I don’t normally post mid-month hauls as I generally try to save all of my goodies for a big long post at the end of the month, but I had a slight panic attack today when I read Julie from Swatch and Review’s recent Illamasqua
So, I don’t know where the heck I’ve been, but when I started researching this on Google, I discovered this isn’t apparently news and the information has been out there since February. Colour me totally blind because I had NO idea. I only got into Illamasqua‘s products within the last year or so, and I’ve been a huge fan of their blushes (in particular Tweak and Hussy). Feeling somewhat panicked by the news, I stormed over to the Illamasqua counter at The Bay yesterday during my lunch break (a mere hour after I read Julie’s post) and snapped up a few products. ALL Illamasqua products are 25% while supplies last, which means you’ll be saving a pretty penny since they’re not cheap products to begin with. The woman I spoke to at the counter indicated that they were expected to pack up shop by the end of August. YIKES!
It’s worth noting that as far as I can see, Illamasqua is completely gone from Sephora as well. That being said, The Bay always carried Illamasqua at significantly cheaper prices than Sephora did, so you’ve still got a few weeks to pick up some nicely discounted products!
Here’s the loot I snagged. I may go back for more before the end of the month, but this will do for now!
Skin Base. If there’s one thing that Illamasqua fanatics always talk about, it’s Skin Base. I first heard about their foundation through Pixiwoo, and kind of ignored it over the years because it’s expensive and I’m a cheapo when it comes to foundation. It’s not a product I wear every day, so it’s not really essential like eyeshadow is to me. But goddamn if I wasn’t going to get this at 25% off! (And even on sale, it’s still pretty pricey at ~$32!)
The makeup artist at the counter helped me pick out the Shade 6.5 which kind of surprised me. Despite having a decent summer tan right now, I wasn’t expecting to be so high up the line of foundations (this is good news for the super pale folk out there!). According to Illamasqua’s site, Shade 6.5 is similar to MAC NC25, so it’s not nearly as dark as I thought.
Um hello there pretty! The Alluvium Pure Pigment is stunning in the pot (although the pots themselves are an absolute disaster packaging-wise. What a mess they make.). It looks like an incredibly dark navy blue with flecks of copper and gold sparkle. However…
What sorcery is this?!?! The swatch compared to the pigment in the pot is completely baffling to me. Honestly, I prefer the shade in the pot, and I’m going to see if I can try to pull more of the darker copper sparkles out of this shade by using a brown base. It’s still beautiful though. Despite the rather unexpected blue shade, you gotta admit that is one *stunning* shade of blue.
The Static Pure Pigment looks an awful lot like Beguile (a Pure Pigment shade I already own), but it has far more of a pink flash to it (whereas Beguile ends up looking like snow although it has multi-coloured shimmer in it). I bought this because I don’t have anything quite like it. It reminds me of MAC‘s Transparent Glitters (teal being my favourite).
Out of focus shot to the right so you can see the pink flash to the pigment. It’s obvious in person, but man oh man is it hard to photograph straight on.
I wasn’t sure what else to pick up from Illamasqua, so I did a bit of research before heading over. One of the things that Christine fromTemptalia recommended highly was their Raindrops nail varnish. It’s a muted grey polish with flecks of silver throughout. It looks like a polish I could wear week after week. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m excited to try it out!
And what’s a product photographing session without Nemo checking out what’s going on? 🙂
That’s it for this haul – if you’re interested in Illamasqua, you’ve got until the end of the month to pick up some lovely products at some very nice prices. Good luck, and let me know if you got anything!