Hello my lovelies! 

First of all, I'd like to apologise for the lack of posts; this has to be the longest I've gone without blogging, the last time I posted was in August and now it's almost November.. terrible.
It's been a hectic time and I've been wanting to blog but by the end of the day I'm so shattered I just want to switch off and watch a film or even better, sleep!
I've tried to do mini posts on Instagram so do follow me there too for more frequent updates. 

In the time I haven't blogged, I've been lucky enough to try out the new Illamasqua releases which I will be posting about in a separate post.
This particular blog post is a makeup look post where I tried to recreate the Illamasqua "Countessa" look.. I did it while the little one was having a nap so only got to do half my face but I've merged it with the original face chart for comparison below.. Let me know your thoughts!

Products used:
• UDPP - Eden
• Illamasqua Brow Gel in Strike
• Illamasqua Semblance palette
• Urban Decay Naked Basics palette
• Illamasqua Daemon eyeshadow
• NYX Two Timer eyeliner
• Eldora lashes: H151
• Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet Mascara
• Illamasqua Skinbase foundation in SB10
• Skinbase Lift in Medium 1
• Skinbase Mixer in White
• Illamasqua sculpting duo: Nefertiti
• MAC Lipliner - Nightmoth
• Illamasqua lipsticks- Pristine & Maneater

And my face with the face chart for comparison (I used the brighten tool to make my skin even paler):

Eyes

1) Prime the eyelids with UDPP Eden and fill in brows with Illamasqua Brow Gel in Strike (I used it quite heavily to achieve darker brows).
2) With a blending brush I added Daemon eyeshadow to just above the crease blending upwards and downwards. 
3) I then added Dizzy (a pale pink from the new Semblance palette) above the inner corner of the eye and W.O.S on the eyelid from the Naked Basics palette as well as Venus for highlighting the inner corner and browbone and Naked2 to blend out the red eyeshadow.
4) I added a little depth to the crease using Obsidian matte black eyeshadow (Semblance palette) and used it a tiny bit heavier on the bottom outer corner and lashline. I added Daemon to the middle bottom lashline and blended softly.
5) For the eyeliner I used the NYX Two Timer eyeliner- the felt side for the top liner detail and the kohl side to tightline the inner eye. I added a tiny beauty spot under the eye after concealing with this same eyeliner.
6) I coated the lashes with Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet mascara followed by Eldora False Lashes in H151 (absolute fave).

Face & Lips

1) I concealed under the eyes using the Illamasqua Skinbase Lift in Medium 1 and used Illamasqua Skinbase foundation in SB10 all over the face, mixing it with the White Skinbase Mixer for a paler look.
2) I then lightly contoured the face using the Illamasqua Sculpting Duo, but only lightly using Nefertiti in the hollows of the cheeks.
3) For the lips I used MAC Nightmoth lipliner followed by Illamasqua Pristine lipstick directly on the top lip. Maneater lipstick was used directly on the middle of the bottom lip, followed by Pristine, but using a lip brush to line the lips neatly. I feathered out the Pristine lipstick using another brush to create an ombre effect into Maneater lipstick.

And there you have it; it was a bit of a rushed job but I'm just happy I got to get round to recreating the look! 

Illamasqua are holding a Halloween Special Beauty school drop in this Sunday 26th October if you'd like to learn some makeup techniques, check out the times and locations here.

Would you wear this look? Let me know if you have any specific blog post requests and I'll see what I can do <3

Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism launch

Last night I trotted down to Piccadilly Circus to attend the launch of the new Illamasqua collection: Human Fundamentalism.

Some of the visuals from the Human Fundamentalism collectio

The collection is all about self expression and an "explosion of your alter ego", where Alex Box explained about making a stand with makeup and reversing "traditional beauty" with colour and through makeup.
There's a mix of acids and neutrals, with pastels for the nails so a great mix altogether, with something for everyone.
I loved the idea of making teal wearable on the lips, rather than just on hands and jewellery, though I may not be confident to rock it just yet haha! The idea stemmed from "classical beauty" of red lips and black liner but the inverse is teal lips and white liner (as above).
But for those who aren't too keen on colour, this collection has a contrasting "neutral" palette and colours more wearable and popular with most people I bet!

We were welcomed by the lovely Hayley (who was sporting the teal lip with a complimentary dress!) as well as milkshakes, sweets and more sweets. 90s garage tunes were playing in the back to fit the theme as well. We then were shown into a room with the products out on tables for us to play around with and swatch; here are some of my favourite products and their swatches:

The Neutral palette

Box & Apocalips lipsticks

Skin Base Foundation Au

Out of the two palettes the Neutral one was actually my favourite.. It had a great buttermilk shade (Stealth) which would be an excellent highlighter for the brow bone as well as an essential black (Obisidian). The golden colour (Vintage) was also beautiful too and the brown would be great in the crease. Both palettes are priced at £30 each.

The lipsticks (£15.50 each) were great too.. I spoke to one of the guys there about how I would use Apocalips.. mixed with another colour for sure! I found it more dryer in texture than Box, although both are matte lipsticks.

The skin base foundation in Au (the chemical sign for gold) can be worn alone or under foundation for a glow as it contains shimmery flecks in it. It will be sold at £25 but is limited edition!

I also loved the single eyeshadows (£15 each) Vernau (a caramel/peanut brown and Sex (pure white) as they would be amazing for contouring! 

Both nail polishes reflected the current Spring trend for nails as mentioned in the Superdrug post here. The two colours Stance (Mauve) and Nomad (Jade) compliment eachother wonderfully as you can see in the visuals above. I particularly loved Nomad (it seems to be growing on me this season!) and was lucky enough to get it in my goodie bag.
I tried it out today (very roughly I may add, to my recently cut nails!) with and without flash and loved how thick and creamy the polish was:

I also got the Fundamental palette (which I hope to recreate the Arabesque look from their campaign) and sealing gel that I'm excited to use for my eyebrows as it makes any powder a water resistant paste.
Fundamental palette & swatches:

There's also a white liquid eyeliner (£17) which I'd use under a black liner (not so much as a topliner!)

The whole collection will be available from March 14th from Illamasqua.com or you can preorder from today here.

What do you think of this collection? Which products stood out to you and will you be buying any of these products?