Illamasqua, International Delivery & Royal Mail

I like Illamasqua. I like Illamasqua a lot, even if I can't always afford their products. I also like that they changed carriers so anyone outside of the UK can buy and receive their nail varnish. I don't like that they haven't full integrated with their new carrier to provide a tracking link but that's fine since I know its a process. I've had tons of things go without tracking numbers that arrived just fine and things with tracking numbers that did nothing but still arrived safely. The US postal service doesn't update tracking status as often as I would like.

But oh, geez, ladies, chill out. If you go on the official Illamasqua Facebook page and look at "Posts made by Others," you'll probably see women going insane on their page and if you dig deeper, could probably find people freaking out over the Christmas campaign. These women apparently expect instant gratification when the company had a relatively small issue when packages were delivered Royal Mail only to be destroyed. Royal Mail does not ship nail varnish, but they didn't return them to Illamasqua (which I personally think would have been a better idea). As for the Christmas thing, if you saw it, let me know what you thought. If you didn't, not a big deal. I noticed it was entirely Caucasian women saying the ad was "racist" but more said it was just art, which it was. Lots of people decided to stop buying from Illamasqua over it and I said that was a silly thing to do on another blog. Another blogger decided I was saying the girl's opinion was wrong (I think it should be one strike against Illamasqua but not something to get ridiculously upset over). That's why I have so few female friends, because so many women in the US just want something to call racist or something to complain about.

Anyway, back to issues I have with the current international delivery company. As I said, I like Illamasqua. I do appreciate that they changed carriers so more people could buy their beautiful varnish in Raindrops. Raindrops is special because it was limited edition and Christine at Temptalia started a huge search for it! She raved about it and its not hard to see why. I fell in love when I saw it swatched.

(Product image from Illamasqua.com)

See what I mean? I tried to find dupes, but couldn't because nothing truly matched it. I got happy news about December, when both Illamasqua and Christine announced that Raindrops would be brought back with the Broken Heart collection for Valentine's Day 2013. The collection was released in January and the varnish sold out quickly. It sold out a few more times but has stayed in stock recently and I decided to buy it after Illamasqua announced they had changed carriers to be able to fulfill the requests of their customers who are outside of the UK. Sadly, Sephora still doesn't carry Raindrops but Illamasqua is trying to get the varnish in store.

I made my order 9 February 2013. I received the shipping confirmation 13 February 2013. I am super eager to get it! I emailed Illamasqua about getting a tracking number but they still don't have one. It bothers me a little, but they did update the shipping FAQ for the US. 15 to 20 business days. I have no idea if its in Alaska or maybe New York, it travels through either one of those two places when it reaches the US but I don't specifically remember where it enters the US from the UK. I hope its not being held by customs or something and will get here. Really eager to review the product for you!

If you want to get this yourself, its available at Selfridge's in the UK, as well online at Illamasqua.com and from their stores. I'm the unlucky person who can't buy it in person. Check out Christine's review as well!

(My cat Ralphy, an orange and white striped tabby, says: f78or 988888888888888[p;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;\
The little stinker walked over the keyboard while I was typing.)

SPOOKEHDOOM