All posts tagged: illamasqua

Face Off: NARS Ita Kabuki Brush vs. Illamasqua Blush Up Brush

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This fun post was brought to you by a NARS SA that gave me the wrong thing (as I previously mentioned here). I was going to buy the NARS Yachiyo brush because it applied blush really beautifully, but the SA gave me this flat brush called the NARS Ita Kabuki brush, which became really famez after YT gurus kept using it as a contour brush. I already had a similar flat brush, the Illamasqua Blush-Up Brush, so I was a bit miffed by this mistake, but I also wanted to see if this was as good as everyone thought it was. I don’t really contour much, so I didn’t have much use for this, but IDK. I have a weird relationship with stuff, I guess. Here’s what they look like, structurally. The Ita brush is comprised of a rubbery matte plank that forks into two planks that sandwich the bristles (the ferrule is black). The Blush Up brush is a bit fan-like but super dense with a shiny black ferrule and handle. Comparing the bristles, …

(Another) No Makeup Makeup Look: Bright Eyes

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“No makeup” makeup has a strong presence in the beauty world, and the opinion on this is split into two factions: the people who appreciate and love it and the people who don’t see the point. Over the last few months, I’ve gotten several anonymous comments about how my makeup is being “wasted” and is useless because you can’t detect it on my face. (That’s a whole other story.) I’m personally a fan of the no makeup makeup look. There’s nothing wrong with enhancing your features and going for subtlety. Understated is good. Plus, there are actually people who can’t wear wild makeup looks to work. I am not one of those people, but I still dig these looks. Also, I don’t really feel comfortable with the thought of someone actually being able to see foundation, etc. on my face. Why on earth would you want that? I would not wish that upon the most annoying of the people I am annoyed at. I don’t really have evil foes.

FOTD: Neutral Natural with NARS Charade

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Look! An FOTD from a few days ago. 🙂 It’s just a pretty neutral look since I wanted to use a hot pink blush. I basically just used the NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Charade—the rosy shade all over the lid and the purple to deepen the outer corner and smoke out the lower lid a little bit. I used a bit of the rosy shade as a gradient, too. I used a liquid liner and mascara, and that’s mostly it for the eyes. For the lips, another NARS product, the Satin Lip Pencil in Decanso, which is limited edition and gorgeous. I kind of want to buy a backup, but I don’t want to be that kind of person anymore. I chiseled out my cheekbones a little with the Illamasqua Cream Foundation, then added a pretty blended out application of Tarte’s Flush on my cheeks. I tend to apply blush higher up on and towards the edges of my face and not on the apples because my cheeks are quite full. Here are some of …

Adventures in Contouring: Illamasqua Cream Foundation

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I could never get contouring right. I have been blessed with a really round face, so usually a contour just looks out of place. I stopped myself from buying bronzers when I reached 3 (though I only ever use one for contour attempts), but when I saw this Illamasqua Cream Foundation in a darker shade on sale for £5 from £23, I thought it was worth giving it a try. It comes in a pinched-square standard Illamasqua packaging. I actually looked for the technical term for this… and it turns out it’s just a square… in hyperbolic, non-Euclidian geometry… … so never mind. It’s just a ‘pinched square’ as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, it comes with a full-sized mirror and a sponge that I don’t use because I don’t intend to use it on my face. I got the shade 320, which is just a couple of notches darker than my original skin color. It’s actually a pretty great contour color. I like how the cream foundation stays put. Product Description: “Create a base …

5 Things Friday: Fussy Lip Products That I Just Can’t Quit

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5 Things Friday, it’s been a while. I’m trying to make this series a bit more regular, but lifestuff gets in the way sometimes, you know? Anyway, I’m a self-proclaimed lazy girl, which is probably why it’s surprising that I got into this whole beauty thing in the first place. (Check out my lazy girl face here.) However, there are some fussy beauty products that I can put up with, even with all the added effort. L-R: Le Métier de Beauté Colour Core Moisture Stain Lipstick (Miami), Stylenanda 3CE Lip Lacquer (Boom)*, Illamasqua Matte Lipstick (Immodest), Obsessive Compulsive Metallic Lip Tar (Black Metal Dahlia), Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait (Orgueil) ONE Le Métier de Beauté Colour Core Moisture Stain Lipstick (Miami) This formula is actually one of my favorites for lipsticks, but this color! It’s so unforgiving. I’m unsure as to why I picked this up, and though I like it a lot, it needs to be “matched” to the rest of your makeup and isn’t as flexible as some of my other shades. It also …

Monthly Favorites: February 2014

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Just a few this time around! I was super busy (insanely) this month, so I didn’t have a lot of time for, you know, beauty experiments. I even lapsed my daily update blog schedule and haven’t been replying to comments. 😦 Bad. That is one ‘beauty resolution’ for March. Prompt comment replies! Anyway, here are the beauty things I’ve been loving last month: NARS NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette — This is made of dreams, you guys. You know, I like putting on makeup and playing, so I can’t revert to an eyeshadow duo for one reliable look for an entire month. Which is why this palette is great. Color combinations come to you almost thoughtlessly, but you still get a lot of room to play around in. I used this for most of the month, but you can read my initial thoughts here. (Also, yes, I wrote the shade names on the transparent paper cover it comes with.) Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette — I played around a lot with this last month, more than when …

Trying on Illamasqua Pure Pigments

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I grabbed two shades of the Illamasqua Pure Pigment from the aforementioned holiday sale. Pigments are definitely not high up on my list of “things to try,” but these popped up on my radar when Bea of The Dalaga Project made a beautiful look with the shade Incite and unknowingly proceeded tempt meh with other looks using the popular Ore. I don’t think the two other shades were included in the sale, and I resolved to only buy things that were which explains the lack of lipsticks and palettes, so I ended up with Furore and Static. These were priced £7.50 each, down from £16.50. I am in love with the packaging. It has a sort of pinched square shape that Illamasqua is known for. The lid kind of just fits on the container, and the product is dispensed via a small hole in the center. The lid has a small “stopper” on the inside that’s meant to prevent the pigment from flying out and about but customers have complained about it. I don’t really …