I received the package by surprise last Saturday and couldn't contain my excitement at receiving two of the products I'd lusted over from the new collection inside, namely the Powder Sculpting Duo and the Fatale Palette:
Fatale Palette
I fell in love with the Fatale Palette as soon as I saw David Horne use it on his Instagram page to create this beautiful look.
I think the colours are gorgeous tones suitable for all skintones and love the warmth they bring; perfect for a festive look with its gold and cranberry tones.
Bronx: bronze gold shimmer
Ensnare: berry shimmer
Charm: violet shimmer
Mystify: chestnut brown shimmer
Texture/Finish: Powder shimmer
Longevity: Pigmented shadows like Illamasqua's do last long, however I always recommend to wear with primer.
Price: At £34 it's the usual price for an Illamasqua quad and works out £8.50 per eyeshadow; a single eyeshadow is £15.50 for 2g and here you get 4 x 1.5g which still works out cheaper!
FrootiFactor: I can see myself using this palette as a great addition to my kit for Asian brides as it holds 3 of the main colours I use for brides in it (gold, red and brown) with the addition of the gorgeous violet shadow. I give the quad a 5 out of 5 as I feel it would suit pretty much every skintone!
I have to say I'm a huge fan of contouring kits as I absolutely love the effect it gives to the face especially in bringing out the cheekbones, so when I saw this sculpting duo by Illamasqua I was very excited.
My hesitance on the product was that the contour shade looked like it would be too light for warmer complexions like myself, but the highlighter shade in Lumos certainly had my attention, especially as a Harry Potter fan!
On my NC30-35 skintone, Heliopolis actually shows up on my face, more so than it does in the swatch above on my arm for some reason!
Lumos: shimmering champagne
Heliopolis: neutral peanutty brown
Texture/Finish: Both powder; Lumos is a champagne shimmer and Heliopolis is a neutral matte.
Longevity: I'm a fan of powders on the face as I feel they last much longer on the skin. The Lumos shimmer lasts especially longer than Heliopolis.
Price: At £26 it works out £13 per shade; personally I tend to spend more on highlighters/bronzers and contour shades as I use it pretty much every day more so than blush, so for me it's totally worth it.
FrootiFactor: I was pleasantly surprised that the Heliopolis contour shade showed up on my face as I was almost certain it would do nothing for contouring on my skin. I would however recommend using the Heliopolis contour shade as a matte bronzer/in between shade for contouring on deeper skintones, or as a contour shade on the eyes.
I hope Illamasqua release more of these sculpting duos for a variety of skintones as I know it will be a hit and unfortunately this particular contour shade wouldn't do any justice for contouring on much deeper/black skintones. For this reason alone, it loses out on half a lipstick rating, but other than that its a 5 in my books!
A surprise colour addition to the Christmas collection is the Intense Lipgloss in Maiden; I'd say it's more of a Spring colour but it would go well with a smokey eye if you wanted to tone down the lips so works well.
Texture/Finish: Glossy, slightly thick for my liking but I guess it's due to the saturation of colour!
Longevity: Glosses tend to last longer than lipsticks due to their stickiness so I'd imagine this gloss to be just as long wearing as other Illamasqua glosses I've tried.
Price: At £14.50 it's more than I would usually pay for a gloss, however I am a fan of highly pigmented glosses when I do go for a gloss, and £14.50 is around the average price for a high end brand.
FrootiFactor: Unfortunately this gloss is much too light for my skintone and pigmented lips; it translates a much whitish colour so doesn't suit my lips at all, however I do think those with less pigmented lips than myself would suit it beautifully, paired with a smokey eye. For this reason, this shade is not particularly for me and I'd have to give it a 2.5 for it's pigmentation and longevity.
This polish is perfect for the wintery months, immitating snowy weather on your nails. You can wear it alone or I found it even better over a dark nail varnish (like Boosh) so the iridescent white speckles show up even more.
Colour & Consistency: A clear based nail polish with flecks of iridescent white sparkles in chunky hexagonal shapes and smaller shapes too. Two coats will give you the amount of sparkle in the above pictures.Longevity: Fairly long wearing due to the particles in the polish; as with glitter they tend to last longer but I didn't find it as hard to take off as glitter which is good!
Price: At £14.50 it's a slightly pricier polish but gives a lovely wintery effect on your nails if you're looking for something to suit this season.
FrootiFactor: I'd give this nail polish a 3.5 out of 5 as I find it looks best on top of a darker colour polish and needs two coats for the full "snow" type effect. I do however like that it isn't as hard as glitter to take off!
All Illamasqua products are available to buy in store or online at Illamasqua.
What are your favourites from this Holiday collection? Will you be buying any?
I loved that palette
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