hello beautifuls,
so i had a super amazing delivery from illamasqua :-D and i’m over the moon with it! i looked round the store in the trafford centre a few months back and cos of the annoying staff that wouldn’t leave me alone and kept recommending products i wasn’t interested in or didn’t want i didn’t end up getting anything and went to seek refuge at the selfridges food hall! but illamasqua is a brand i’ve always wanted to try and always kind of knew i’d love. so with my 40% professional discount i really went a bit mad and bought all this stuff.
it arrived today with a two day deliver time which i was impressed with - and some of the products have really blown me away! where as there are a few duds that i’m disappointed with.
i am completely in love with the brushes, the no.1 blusher brush is so so unbelievably soft, not at all scratchy, and is the perfect shape for the hollows of cheekbones and for a thicker highlight. and as daft as it sounds it actually picks up more product than any other blush brush i’ve used! this is very useful especially for quick application, but could also be a fault (its usually better to build up with blush rather than wack too much on by accident!) buttt…. the brush is beyond amazing incredible at blending! this brush honestly took my breath away and not makeup products have done that!
the blending brush 2 is made with the same hair and is again so so soft and incredible, it’s so relaxing just brushing it along your skin! popping on makeup always relaxes me but with these amazing brushes i might well be off to sleep! the blending brush is a tad too big for precise eyeshadow application, this would be used more for colours that you want an all over eyelid wash.. it’s definitely too big for any crease work, but again it is amazing at blending, so if you firstly applied your colours as blocks, this brush is completely perfect at blending out your shadows so they appear to intertwine seemlessly together, without making the products colour fade which is what generally happens when blending. this brush is a great size for applying highlight too - don’t ever confine your brushes to one use only!
the false lashes are brill but for £12 they to be honest are just regular lashes similar to eylure or normal drugstore brands, so if i hadn’t got my 40% off i would have been pretty disappointed spending that amount of money on lashes.
the stagnate nail varnish from the toxic nature collection is just wonderful, a perfect taupy nude that i’ve been after for ages and will compliment a (fake :) ) tan perfectly.
one incredible huge disappointment is the eyeshadow in moonflower, on the site ‘it is a creamy white with a shimmer finish’ but actually it only offers a pale white glow that is really a bit pointless! a was after a strong white shadow that was really pigmented but actually this is a slight shimmer that is unpigmented enough that it would be better used as a highlight (which is what i’ll use it for rather than an eyeshadow). the other shadow i got was a deep purple ‘savage’, when blended it’s more of a plum but is still a little less pigmented than i’d like, but a whole heap better than moonflower. it’s a great crease shade and i’ll definitely be experimenting with it later on! :-)
i got one of the liquid metals in phenomena, and again, a little less pigmented than i’d like, it would take atleast three layers of building up for it to be as super silvery metallic that i’d like, but i guess the fact its buildable means i can use it over any colour eyeshadow or lippy to give a silvery sheen - so it can be used in different ways :-) when it is built up its fab, very multidimensional and the glittery bits are so unbelievably fine they’re unnoticable but it still has that amazing sparkle of a glitter. i usually hate cream eyeshadows cos they always seem to crease or feel too sticky, but i can see myself really loving this product! hopefully with a bit of urban decay primer potion it won’t crease! :-)
the sealing gel is a product i’ve been after for a while, it can be used to turn any powder product into a strong waterproof gel/liquid, so can be used to create eyeliners, lip colours… looking forward to trying this out and creating some funky eyeliner shades!
the lipstick is an amazing colour, a blue pink similar to macs snob/saint germain but has more of a matte texture and seems less moiturising so might be a little more long lasting. i haven’t used it on my lips yet so i’ll let you know how it goes! it smelt amazing like vanilla - very similar to mac lippys!
the lipgloss is a fun candy pink that will provide either a slight pink sheen on lips, or really bring out the funky pink lipstick! again not sure about the texture or longevitiy of this product, fingers crossed it’s a good en!
the powder blush is just fabulous, it comes out of the pan so easily it’s actually unbelievable, i only dabbed the blusher brush onto the product so so gently and enough product came off to completely do both cheeks! this hopefully means that the blush should last me a long time! i’m not one to use blush much as my cheeks are naturally so flushed and red that it’s a constant battle to hide redness, so the thought of repinking my cheeks just seems a tad ridiculous, but after seeing a lot of pink haired girlies sporting super pink cheeks and lips (sj-ox you’re one of them! :-) ), i’ve decided it’s a look definitely work trying! this blush was on illamasquas best sellers list and after only spending a few minutes with it i can really see why, i’m already blown away by it - and can see it becoming a staple product in my kit :-)
the precision ink eyeliner is such a deep black it’s fab! i’m really impressed with it, and after swatching it on my hand it dried so quickkly and now seems very unbudgable! i’ve been rubbing it and even wet it and it’s still not moving - amazing, perfect for long nights out!
the medium pencil i got in shade manic is for my eyebrows, and it’s the most perfect colour ever to match up with my hair (along with macs incredible magenta which is my current staple product). the formulation was so soft and smooth on my skin, buttttt only a slight rubbing means all the product has gone! when i’m using it as the sole product for my brows i really need it to be longlasting and wear and tear proof, so i really hope this will be ok! :-)
the pure pigment in android is a touch disappointing as it looked a deep bluey black with silver glitter pigment through it - like a night sky! but in actual fact the bluey black shade pales out on skin and leaves a glitter wash over it - a real shame but i reckon a bit of perseverance and a lot of building might get this product to have a touch more pigmentation.
the matt primer so far seems really impressive, i only applied it to my hand and it suddenly seemed extremely soft but also so unoily and matte it was really impressive! can’t wait to try this on my often oily and sweaty skin hahaha!
the skin base foundation so far has really impressed me - it smells really nice, kind of fruity and makeuppy all mixed together! it seems quite a thick well pigmented formula that looks like it will provide good coverage, so hopefully it’s going to be another product i’ll love! the only thing i found disappointing with the foundation and primer is they seem to be in small bottles, you probably get the same amount of product for your money as other stuff, but it just seems so small! :-(
i’ve wanted the powdered metal in ether for absolutely ages and am glad to be ticking that off my makeup wants list! its a yellowy gold powder that is really super fine with a slight shimmer, and is just the perfect colour for highlighting the tops of cheekbones, and the body. the yellowy gold tones should give me a really healthy glow, i’ll just have to be careful i don’t go overboard with it or i might end up looking like i have jaundice hahaha!
would love to know what you guys favourite illamasqua products are, but also would love to know what your fave makeup products are in general :-)
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