Illamasqua Paranormal collection launch!

Earlier this week I was lucky to be invited to the new Illamasqua collection launch and as always I was enthralled to meet the faces behind the brand and of course Alex Box and David Horne.

The new collection, entitled "Paranormal" is inspired by a sense/feeling of something different and the collection boasts a range of textures and colours to explore this "paranormal" area. Illamasqua again challenges normality in the beauty world and asks "Why be normal when you can be paranormal?"

If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen some of the preview pictures like the visual above which I absolutely love!

The launch was filled with darkness, smoke and blacklights hanging from the ceiling everywhere, the polishes were a-glow under the lighting and the rest of the products were scattered around the manicure area for us to view. The other side had a glowing bar area with glowing drinks and flowing smoke bowls.. all mystical and paranormal!

I chose to get the pink polish (Ouija) done with a feature/accented purple (Séance) nail:

The polishes looked amazing under the black light - Seance glowed a pink colour and Ouija glowed a sort of coral colour; I took a picture with Nilmini from Illamasqua who had her nails painted with Omen (green) and Seance:

The polishes are limited edition and available for £15 each. The Top Coat "Geist" glows a blue colour and is £13; it can be used on top of normal or UV polishes or alone.

I caught up with David in the manicure area and he explained that the Hydra Veil (£27.50) is not just a moisturiser or a primer; it's basically a cosmetic care layer of water for your skin to enhance makeup application and even out the surface of the skin. He showed me how the gel when mixed with the spoon, it evens itself out and doesn't stay hard; in the same way it helps smooth out the skin:

I then caught up with the amazing Alex Box about the whole collection; I asked if Illamasqua would be branching out into skincare after Hydra Veil but it doesn't seem to be the case and to be honest I prefer it when brands stick to cosmetics as it can become quite diluted and unfocussed; and Illamasqua sure is a creative cosmetics brand.

We talked about the Paranormal palette (£34) and how the textures are putty-like; Rose from Illamasqua's PR team wore Possession (cool-bright green) as a highlighter and it looked absolutely amazing; the rest of the colours are just as impressive!

without flash

with flash

The two lipsticks from the collection (ESP and Posture, both swatched above) to my delight are both shades of purple and can be used together to create amazing ombre lips. The true shade can be seen above of both colours with flash- ESP is a vivid violet colour and Posture is a cool mauve/lilac. Both are £16.50 each:

The newest Gleam (or highlighter) Illamasqua created for this Paranormal collection is in the appropriately named "Supernatural" and is available for £18. It's an unusual warm bronze shade and would be perfect for warmer skin tones:

swatched with flash

There's also a new black eyeliner - Precision Gel eyeliner (£18) which is waterproof too. Like all gel eyeliners, this one applies smoothly and is a pure black colour. I didn't get a picture of it unfortunately but it is pictured in the image below of the full collection:

All in all, I'd say my favourites from this collection are the Hydra Veil, the nail polishes and the palette; I love how bright it is and the texture is an amazing gel/putty like feel but dries to a powder/matte finish which is also waterproof - win! The polishes are also amazing as I've been wanting to shoot a UV/glow in the dark themed shoot for a while so it will definitely come in handy. As for the Hydra Veil, it would be perfect to wear underneath my Skinbase foundation, or around the eye area as I tend to get dry there and sometimes makeup doesn't sit right!

The collection will be available from Illamasqua.com and counters from 30th April 2013 (this coming Tuesday).

Which are your favourites from the collection? Will you be buying any products?