Illamasqua's Cream Pigment in 'Mould'.

Recently, I've been playing it safe in the makeup department. Some mascara and a wee bit of blush and I'm ready to go. But the other week I decided to challenge myself. I decided I was going to buy a piece of makeup which would completely be out of my comfort zone, but yet wasn't going to make me look ridiculous and could be worn day or night.
In the end, I chose Illamasqua's Cream Pigment in 'Mould' (I already have 'Androgen', which is the loveliest cheek and lip colour). I fell in love with the colour, it was unlike anything I had in makeup drawer and I felt it was the perfect shade to match my grungy and weird fashion sense (this character is my fashion icon. Says it all really), and was versatile enough for day and night wear.

'Mould' is described as 'grape', and I would agree, it's a very dark purple shade. It's also a matte finish, which is great for me since I'm not particularly fond of anything shimmery or glittery. The matte-ness also lends to it's multipurpose properties: these cream pigments can be used on the eyes, lips and anywhere else!

Because it is a cream product, it is so easy to play around with. It glides on so smoothly, and blending this product is an absolute dream. In the pan it is quite hard, but once you warm it up with your fingers then it softens up and has quite a lot of slip.
As a lip product, it is beautiful. It isn't very appropriate for wear during the day (for me anyway), but it does look absolutely fantastic, especially on an evening out. It is such a comfortable texture, some lip products can feel quite heavy on the lips, but this is so light you forget you have dark purple lips! It is quite a long lasting lip product, and even when it fades on the lips you get left with a light purple stain on the lips.
It's not necessarily a moisturising lip product, and I can imagine some people might find it quite drying on the lips. I would also take care to make sure your lips are buffed and moisturised before wearing this shade, any dry patches are instantly shown up!
If I'm wearing 'Mould' on my lips, I keep my eye makeup quite neutral, since I'm not a fan of bold eyes and lips worn together.

On the eyes this shade looks and feels fantastic. It's more appropriate for day wear (I think purple eyelids are much more 'normal' compared to dark purple lips!). I think 'Mould' especially suits people with dark brown or hazel eyes, it really seemed to make them 'pop'.
This product is also great for intensifying eyeshadow; apply an eyeshadow of the same sort of shade over the top of 'Mould' and it really makes the colour look so much more intense, richer and have much more depth to it.
My only disappointment with this product is that I felt it creased on my eyelids really easily. I have quite oily and wrinkly eyelids to begin with, so those of you with normal eyelids might find that this doesn't crease! It is probably because the product is more of a cream than a powder product, so it creases easier. Any ideas on how to prevent this would be much appreciated.

The packaging of Illamasqua's Cream Pigments are great: understated beauty, simplicity and practicality rolled into one. It's not gonna be a product I'm going to avoid getting out of my bag for touch ups...

This product cost me £15 (RRP £17 - I love my loyalty discount) from the Illamasqua website, which I think is a really great price for such a versatile product. Plus it is such a long lasting product because you only need the tiniest amount to get the desired effect!

Overall, I do love this product. I love how multi-purpose it is (one day I will fully embrace the purple lip and go out in public). I am totally in love with the shade, and when I wear it I feel like I'm channeling my inner Sooz. Obviously, the fact that it creases annoys me immensely, but I think I might have to get surgery on my greasy lids to prevent that...because I love it. When I do finish this product I will repurchase, for sure.

Illamasqua 'Concealer'.

This concealer is actually the first concealer I have ever bought (shock horror)! I should have bought concealer earlier on in my life but what with foundations providing good coverage these days and not personally liking caking makeup on, I never even bothered before...until now.



"The Illamasqua woman knows how to conceal. Cover blemishes and problem areas to create beautiful skin that feels smooth and looks flawless. Tested under the harsh lights of film sets, Illamasqua Concealer is guaranteed to keep your secrets and let you take centre stage."

This Illamasqua concealer is a creamy consistency, and has fantastic pigmentation so it gives great coverage, without looking caked or unnatural. Because it's a creamy consistency, it's much more easy to blend it in to the skin, and much more easy to layer it up to get the desired coverage.
It's great at covering spots (even those nasty dry ones), undereye circles and redness upon the skin, and it really does make me look like I have perfect skin. I did find with undereye circles it does crease a tiny bit, and I don't have many undereye wrinkles and aren't particularly bothered about the slight creasing, but someone with quite prominent undereye wrinkles may find it's not the product for them.
Because it is a more creamy consistency, I do tend to find it does end up shiny as the day goes on, however I don't tend to wear any powder over the top of my makeup since I think it makes my skin look horrible and dull, but when I have worn powder over the top it stays matte all day which is great.

I love the packaging. As with all Illamasqua packaging, it's very sleek and looks incredibly professional. There is a wee mirror on the inside of the lid which I haven't photographed very clearly, but which is a nice touch, especially since I am one of those who never ever carries around a compact mirror, which can make applying makeup on the move slightly tricky.

I paid £5 for this in the last Illamasqua sale as opposed to paying £13 RRP (that is with my 10% loyalty discount), so I really am pleased with this product. When I run out I will definitely repurchase even at the non-sale price, the product has been everything I could have hoped for and I love it. Also, it will last me ages because of the pigmentation and creamy formulation of the product I don't need a lot of concealer to get the desired coverage I want and need, therefore making it fantastic value for money.

Overall, a great concealer. I say I haven't tried any others, but I don't really feel I want to. I have found one which works for me and I like it so I think I'll be sticking with this one for a long time!

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in 'Electrify' and 'Soul'.

I don't know what possessed me to buy these. I never wear lipgloss. But hey, I went ahead and purchased two from the Illamasqua sale for the hell of it. As you do.

Anyway, I'm glad I did, because I really love both of the colours, and they're so different I don't have a favourite! 'Electrify' is an 'iridescent baby pink', and when I wear it I feel super-girly, it's also quite a fun shade to wear as well! 'Soul' is a 'shimmering champagne nude', which is a shade that makes me feel so mature and sophisticated, and absolutely perfect for summer! They are both what I would call everyday colours - they are safer colours and something that I would wear to work, at a gig or anywhere! Their like shoes, you can either dress them up or down, and versatility is something I'm a fan of!
There is a slight shimmer to the glosses, however it's quite fine, it's not chunky glitter or any of that rubbish, and if you get it in the light it is beautiful.
As the name suggests, they are sheer shades, and so are quite subtle, but still look amazing on the lips, and the pigmentation of them is fantastic. For a more intense look, you can wear them over the top of lipstick, but they look just fine on their own!

It is quite a moisturising formula, which is great. All too often I wear lipsticks or other lipglosses that really dry out the lips which is a complete bummer, so it's glad to see a product that looks amazing and takes good care of my lips!

As with all the Illamasqua products, the packaging is great. It's very simple - a clear tube with a black lid. Less is really more when it comes to packaging I think, I'm totally not of packaging that is too in your face. Illamasqua packaging is something I would be very proud of taking out of my handbag on the train!

These lipglosses smell really sweet and quite fruity. I'm crap at describing smells, but all I can be sure of is that it is quite a sweet smelling smell which is very pleasant.
They alse taste nice too. I know that is not something that most people need to know or something that would normally appear in a lipgloss review - but if something goes on your lips is bound to get in your mouth one way or another, so taste is important! Plus, if you're in a position where you lock lips with other people, it's only fair that they get to taste something nice!

The staying power of these lipglosses are fantastic. There is no continuous re-applying of the product, and there isn't any sliding, slippage or colour-loss as the day goes on. I only need to reapply after eating or drinking, which is quite impressive.

These lipglosses cost me £7.50 each, and they were originally £13, which is a complete bargain! I definitely do not regret buying these lipglosses, I have worn them everyday since I bought them, which is amazing since I have never been a big lipgloss kind of person. I even wear them on my own in the house whilst doing housework - they make me feel sexy, girly and sophisticated even when I'm wearing a plain old t-shirt and jeans!
I do think at full price, £13 is a little bit expensive, but in my opinion the products are worth every penny. The consistency is lovely, they are long-lasting, they are moisturising, pigmentation is wonderful, and the packaging is gorgeous as ever! So yes, I would repurchase even at full price.

Have any of you tried Illamasqua Sheer Lipglosses, and if so are you as much of a fan as me? I want to try some of the Intense Lipglosses, the shades look amazing!

My Illamasqua mini-haul.

I just thought I'd share a very exciting package with you, since I was over the moon to receive it and wanted to share my happiness!
I love Illamasqua. They are so unique and different, and produce products of amazing quality that I struggle to find anywhere else.
Despite being very different and producing some eye-popping products, they also produce high-class products which can be used on an everyday basis. I have reviewed one of their products in the past, a Powder Blush in 'Tremble' that I have used every day without fail since I bought it, so it's no surprise that I have hit the pan!
They currently have a fantastic sale on right now, but things are going fast, so I'd hurry if you're thinking to purchase something! It might be gone tomorrow!

This is the Light Foundation in shade 210. I'm looking forward to trying this. I have high hopes - I haven't found any foundations in the history of ever that have suited my skin, so I have my fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed that I strike gold with this one! I actually haven't been matched for this foundation, so I took an educated guess! A bit risky, but I think it's going to be alright, I have some Skin Base in quite a pale white shade to pale it out slightly if it goes on too dark, so it's not a complete disaster.

This is a Cream Pigment in 'Androgen'. It's the thing I was most excited about receiving, since I have heard to many good things about Illamasqua's Cream Pigments!
I apologise for the finger-marks in the photo, as soon as I opened the parcel my mum delves her hand in and uses it whilst doing her makeup for work! The cheek of it! It did look absolutely wonderful on her though, and she's begged me to buy her one.

This is a Cream Blush in 'Brazen'. It is a very bright and bold shade, but I'm looking forward to using it! Surely it won't look too awful, and it was cheap and the only usable cream blush shade in the sale, so I couldn't pass it off!

This is a Powder Foundation in shade 210. I'm currently using a No7 Translucent Powder, which is fine at mattifying, but lacks coverage. Again, I didn't get matched, but took an educated guess so I don't think I've gone too far wrong!

I will do an individual review on each product soon enough once I get enough use out of each one, but I just couldn't wait to show people what I bought! It was like Christmas had came early!

Illamasqua's 'Powder Blush' in 'Tremble'.

I just about trembled when I got my hands on this (okay sorry for the awful pun).

I had been trying drug-store blushes beforehand (Bourjois and Rimmel) but found that they were pretty crap to be honest. Several things from lack of pigmentation within the product, lack of 'staying power' to few shades all really turned me off, and it was during a fateful trip to Selfridges in Birmingham about a year ago I came across the Illamasqua counter.
Lo and behold, blushes of nearly every shade imaginable...I knew I wanted a good pink, because I tend to get quite hot-pink cheeks when I'm hot inside or dead embarrassed and wanted something to match that colour when not embarrassed so I wouldn't have two different facial colours.
So my beloved boyfriend picked this one out for me (what a gem!), and I have worn it every day since than.

To me 'Tremble' is quite a soft semi-hot-pink colour, although I'm pretty sure they've changed their colouring system, because on the website today 'Tremble' looks a lot lighter than the product I have. Unless I got sold a mis-matched product and box, because the box definitely says 'Tremble' although it more looks like 'Unrequited'. Oh I don't know and don't really care.
Anyway, the colour really suits my skin tone, because as I have said, when I do get flushed, this is the colour I tend to come out in, and I really didn't want to get a blush too different from my natural colouration and end up with two different facial tones. Yucky.
When the blush is applied to cheeks (I normally use and prefer a brush to apply, but you can use a finger), it does look as though you have been out for a walk in the country-side which I love! It gives cheeks a fresh youthful glow, and almost an 'English rose' sort of look on me (I have quite pale skin).
It is a matte powder, and you need the lightest dusting to provide a good coloured cheek. This is because pigmentation of the product is absolutely fantastic, and whereas with drug-store products you had to go back several times in order to achieve the depth of colour you want, one little dusting over your cheeks and you're set for the whole day.
It is long-wearing, and even after my cycle/train-ride/walk into university/day at university, my cheeks are still lovely and pink.
Coverage is also brilliant. A lot of drug-store blushes tended to go really patchy on me about midday, or even on application, but the Illamasqua powder blush gives a consistent coverage and depth of colour all throughout the day.
It's blendability (is that even a word?) is great too, I tend to use a brush to apply, and my fingers to blend, but it does the trick.

Overall, I adore this blush, as you can probably tell, and I vouch to repurchase over and over and over (etc) again. It is expensive, at , but you are paying for a really high-quality, high end product. Also, it lasts for ages (as I said, I've had mine for a year)
I am tempted to get another blush, maybe 'Chased' by Illamasqua again. Or 'Unrequited'. Maybe 'Katie'. In fact, I want them all. I do know that I love Illamasqua's powder blushes, and they are definitely a 'must-have' product.
You will never go back to drug-store brands. I haven't (oh God how cheesy do I want to be?!).