqua Venous Nail Varnish

35 Comments

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Julia B Avatar

Maybe they realized they were losing money due to the exchange rate. Technically they should be $20. I am actually surprised they stayed at $14 for so long. Though I guess, when you think about it, Illamasqua is pretty slow when it comes to anything in the US…

xamyx Avatar

The price hike could be due to the fact they lowered the base price in Australia for all products, and they’re making up the difference in lost revenue (which is what I predicted would several months ago), or it could simply be they’re taking advantage to the swiftly growing popularity of the product, and figure the consumer would be willing to pay more.

Nancy Avatar

Yikes, $17?! I was irritated when Zoya increased their price from $6 to $8, and now they’re at $9! The only time I’ve ever spent more than $17 on polish was for Chanel Jade and Peridot (which I will admit, I don’t regret!)

Anna Avatar

It’s a gorgeous color, but if it really is $17, that might be out of my price range now. That’s more expensive than MAC nail polish, although it does contain more product.

Abbey W Avatar

This definitely puts it out of my price range for anything but an extraordinary color that is not dupeable. I will still pick up raindrops when it hits the states, but can’t think of any of their other colors that I will purchase.

Doodles Avatar

Well, in UK Illamasqua nail polish costs £13.50 which is about $22, so I would not be complaining too much, girls :)))
and the speckled collection was a pound up, so its even more expensive in $$.
PS however, Im still unsure, Christine, how you manage to wear the polish for so long? even at best times – with lots of thick top layers – a working week is a MAX for me, however careful & protective I am about my nails 😉 tell us a secret 😉

t_zwiggy Avatar

Have you tried butter london’s base coat and top coat? Everything would chip on me within 12 – 24 hours before I tried this duo. Now I get 10-14 days with basically every nail polish brand out there.

Doodles Avatar

i use their treatment as a base from time to time, and tried quite few others. with various degree of success or failure 🙂 I suppose its all about the amount of money you are prepared to spend on such things 😉 I was more than enthusiastic with my spenditure up to date 🙂 but if i have few extra quid, I’ll try more Butter… especially if I can find a bargain price for it, which is not that easy this side of the pond 🙁

CeeBee Avatar

I have NYX Algae on my nails at the moment and it looks fairly similar, perhaps slightly duskier and a smidge more green – but is was $2 and I love it so I definitely don’t need this.

It looks great on you though!

t_zwiggy Avatar

Illamasqua has the best cream finish formula! Will be getting this for sure even though I’m pretty sureI aalready have something similar.

t_zwiggy Avatar

I am so so so SAD now! I was just about to order this and 5 other Illamasqua polishes, just to get the message that they no longer ship to Norway. I guess that means I’m done with Illamasqua for good. It was fun while it lasted. I have learned my lesson. Buy everything I want as soon as I find it, and never ever wait.

My favorite nail polish brand 🙁 🙁 🙁

Doodles Avatar

yeep, there’s been quite a palava with our postal system from mid-January, which (PO) “destroyed” most of the parcels as you cant really send nail polish by airmail. now its all slowly appearing on local ebay. too bad still, as nobody can ship it outside of UK…

Kim Teague Avatar

I recently got a few polishes at my local store on sale for $7 (they were older shades). I was about to grab some polishes during the sale, until I saw the increase, again older polishes that I’ve just neglected to grab (like Collide, Grab, and Velocity).
Even though I love the formula, wear time, and color options I’m going to be limitting what I buy because they just pushed it over my polish budget ($15) which I was find with braking for special edtion shades (speckled), but not normal ones.

Jane Avatar

I’m soooo glad I bought a bunch of these polishes from Sephora before they changed the price! That being said, I would definitely pay $17 for the quality of Illamasqua’s polishes.
Also, the looks similar in color (though perhaps a little darker) to L’Oreal’s “Not A Cloud In The Sky”; also an ace polish.

plue Avatar

such gorgeous colour, but too bad their online customer service and also the inconsistent quality in their nail polish (I got a super horrible Speckle polish) has made me not to purchase their nail polish at the moment.

i still feel very disappointed over the whole issue!

Andrea Avatar

They have put up prices here in the UK as well – same price as Estee Launder in one shop – they will soon touch other designer brands.

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