Review and swatches: 18 products by Illamasqua

There’s still a nice summer sale going on on Illamasqua‘s web site. I decided to show you all the things (18 products) that I have by Illamasqua. Maybe my swatches will help some of you.

Illamasqua
Illamasqua

Creme Pigments:

Let’s start with the creme pigments Dab and Mould. Dab is a pale lavender color. It’s very pigmented and easy to apply. Mould is dark plum shade. The texture of it as a bit drier. Mould goes on a bit patchy, but it’s manageable. You can use creme pigments on the eyes, lips, cheeks, face, body. I use them mainly on my eyelids as an eyeshadow base. For me these don’t work as an eyeshadow, because they crease on me. Nice versatile products.

Swatch: Illamasqua Creme Pigments: Dab, Mould; Liquid Metal: Resolute
Illamasqua Creme Pigments: Dab, Mould; Liquid Metal: Resolute

Liquid Metals:

I’ll show you my beautiful 4-Colour Liquid Metal palette with Stoic, Solstice, Superior, Resolute Liquid Metals next. Although Liquid Metals crease on me I love how they look. I use them as an eyeshadows base or as an eyeliner. The most pigmented are the gold one called Solstice (if I’m honest I bought the palette because of it) and the red one called Resolute. The least pigmented is the green one called Stoic. I also love the color of the blue one.

Swatch: Illamasqua 4-Colour Liquid Metal Palette: Stoic, Solstice, Resolute, Superior
Illamasqua 4-Colour Liquid Metal Palette: Stoic, Solstice, Resolute, Superior

Eyeshadows:

Next are the only two eyeshadows (Daemon and Sadist) that I have and a blusher (Hussy).
I love the colors of the eyeshadows. Also the pigmentation is great. Both are matte eyeshadows (no shimmer). The application of the blue one is a bit patchy. The red one is better. Both tend to fade on the eyelids quite soon, which is not so good. I love them anyway.

Blusher:

The blusher is amazing. The color is such a nice pinky-coral shade. It’s matte and very pigmented as you’ll see in the video below. I sometimes use it as an eyeshadow and it works perfectly. Love love love this blusher!

Swatch: Illamasqua: eyeshadows Sadist, Daemon; blusher - Hussy
Illamasqua: eyeshadows Sadist, Daemon; blusher - Hussy

Precision Ink Eyeliners:

We are slowly getting to my favourite products by Illamasqua. First are the Abyss and Alchemy Precision Ink eyeliners, which I absolutely love. I have the black one called Abyss and the one with gold shimmer called Alchemy. The black one is “just” plain black eyeliner and the gold one is amazing. It has tiny shimmer in a transparent base. It’s shimmer, not glitter. It’s tiny and not harsh at all! I love the tip of these eyeliners. It is precise and bendable. I love how they stay on the whole day. These are smudge and water-proof eyeliners. Actually I did a smudge and water-proof test in the video below so you can check yourself how durable these are. I’ll definitely repurchase these.

In the below video are featured four lipsticks (Wanton, Atomic, Scandal, Sangers), two lipglosses (Lily-Rose – sheer and Besoted – intense) and a medium pencil in Severe.

Lipglosses:

I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of the Illamasqua’s lipglosses. First off I don’t like the packaging. Yes, it looks nice, but it’s just not practical. It’s maybe practical for a make up artist, who applies lipglosses with a brush, but most of us “mortals” use them right out of the tube and I just don’t like to squeeze lipglosses out of the tube. I either end up with too much product or too little. Next thing I’m not too fond about is the formula. These lipglosses are very sticky. I’m not bothered by a bit of stickiness but these are way too sticky for my taste. Yes, because these are sticky, they do stay on the lips quite long, but still … very sticky. What I do like is the finish. These are very glossy, almost plastic-like looking.

Medium Pencils:

The only medium pencil I have by Illamasqua is in Severe and I love the texture of it. The pencil is just soft enough and the color payoff is great. The color itself is very interesting, but is a bit hard to pull off (either on the eyes or on the lips). I would love to try more of their medium pencils as they have very nice/interesting colors to offer. My only complaint is the look (design) of the pencils. The design is plain and simple boring. It just doesn’t fit with the whole fancy black look of other Illamasqua’s products. I would appreciate a bit nicer design, if I pay 13pounds a piece. At least the back of the pencils could be painted with the shade’s color, so one can easily find the desired pencil.

Illamasqua Lipgosses: Lily-Rose (sheer), Besoted (intense); Medium Pencil - Severe
Illamasqua Lipgosses: Lily-Rose (sheer), Besoted (intense); Medium Pencil - Severe
Swatch: Illamasqua Lipgosses: Lily-Rose (sheer), Besoted (intense); Medium Pencil - Severe
Illamasqua Lipgosses: Lily-Rose (sheer), Besoted (intense); Medium Pencil - Severe

Lipsticks:

Illamasqua’s lipsticks are my absolute favourite products! They are the most longs lasting lipsticks I’ve ever tried. Most of the lipstick disappear on my small lips within on hour or so, these stay on for a couple of hours. I love that I don’t need to use a lip liner with these and they stay in place for hours. I have four shades and all have matte finish. Three of them are without shimmer, one (Atomic) has tiny shimmer, which looks like sheen on the lips. The formulas on all of them is similar but not identical. Let’s say, Sanger is the most matte of them all. It dries my lips a bit. Scandal is the most cremier of them. Although some people complain that these are drying on the lips, I don’t agree with them. Yes, these are matte and are not hydrating but they don’t feel unpleasant on my lips. I really really like the Illamasqua lipsticks!!! In fact these are my absolute favourite lipsticks!

Swatch: Illamasqua lipstick: Sangers, Wanton, Atomic, Scandal
Illamasqua lipstick: Sangers, Wanton, Atomic, Scandal
Swatch: Illamasqua lipstick: Sangers, Wanton, Atomic, Scandal
Illamasqua lipstick: Wanton, Atomic, Scandal, Sangers

To sum it up:

I highly recommend the lipsticks and the precision ink eyeliners. I think that the medium pencils are also great products. I love their eyeshadows mainly because of the crazy shades they are offering. Liquid metals look absolutely stunning. Creme pigments are very versatile products. I’m not too fond of the lipglosses, because of the unpractical packaging and sticky formula. If I had to recommend only one thing from the Illamsqua line, it would be lipstick. I love them and use them a lot.

Just one last thing I’d like to mention is the packaging of the products (not the pencils). The packaging is very nice and elegant glossy black plastic. The curves are very feminine and elegant. Because of the glossy plastic the packaging ends up with tons of finger prints all over, which is not so nice. That’s just my observation, not a real complaint.

You are also welcome to read a review and watch a video of the nail polishes by Illamasqua. CLICK

What are your absolute favourite products by Illamasqua? Did you order anything or are you going to from their summer sale?

6 thoughts on “Review and swatches: 18 products by Illamasqua”

  1. Barve senčil (Deamon, Sadist, Superior) so mi enkratne, vendar če že tebi lezejo v gubo ali bledijo jaz nimam z njimi kaj delati. Prav lepljivih glosov tudi ne maram me pa npr ne moti tubica iz katere iztiskaš glos če le ima na koncu gobico za nanašanje – npr. kot UK lip lust glosi (v bistvu imam take še najraje).
    Tako da me glede na tvoj prispevek še najbolj zanimajo šminke. Od mat šmink jaz ne pričakujem kakšnega vlaženja motilo pa bi me če bi zelo podarjale gubice na ustnicah (je pa to odvisno tudi od oblike ustnic) – se bom poskušala dokopati do kakšne šminke da jo preizkusim.

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  2. I haven’t try anything from them yet but I’ve been preparing to get something :yes:
    Their products look so beautiful and I have to admit that I’m a packaging whore – I would buy Illamasqua just cause of the beautiful packaging, lol :wub:

    Thank you for your photos, reviews and videos! :) Great post Maestra! :thumb:

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