Showing posts with label illamasqua. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illamasqua. Show all posts
It's gone decidedly nail-focused around here lately, what with all these freebie Nails Inc shades and Gemma's adventures with Zoya and China Glaze. Here's the latest shade to adorn my nails, Illamasqua's Hectic.
It's a cream finish mid-tone khaki that I purchased over the summer during my first stages of fascination with Illamasqua but only now am I actually getting around to writing about it.
It applies translucent, and unlike its label-mate Muse it does take about three coats to get an opaque finish. Once dried however the lasting, shiny wear is very similar.
The thing I love most about this polish is the unique colour - the fact that it wears so well is just a bonus!
Hectic is available from Illamasqua, prices £12.50 for a 15ml bottle.
With the current slew of money off deals from the brand, and their move into online beauty emporia (unusual for a high end boutique brand), I'm wondering what the future holds for them. Either they're on a major expansion kick, looking to get their products into as many makeup bags as possible... or their sales figures are looking a little weak and the company is trying to drive them up. I'm hoping it's the former; despite thinking that the products are a little overpriced, I like Illamasqua as a company and think it's great to have a unique British brand with such a strong identity in the market.
The picture on the left is of Filth lipstick. Who doesn't need a lipstick called Filth?!
Will you be indulging?
You're probably going to read a lot about this over the next few weeks, as it's a fantastic deal. As of Saturday 17th July, Illamasqua is offering 25% off the price of an item for every item of unused, unwanted makeup you bring to the counter. So if you bring two old bits of slap, you get 25% off any two new bits of slap, etc. Lovely.
The old slap in question can be any brand, and in any condition - smashed, used up, or just generally unloved. Sounds like a great deal to us! Find the deal on between 17th - 31st July at Illamasqua's UK counters: Selfridges, London, Birmingham Bullring and Trafford Centre; Fenwick Newcastle; BT2 Grafton Street Dublin; and Debenhams Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff.
What will you be trading in? I've got a few old and broken MAC longwear lipsticks I was planning to turn into new MAC lipsticks - but now might be turning them into Illamasqua blushers instead!
Earlier this year, Illamasqua ran a competition, asking entrants to provide inspiration for two new shades of nail polish. As you can see from the picture above, they ended up picking three winners, whose designs will be transformed into Shrapnel, Raindrops, and Eclipse. Here are the descriptions from Illamasqua -
* Raindrops by Ann Black – a creamy pale grey with a sheer silver sparkle inspired by watching raindrops running down the window while riding the monorail in Seattle.
* Eclipse by Dami Lawal – a deep grey/purple blue that reflects the theatricality of a lunar eclipse
Is "theatricality" a word? Not sure. They all look very nice in any case.
Illamasqua also advised me that my entry into the competition made the top 50, which was very nice to hear, and they sent me a 25% discount voucher as a runner up prize. Hooray!
I thought it would only be polite to make use of my voucher with a little online shopping. I picked up nail polish in Nudge (a pale blue from the quartet of pastel cremes that were released this spring), Velocity (a dirty mid-violet creme) and eyeshadow in Intense (matte deep teal) which had been on my wishlist for over a year.
Very pleased with them all, although my teeth did gnash slightly when I saw how similar Nudge was to my cheap-as-chips Boots 17 Mint Choc Chip polish. It was, as I initially feared, dupeable. Whatever though. The bottle is nicer.
The other week I wandered through Selfridges and stopped by the Illamasqua counter. I was lucky enough to bump into makeup artist Mika, who did a fantastic job of making me over last summer. He told me that the Illamasqua liquid foundation range was being revamped with new formulas and a revised range of shades. As ever, Illamasqua cater for cool, warm and neutral tones across a full range of skintones, but they've edited out some of the more "stage makeup" shades and geared the range more towards everyday wear.
These new liquid foundations are now available to buy from the website at £21 for 30ml. However I'd recommend getting to a counter if you possibly can, because there will be a specific shade that's just right for your skin and the Illamasqua MA's are well trained at colour-matching.
Mika also dropped a couple of hints about the upcoming Autumn/Winter colour collection. It's going to be much more face-focused than Body Electrics, catering to those of us (me very much included) who view our faces as our best feature and aren't likely to be parading our shimmering limbs in scanty outfits. We can expect to see a collection geared particularly around eyes and lips. I'm guessing there will be an eye palette in the mix... at least, I hope so.
As you may already know, Illamasqua are crowdsourcing the models for the A/W campaign. Visit the website and upload your picture to be considered for the chance to represent the brand. Closes 7th of June, so there's no time like the present!
When MAC's Blue India appeared among the recent Give Me Liberty of London collection, it was a definite one to check for me, although I was concerned that it might not be different enough from Muse for me to want to own.
As you can see, I bought it anyway, and here's my on-nail and in-bottle comparison pictures. Blue India is much less green, inky blue/indigo and slightly darker, although the two share the same kind of dusty, gentle shade type and the creme finish. They both remind me of the paint colours you might see on gorgeous old cars from the 1970s and early 80s.
I'd heard that MAC's polishes didn't wear too well, but I've been really happy with Blue India's performance. The manicure you see here has worn through a day out in London, as well as a session of gardening. Top marks. (Although Seche Vite may have played a part in that.)
Muse (£13.00 from Illamasqua) is on my ring finger in the pics below. The rest of the nails are Blue India (£8.00 from MAC, limited edition with Give Me Liberty of London collection.)
The collection sees some new renditions of existing product formats (3 nail polishes, for example, and a new Liquid Metal shade called Surge (described as "molten pewter"). There's also a 4-way palette containing small versions of each of the Liquid Metal shades, which seems a really good way to try this product out if you haven't already.
On the new product front, there are two bronzers (Burnish and Writhe), a liquid face and body highlight called Gleam Cream, and a pair of intriguing reflective-finish dry oils called Volt (golden bronze shimmer) and Pulse (iridescent violet).
The Body Electrics collection is online now at the Illamasqua website.
Illamasqua are running a contest at the moment to find the inspiration for a new shade of nail polish. It closes on March 14th (Sunday) so get your skates on if you want to enter.
As I'm always banging on about duochromes, and am especially fond of those that appear in the natural world, my choice is pretty obvious. My entry to the contest is below.
Cetonia aurata - the rose chafer beetle, pictured by ParaScubaSailor on Flickr
A polish in tribute to the jewelled beauty of the rose chafer. Clinging to the fingertips like 6 delicate legs, shimmering rose gold and green like the multi-faceted wing-cases of this gentle springtime insect. Vibrant and shining, shifting colours on a blue-black base. An unconventional beauty brought into the spotlight.
Read more from this post in Beauty follower »
As I'm always banging on about duochromes, and am especially fond of those that appear in the natural world, my choice is pretty obvious. My entry to the contest is below.
A polish in tribute to the jewelled beauty of the rose chafer. Clinging to the fingertips like 6 delicate legs, shimmering rose gold and green like the multi-faceted wing-cases of this gentle springtime insect. Vibrant and shining, shifting colours on a blue-black base. An unconventional beauty brought into the spotlight.
Here are Illamasqua's new quartet of pastel nail polishes, released today and available from the Illamasqua website at a cost of £13 each. "Wink", "Nudge", "Blow" and "Caress" can also be bought in a set for £39, which amounts to a 4 for 3 deal.
Apparently there is a waiting list of over 400 people hovering in line to get their hands on these polishes. That's according to Illamasqua's email newsletter, which was sent out today.
Don't get me wrong, I love Illamasqua's products generally and I would certainly not turn my nose up at any or all of these polishes. From my experience of their other nail colours, I'd expect the wear and application to be superb. But doesn't a 400-strong waiting list seem a little much for what is essentially a set of fairly standard Spring pastels?
I hope I'm not going to be crucified for this, but they all look kind of... dupe-able to me. Maybe once I've seen them in person I'll change my mind...
Anyone else have an opinion on these? Would you wait in line for them? Are they on your must-have list?
The compere comes to the front of the stage and says "There are a lot of people waiting outside. So please, if there is an empty seat beside you, or you have your bag on a seat, raise your hand."
A few hands go up, and a few more grateful latecomers are squeezed in to the packed auditorium, just in time for the show to begin.
By the side of the stage waits a slender, slightly stooped figure with bright blue trousers and a loud tweed jacket. Even in the darkness, unannounced and unassuming, she's impossible to mistake. "Why is her hair two different colours?" Gemma whispers to me. "Because she's Alex Box." I say "That's one of her things."
Alex takes to the stage after a blare of music and an introductory flash of lights. Her name is emblazoned on the huge monitor beside the stage area. She takes a seat at a table and crosses her legs, revealing a pair of astonishingly high red platforms.
She's rapturously announced by Michael Key of Makeup Artist Magazine, clearly an admirer of her work. Beside his easy American gloss, she seems slightly shy, almost reticent, but once she begins to talk about her artistry she becomes passionately expressive, raising her blue-nailed hands to accentuate her speech.
She's wearing a blue colour on her lips, which she explains is one of the Illamasqua pencils, applied as lipliner. "Did you match your lips to your trousers, or was it the other way around?" asks Michael. "It's an ongoing dialogue" she replies. Her wit is quick but she speaks almost humbly, careful of every word, as though she realises how closely everyone is listening and wants to make sure that what she says is what she really means.
We are shown a montage of lavish shots from her recent book, a collaboration with photographer Rankin. The variety is incredible. Michael remarks on the use of mixed media - makeup, drawing, Photoshop... but Alex reveals that actually no digital manipulation took place at all - she hand-drew the overlaid artwork, and as for the photomontage of arms and hands, "they were all cut out of Vogue and stuck down with Pritt Stick."
As a child, Alex was always drawing, always creating. She describes being given a Lego kit for Christmas and making a face massager with it. She was encouraged especially by her father, who introduced her to the music of David Bowie and exposed her to a range of alternative art and culture.
After school she attended art college, and was "on my way to becoming an artist" when she took to makeup, an area of work that grew naturally from the body-painting she was using in her college pieces. She is and has always been a multi-disciplinary person, drawing, painting, using makeup, and creating sculpture as different means of self-expression; "It's all legs on the same animal to me" she explains.
Alex feels that people have always been slightly uncomfortable with this multi-modality, looking to categorise her as one thing or another. Other artists were especially dubious when she began to work in makeup; "they thought I was entering some world of pink fluff... but of course it's not like that at all. I want to fly the flag for a different kind of makeup."
Her association with Illamasqua came about via an exchange on Myspace with the brand's founder, Julian Kynaston. He offered her the chance to help him create the line, and she jumped at it. As someone who had felt strong pressure to compromise herself and her work in order to fit in with other people's ideas, the brand's "think outside the box" ethos makes it a perfect place for Alex to thrive. The disregard for boundaries that is so central to her spirit is reflected in the way the line is organised - products are presented to the consumer just as they are, without any prescriptive instructions about how or where to apply them - blue lipliner being just one example of what's possible.
Indeed, anyone who has seen the work she's done both for the catwalk and in her book will appreciate that colouring inside the lines isn't where Alex's idea of beauty lies. Her looks are a riot of colour and shape, flowing from the face out over the body, into the hairline and even beyond the photoshoot itself - many are embellished afterwards by Alex working over the top in inks, paints and pencils.
But, asks Michael, what about the business aspect of running a beauty brand? Isn't that contrary to that organic, spontaneous way of working?
"Not at all. I love it." she replies firmly. "I'm a very disciplined person."
To achieve all that she has, there's no doubt that discipline and determination must have played a big role. Her commitment to her creativity is steadfast - even when sick and unable to work, she recalls finding herself drawing eye-shapes, as if compelled to keep creating things. "It's like a form of Tourettes" she says "it just comes out, I can't help it."
As for the future, Alex wants to share her experience and her views with other people - to get out, do workshops and give people a chance to work creatively. "I'm not interested in being in some ivory tower" she says. "Some people, they get so far, and then they kind of shut the door on people below them. That's not how I want to be."
Later on, Alex can be seen sitting at the Makeup Artist Magazine booth signing autographs for a long line of people. She's perched, not in an ivory tower, but on a stool, with those ridiculously tall red platform heels, tweed back bent and writing dedications in copies of her book.
A good friend of mine gave me this beautiful metallic bronze cream for Christmas - what a lovely gift! This marks my first foray into Illamasqua - I've been wanting to try something out from their range but didn't want to spend (quite a bit of) money on something that wasn't unique - my stash is already full of pigments, eyeshadows and blushers. So I was glad to receive something which really stands out from other products on the market.Liquid Metal is described as a "gloriously rich and highly pigmented metallic cream". I have it in Enrapture, which is a "molten bronze". Metallic here doesn't mean ultra-sparkly as it can with other brands - but a very rich, absolutely metallic finish which is definitely high impact. It comes in a small box with a lid that just clicks on - which feels a little flimsy to me. Seems a little too easy for the lid to come off, which would cause the product to prematurely dry out.
The formula isn't as liquid as you would expect - it's actually a fairly solid block of emollient cream. Once warmed up, it can be used with fingers or a brush, and so I swatched it with both. The right hand swatch is dabbed on with a clean finger, and the left hand swatch is dabbed on with a loaded clean brush. You can see that you get a good deal more opacity with a brush. I was expecting the cream to dry down after a few minutes to a set finish. Unfortunately, it didn't - it remained creamy, even slightly greasy, and was still creamy a good 15 minutes later.
And therein lies the problem with this product. In order to get opaque coverage, you need to use a brush that's been loaded up quite heavily. And if you put it on your eyes as I did, it creases very badly within 5 minutes. Given that this product doesn't dry down, I couldn't use it on my eyes. Similarly, I wouldn't want to use it on my cheeks, as I would worry about transfer onto clothes and people during the course of a day or night.So, I'm not really sure what I could use it for. Maybe a base for glitter or pigment, but again, I'm not sure it would last without creasing. Maybe as a collar bone or leg highlight, but this is a pretty expensive product for sheering out on the body. All this makes it a beautiful product that's pretty impractical, and as such this isn't one I'd recommend.
If you'd like to try it yourself, you can find it at Illamasqua.com, at £16 for 1.5g. It also comes in gold and silver shades.
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