Surprise Package!

Today i woke up to find this big box waiting for me:

I had no idea what it could be because the only thing i've bought recently was a few bits from the Asos sale, and they always have 'ASOS' written across their boxes. So i wondered if i'd bought something and forgotten. I opened it up and inside there was:

 

Another box! A pretty pretty black box tied up in a bow! 

I still had no idea what it could be, so i was desperate to open it up. So i did. Inside was (no, not another box :P):

  

Aha! Finally i knew what it was! My surprise present from Illamasqua! I couldn't believe how beautifully it had come, it really felt like opening a special gift box.

So inside (as well as the great lime green lining and iridescent packing... stuff which i shall use in sculptures) There were two of the new Illamasqua products for me to try as well as a new brochure, poster and information about the new collection.

 

Gorgeous poster

 

Postcard with a little message on the back, brochure and infomartion leaflet (I absolutely adore the picture on the leaflet. God i wish i had that kind of talent!)

And my presents :)

I recieved the new Liquid Metals palette, which i was so, so happy about because it was one of the things i was most excited about buying from the new collection! And it is just great, i love the new colour, Surge  and am very happy to finally have Phenomena which i've wanted since the Dystopia collection. I also think that having smaller amounts of each colour is just more sensible for me as a little bit goes a really long way and i love all the colours.

 

Here it is, you can see the lovely large palette packaging made of sturdy, shiny black plastic with a really good quality mirror. One problem with the packaging though is that because the products are cream when i used my finger to swatch and apply the product gets onto the casing and can look messy. However i don't think there is any way around this, and it won't happen when i apply it properly with brushes.

 

Left to right: Phenomena, Solstice, Surge, Enrapture

And here is Surge worn on my lips

 

You can see my previous review of the Liquid metals here

I absolutely love the new colour, Surge. It's such a unique colour, to me it seems like a silver but with tiny hints of gold and green. And Phenomena is just a perfect pure silver. Beautiful. I can't wait to try out proper looks with them!

The other item i recieved was their new bronzer in Writhe which is not available on their website yet and they describe it as a 'golden tan'. They describe their bronzer as a whole as such: 'shape, define, tempt and tease. Illamasqua Bronzer contains crushed pearl powder, for a smooth, even finish that leaves skin begging to be caressed. Apply to face and body for a beautiful bronzed glow that will last until dawn'.

  

(these photos have bleached it out a little and made it look more pink. In real life it's slightly darker and more golden, though it does have a pink undertone.)

I haven't swatched this as i'm not sure what i'm going to do with it. I never use bronzer as, quite frankly, it looks rediculous on me. I'm just too pale and pink, wearing bronzer just looks silly. It could be used for contouring, but i prefer a matte finish for that and am happy with what i already have. Still it's a very pretty colour. Hmm.

Also in the new brochure i learned that their foundations have been reformulated. The light foundation has had its texture and finish perfected to look even more natural and they have also made sure that the colours in the range are now consistent across the range. I'm hoping i might be able to find a match for my skin now :) I've also heard that the cream eyeshadows have been discontinued due to their creasing problems but they are being refomulated and should hopefully come back soon and be much better than the ones i reviewed.

Anyway thank you Illamasqua! You really are too kind. And as i said in my last post about them they were so sweet and good at contacting me. I can't wait for it to arrive on counters so i can test out the other products in the range :)

Illamasqua Week - Liquid Metal Review

 

Illamasqua's Liquid Metals are one of those products that 'does what it say on the tin'. The product is basically a metallic cream-liquid  that looks as close to real metal as i think a cosmetic is ever likely to get. Wearing them is like wearing a piece of metallic foil on your face! They come in 3 colours, Enrapture - copper/bronze, Solstice - pure gold and Phenomena - silver, i only have the first 2 (well Enrapture is claire's but she lets me use it). They are meant to be used wherever you want, eyes, lips, face and body.

I really love these. They apply beautifully, creamy and smooth and are very richly pigmented, they appear on the face just as they look in the pot. But you can also apply them very faintly to give a metallic glow to your skin, like a bronzer or highlighter. I also really like the fact these products are multi-use,  had been considering buying Illamasqua's amazing gold lipstick, but figured if i got this is works as a lippie, eyeshadow and face product. 

These cost £17 each and you get 8g of product, which i imagine will last forever as you only need a very light amount to get full pigmentation. They come in little jars the same size and shape as their eyeshadows, but hingeless and made of clear plastic. The jars are entirely full of product and have a black lid which just clicks on top. These came in the same little black cardboard boxes as the eyeshadows, but without a window in the lid. I really like this packaging, it's functional and pretty and elegant.

 

Here are a bunch of swatches so you can see the colours on my skin:

left to right: Solistic applied sheerly, solstice applied heavily, Enrapture applied sheerly, Enrapure applied heavilly.

 

 

 

The last one particularly shows how metallic the are. The gold in particular looks almost like gold leaf! You can also see the amazing pigmentation. I can imagine that both of these would look amazing on dark skin tones.

Oddly Solstice seems slightly more pigmented then Enrapture, in the above photos the heavy swatch of Solstice took only one sweep of my finger on the product and then just one sweep across my skin whereas Enrapture took about 3 sweeps to get it that pigmented. You can also see that it is easy to just get a nice sheer wash of the metallic colour, all i did was take a small swatched with my finger and blend it out.

So how are they in use? Well on my lips the colour went on smoothly and was completely opaque. It also lasted a really long time which surprised me, and would have lasted longer but unfortunately i found it felt rather uncomfortable, very dry and sort of powdery on my lips, so eventually i rubbed it off. Great for photos though and maybe if i'd used a gloss over the top, or a balm underneath, it would have felt better. On my face these work brilliantly, they go on like a cream but then dry until they're basically smudge resistant, i can imagine these making an absolutely gorgeous bronzer on people with darker skin tones than me, us pale girls can use them sheerly for a golden glow :) On the eyes these look absolutely beautiful, they go on again smoothly with no patchiness but unfortunately, like the cream eyeshadows they crease in my socket line (having said this i realise i've never worn these over primer or tried setting hem with powder, i will have to see if that makes a difference). Now i find this more forgiveable with this product as it is not specifically designed for use in the eye. Also the creasing genuinely doesn't seem as bad as in the cream eyeshadows and as the colours are so beautiful and unusual i can forgive a bit of creasing more. I bet these would make amazing bases for other metallic shadows or pigments too. 

So would i recommend them? Well i think they really come down to personal taste. With most of the other product's i've reviewed, if you didn't like the really avant-garde colours they also have more 'ordinary' colours with the same formulas. With these however there are only 3 colours and they are all definately extra-ordinary. If you only wanted these to use as eyeshadow i am not sure i would recommend them as they do crease. However i think these are amazing products, i think if you like to play with unusual looks, or ever do makeup artistry then i think these would be wonderful in your collection. I love how differently you can use these, sheer as a bronzer, thich as a body paint, lip stick, eyeshadow, even in your hair! I think they are quite pricey but you get a LOT for your money and i'm pretty sure these will last you forever (well unless you use it every day heavilly)