Illamasqua Haul - Theatre of the Nameless

Small haul from Illamasqua's latest collection, two of the Pure Pigments, one of the lipglosses & the new Masquara.

Pure Pigment in Beguile

Looking at the website swatches doesn't do Beguile justice. It looks like a shimmery white, but in person it's so much more. Reminiscent of the Static pure pigment, whereas Static has purple & pink shimmer, Beguile has green & pink shimmer. The shimmer is smaller than that in Static, so this one also makes a great highlighter shade (it looks great over blusher for a really glam night-out look).

Beguile

Pure Pigment in Zeitgeist

Another stunning pigment where you need to see it in person to appreciate how gorgeous it truly is. Zeitgeist has a black base packed with silver sparkles. Applies well, no wishy-washy black with barely visible shimmer, what you see in the packaging is what you get. 

Zeitgeist

The swatch picture truly doesn't do these justice, Beguile in particular. The lighting just didn't capture the sparkle as it looks in reality, it just looks like a shimmery white here but at least it demonstrates how shimmery it is.

Beguile, Zeitgeist

Sheer Lipgloss in Violate

I admit, as much as I love metallic green, I wasn't entirely sure what I'd do with a green lipgloss. At the counter, I was shown a nifty little trick that ensured Violate a position in my collection.

On its own, it's a deep metallic green. Although it's labelled as a sheer gloss, it's very pigmented. The Nifty little trick? It was applied over the top of Atomic lipstick (a great hot pink). This changed Atomic into a great purple shade with a hint of metallic to it. Not at all what I was expecting but it was a beautiful colour.

Violate

The last item in my bag was the new Masquara in Raven, a midnight black. I'm not a huge mascara fiend, I only tend to buy it when I need a new tube. As it happens, my trip to the Illamasqua counter coincided with the need to buy a new tube.

Masquara

The brush is a little bigger than I'm used to. I got this on the day the collection came out & I'm still getting to grips with the best way to use it.

As I'm still on a learning curve, it's all too easy for me to end up with slightly clumpy lashes. I'm blaming my unfamiliarity with the brush rather than the Masquara itself. A quick brush through with a disposable mascara wand after application soon sorts that little problem out.

Apart from that, Masquara is good. It's not a wishy-washy black, deep, dark black lashes is what this will give you. It also holds a curl and gives great length. Not really a subtle mascara, but I prefer to have quite dramatic lashes anyway.

As for staying power, Masquara stays on until I remove it & I haven't noticed any flaking or smudging at all. Once I get the hang of using the brush, I'm sure that this will prove to be a favourite with me.