Wednesday 19 February 2014

illamasqua picks!



Last week I guest posted on the lovely Hannah's ADayInTheLifeOfANorthernGirl and first of all I'd like to say a huge thanks to her, her blog is fab you need to check it out if you haven't already!
I also thought I'd post it here incase you haven't see it yet :)



 I've only ever really dipped into the brand in a nail polish and testing other products in store, but my friend raves about them so I wanted to try. It's definitely not cheap, but in the sale I managed to get all four of these products for £20. Bargain!


Firstly I went for one of their Cream Foundations, down from £23.00 to just £5! As I had to guess online after looking at a million swatches I settled for 210, which is a tad darker than I am but I wanted this for a more heavy coverage for nights out, when I am usually fake-tanned up, so it turned out okay. As you can see from the finger dent in it though, it takes a lot a lot of work to actually get it out of the pan and really warming to make it blendable. After a good dig in with a foundation brush I managed to get this onto my face, with really nice natural but full coverage, but it took too much work in my opinion (maybe I'm just lazy). Nice for £5, but I won't repurchase this at full price.


I also went for the concealer in the same colour, 210, as I've never had a concealer that matches a foundation perfectly and at £5 from £13 it was really cheap too! As you can see from the swatch it really does cover everything, and is super super creamy and blendable. I do find this means it slips about a bit, so a setting powder is a must! It is very similar to the foundation however ( but less hard to use) so perhaps you wouldn't need it with the high coverage the cream foundation gives if you bought that. As you can probably see too, both products are very messy and a couple of uses to test them out seem to have got product all over the very pretty packaging, boo!


Next was a product I've been lusting after for a really really long time. I've tried all sorts of powders for contour, but I found the normal Illamasqua one too orange and the contouring palette recently brought out was just so tiny for the price! At £24 I had already nearly bought this, so when it went down to £5 it was straight into that imaginary shopping bag! Although it's technically a powder foundation it works just like any other powder, and as it's foundation it has much less orangey tones than most bronzers. It's so subtle too- a sweep of this under the cheekbones and you'll be looking perfectly and naturally chiseled. A must for any contour addicts like me!


Lastly I couldn't resist ANOTHER eye pencil, I must have hundreds by now. Illamasqua are known for their dramatic stage and party makeup though and so I thought I'd test that with their eyeliner in Fidelity, also £5. It's a really dark grey brown as you can see, but is really creamy so when smudged under the eye I found it faded into smokeyness really well. There was quite a few colours in the sale both online and in-store and I recommend trying them too if you're an eyeliner-kinda-gal.

Here's the swatches on my hand (Cream Foundation, Concealer, Powder Foundation, Eyeliner). Apologies for the awful light it seems to be constant night-time outside here in Leeds.

Since buying this lot another 10% discount has been added to the Illamasqua sale, plus it's always free delivery, so I'd get there quick if I was you! The foundations and concealers in the sale were limited to certain colours, but even if you dont find a match in the sale I've hopefully given you some food for thought on the products on the whole. I definitely think I'll  be back to Illamasqua for their powder and eye products, but I'll stick to my usual base products for now as for the usual expensive prices I just wasn't blown away!

Finally just another huge thanks to Hannah and thanks to you for reading!
Check me out at www.gagaaboutbeauty.blospot.co.uk if you want to read more and leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences...

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