It's Illamasqua Week!

(who says a week has to begin on monday :P)

http://www.illamasqua.com

Illamasqua is probably my favourite ever makeup brand and to celebrate their upcoming 'Body Electrics' collection i thought i would dedicate a week of reviews and looks on my blog to them.

So firstly this post is just an overview of the brand and an attempt at an explanation as to why i love them so much.

Illamasqua is a relatively new brand, having started selling about a year and a half ago but it's cousin, Kryolan, (a brand of theatrical makeup) has been going for over 60 years.  Illamasqua's inspiration comes from the dark and exotic clubs of 1920s Berlin, alternative sub-cultures and the idea of the alter-ego. Illamasqua's mission is to draw out the alter ego hiding in every person, male or female, gay or straight, old or young and become a symbol for a world of self-expression through the art of makeup.
Among the collections Illamasqua has released so far there have been looks and products inspired by Greek myths, the film Metropolis, fantasy and film Noir.

The brand has an art-team involving 3 celebrities from different places among the world of art, Anja Huwe, an artist, musician and film maker, Dave Vanian legendary singer of the Damned (credited as being the UK's and possibly the world's first punk band, and one of my particular favourites when i was a punk) and Alex Box, one of the world's most fabulous, creative and talented makeup artists.

Illamasqua boasts products developed by leading chemists to ensure high-quality, intense, lasting cosmetics that never have and never will be tested on animals. They also support the charity S.O.P.H.I.E. (Stamp out Prejudice, Hatred and Intelorance everywhere) to raise awareness and tolerance of sub-cultures.

I adore this brand. The ideas behind it are just right up my street. The idea of a brand who would never try and tell you how you should look, but encourage you to express your individuality is wonderful and applaudable.

I also really think this brand has something for everyone. Not everything is so completely 'wild' as to scare away someone who does not want to look completely unconventional but just might want to play with new makeup, enhance their features and try something new. For instance their colour range goes from really 'crazy' to pretty and demure, they have both opaque acid-green and light, sheer pink lipglosses, bright purple and nude lipsticks, neon and neutral eyeshadows. And something i really like about their makeup is that they really cater for people of any race, their foundations and concealers go from ghostly white right up to pitch black and with every natural skintone inbetween (though sadly there isn't a match for my super pale pink skin :( ) and, oddly enough in this day and age, very few companies have skin products to match the majority of people and tend to stick to just a few shades (often going no darker than an oliveish tan).

And where else can you find a molten silver lipgloss?

Reviews of all the products of their's i have tried are coming up :)