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Following my last post, I thought I'd run through some of the recent Illamasqua releases that I've had the chance to play around with and use in the time I haven't blogged.

As you may well know, Illamasqua is a brand close to my heart; I love that they push boundaries and cater for all skintones.
Lately, Illamasqua have been releasing more neutral and toned down products compared to their previous collections with more daring colours (as in the Paranormal and Human Fundamentalism collections).
I like that they are producing more everyday-friendly products however the artistic streak in me hopes they pull a wild card soon and make something eye catching again.

This post will feature a round up of my favourites from the recent releases, hope you enjoy!

Nude Glamore Lipsticks 

Since the release of the Glamore Satin Finish Lipsticks in February this year (blog post here), I have to say I was really impressed with the formula and longevity and was looking forward to the release of any new shades.
July 2014 brought the release of 7 Nude Glamore Lipsticks in the same formulation as the original Glamore with a range of shades for all skintones, including rose, earthy rose and nude corals. 
I picked the nude coral in "Cherub" (above) as I tend to wear MAC Crosswires almost every other day, which is definitely my go-to lip colour. Below I swatched Cherub and Crosswires together to see the difference and you can see Cherub is a slightly less-pink coral.

International Season Collection

 
August saw the release of the International Season Collection, exclusively in Selfridges.
It consisted of the above items; a new Sculpting Duo shade ("Illuminate & Nefertiti) and a new Gleam/highlighter ("Mirage"), a Brow Gel ("Strike") and a nude-pink lipstick in "Bare".
I have to say I loved every single item in this collection. 

If you remember my blog post from the Holiday 2013 Collection, you would remember me gushing about my love for contouring products and how I wished Illamasqua would release more shades. Well they did and this particular Sculpting Duo's contouring shade (Nefertiti) suits my skintone gorgeously, so much so that I use it every day for a subtle contour rather than a darker, heavier one. I do prefer a lighter highlighting colour so I tend to use the "Lumos" highlighter from the previous Sculpting Duo as "Illuminate" was quite golden and warmer than I am used to (see swatches below).
Illamasqua need to now make an even darker Sculpting Duo shade and my contour collection will be set; chiselled perfect face here I come!

My next favourite product had to be the Precision Brow Gel; up until now I've been using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Ebony and I wanted to use a lighter colour so I thought this Brow Gel in "Strike" would work perfectly for a less darker brow.
Weirdly, the shade looked darker than I anticipated and in fact can be used really lightly for lighter coloured brows or heavier for darker brows; amazing!

The lipstick in Bare added to this collection was also a pretty nude-y shade that I love; I do have to wear it with a lip liner as my lips are dark but I must say I love this rosey nude shade for my NC30/35 skintone.

Finally, the Gleam highlighter is a gorgeous addition to the collection, however I found it too dark for my skintone to use as a highlighter and instead found it useful as a bronzer or used on the décolletage for a subtle glow.

Autumn/Fall - Once Collection

The Once collection released at the end of August really captured the tone of Autumn/Fall with the antique-y hues and gold shimmer running through the products.
I have to say the packaging on the new Vintage Metallix Cream Eyeshadows stole the show for me; rose gold just exudes elegance and luxury.
The formulation of the Vintage Metallix Cream Eyeshadows blends smoothly when applied but once the product sets it won't budge which is always a plus for me. I loved this moss green shade "Bibelot" but now have my eye on the brown shade "Embellish".
The sheer lipgloss in "Exquisite" would look good on top of a colour lipstick for me as alone it would be too light. The teal/gold nail varnish in "Melange" is such a pretty two toned colour, perfect for Autumn days. 

Holiday 2014 - Facets Collection

And last but certainly not least, the Facets Collection released for Christmas 2014 features 2 multitasking (or multi faceted) palettes in "Semblance" and "Aura", 2 lipsticks (Salacious and Starkers), a brush set and a makeup bag and an eye trio gift set.
I was surprised to see the packaging wasn't in the iconic Illamasqua shape, but in an ordinary square shape but aside from that, I have to say I love multitasking palettes like this; they make condensing a makeup bag or even my makeup kit so much more easier, meaning less space taken up by unnecessary packaging; perfect for holidays too.

"Semblance" palette swatches

I do already own a few of the shades in this "Semblance" palette; I actually own the blush "Hussy" twice already (one single blush, one part of the Hussy/Lover duo palette) and now this one; the Gleam in "Mirage" is also mentioned in the above International Season collection and I own the black eyeshadow "Obsidian" because I needed the Illamasqua Neutral palette in my life of course!
I would have loved to see limited edition/new shades in an exclusive palette, however seeing as I already have a few of these shades in the palette, it just means I don't have to carry half as much makeup and can just pop this palette in my makeup bag.

If I'm correct, I'd say the Aura palette is aimed at fairer skintones and the Semblance palette aimed at slightly deeper tones, but this judgement is based on the Gleam Creams - the Aura palette has the Gleam Cream in a lighter shade "Aurora". 

I'm now looking at the rest of the Facets collection and definitely have the "Embellish Eye Trio" gift set on my wishlist; it has the Precision Brow Gel and Gel Eye liner as well as the Embellish Vintage Metallix in it, and all in a limited edition rose gold packaging... love!

All Illamasqua products (aside from the Selfridges exclusive products) are available to buy in store or online at Illamasqua or Debenhams.

Which of these collections caught your eye this year? Did you buy any products from any of the collections?
 

Sunday Swatches: Illamasqua Christmas Envy Collection 2013 Review

Following my previous FFF makeup look post (here) and holiday gift post (here) with my picks from the holiday sets and collections this Christmas, I wanted to give my thoughts on the gorgeous Illamasqua Envy Collection.
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.

Colour & Pigmentation: As always, Illamasqua shadows are gorgeously pigmented as you can see above from the swatches and translate just as you see them in the pan. 
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!

Sculpting Powder Duo
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!

Colour & Pigmentation: Again, the pigmentation is of usual high Illamasqua quality. I found Lumos highlighter to be even more so pigmented than Heliopolis.
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!

Intense Lipgloss - Maiden
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.

Colour & Pigmentation: As the name suggests, it has high pigmentation in a warm peach colour, with all the intensity of a lipstick.

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.

Nail Varnish - Blizzard
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!

This "Christmasqua" collection is a great addition to their existing products in my opinion; I'm particularly fond of the Sculpting Powder Duo and the Fatale Palette which I can see myself using on in my kit as well as myself fairly regularly. I do hope they bring out more shades in the Sculpting Duo as I can see it being a very popular product for everyday and going out.

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?

 

Illamasqua I'mPerfection Spring 13

Hello my lovelies!

I've been super busy of late with shoots, work and clients (not to mention general housewife duties!) so apologies for the lack of posts. I do however have a lot to blog about so I'll be sure to get these out as soon as poss!

As it's coming up to Spring (although the snow is saying otherwise!), a lot of brands will be releasing their new products and collections and clients/customers will be looking at changing their makeup "wardrobe".
Personally I love Spring, it's my second favourite season after Autumn; the sun starts peeking out and nature is at full bloom. Makeup-wise, skin is fresher and there's a lot of pastels and brights to get you in the mood for Summer.

I attended the launch of the new Spring collection by one of my all time favourite brands - Illamasqua. One of the reasons I love them so much is that they like to break away from the beauty "norm" and conventions and this collection is no different.
If you remember the last collection (Generation Q) was about beauty having no age limit, and the one before that (Human Fundamentalism) reversed traditional beauty rules. This years Spring I'mPerfection collection ties in beautifully with the whole "nature" side of Spring as well as their ethos; to celebrate and embrace your "imperfections". 
If you look at nature you'll find speckled eggs and patterned feathers of all sizes and colours; the same is true with people, with their freckles, scars and birth marks.

"Show off your freckles. Make beauty spots more beautiful. Shine a light on your birthmarks. And be proud of your scars. Because life isn't about finding yourself, life is about celebrating who you really are."

This part of the new campaign really stood out to me because when dealing with clients and customers on a daily basis, they're so quick to want to hide their "flaws", a lot often embarrassed and some even with self esteem issues. What's worst for me is finding young teenage clients who look at beauty magazines/celebrities thinking that they're flawless and wanting to be "flawless" too, when no one actually is. So again, I applaud Illamasqua for highlighting their campaign models' "imperfections" and really hope other beauty brands take a step in that direction too.

Alex Box explaining the concept behind the campaign images

As always, Illamasqua have a wildcard in their collection and this Spring its a "Leaf Green" intense lipgloss as sported in the campaign picture (and swatched with Immodest lipstick) below.

Like Apocalips, Shoot will probably only be loved by a select few who will dare to wear green on their lips, however Apocalips became a statement lip and other brands followed suit to make teal lipsticks, so green may well be the new lip trend for 2013!
For those of you who don't quite see yourselves wearing the green by itself, it makes a great mixing colour as I tried it with the new pink lipstick (Immodest) and it made a nice nude brown colour. Apparently mixed with reds it can create berry colours too!

My personal favourites from this collection are the speckled polishes, the powder blush duos (particularly Duo No. 3) and the innovative blush brush to create an ombre blush effect. I also absolutely adored the speckled eyeliner look in the campaign image below and attempted my own version that I'll be posting about very soon!

The collection in a basket "nest"

Blush Duo No. 3 - Beg & Bronzerella

Speckled eyeliner image from the I'mPerfection campaign

The collection comprises of a new blush brush (£28.50), a range of pastel speckled nail polishes (£14.50 each), blush duos for light, medium and dark skin tones (£26 each) and a new lipstick (£16) and lipgloss (£14). The existing black liquid liner in Abyss (£17) is also part of this I'mPerfection collection (to create the speckled eyeliner effect).

The collection will be available to buy from 31st January 2013 from the Illamasqua site and counters. 

What do you think of the new I'mPerfection collection? Which products would you like to try?

 

MAC May Collections - my picks!

As the "Summer" approaches so do MAC's collections, with the Hey, Sailor! being the most recent.

I have to say I'm a collector, so whenever I see a MAC collection with lipsticks and limited edition packaging/colours, I get excited. 

MAC Hey, Sailor! Lipsticks L-R: Red Racer, Sail La Vie, Salut!, To Catch A Sailor

MAC Reel Sexy Lipsticks L-R: Reel Sexy, Watch Me Simmer, Pink Popcorn, Heroine

I've tried previous collections' eyeshadows & blushes but haven't been impressed so I only really look for the lipsticks.. These are the ones I have my eye on from the Hey, Sailor! collection: Red Racer & Sail La Vie and the Reel Sexy: Reel Sexy & Watch Me Simmer.

Ever since I missed out on Watch Me Simmer from the Shop MAC Cook MAC collection I wanted it, so hopefully shall get my hands on it this time round!
As for the Hey! Sailor collection, I'm not really feeling the nudes from that collection as Salut! practically looks like foundation on the lip swatches I've seen so far (and certainly would look odd on my medium skin tone!) and To Catch A Sailor is frosted which I'm also not a fan of.

I do have my eye on the Hey, Sailor! Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Shore Leave (a coral colour) and the Suntint in Au Rose but I'll have to see if it will suit my skintone and if the Suntint isn't sticky.

If you're looking for some of the best Hey, Sailor! swatches, here's the site I made my decisions on: Beauty Icon.

Which items do you like best? Will you be buying from the Hey, Sailor! or Reel Sexy collections?

PPP - Pout Polish Post

Seeing as I am a Pout Polish collector, I decided to add another colour to my collection, the new LE Sugar May. It's a peachy-beige colour and very creamy like all the others (minus Scandal, which is less creamier in consistency). Unfortunately it's not as sweet as the newer Pout Polishes (you'll know what I mean if you own Scandal, or the browns), but nevertheless, a lovely summery colour!

with flash it looks a lot more peachier/bright, but its a very light peach, so here's the pout polishes without flash:
L-R, top row: Perfect Plum, Pink Cadillac, Sugar May, Chocolate Kiss, 
bottom row: Raspberry Souffle, Powder Pink, Electro Peach, Scandal

And with flash:

 

The pictures with flash do however resemble the actual colours more than the individual shot of Sugar May taken above, as you can see its lighter! Must be my camera concentrating the colour when I zoom in or something :S

Anyway, here are the individual shots for the PP with their paper swatch next to them:

Perfect Plum: 

Pink Cadillac:

Sugar May:

Chocolate Kiss:

Raspberry Souffle:

Powder Pink:

Electro Peach:

Scandal:

I do love all my pout polishes, including Sugar May which doesn't actually suit my lips!

Do you have any Pout Polishes? And if so, which are your favourite?

<3