silverkis' world

Yay we are getting a new makeup brand very very soon!! For those who hadn’t heard, Illasmaqua will be opening at Robinson’s Orchard (at Heeren Shopping Center) in a couple of weeks!! This famed UK brand has made its mark on the beauty world by making professional-quality makeup with bold, avant-garde looks, available at an accessible price point. Think MAC UK-style.

I’ve been wanting to try Illamasqua for the longest time, but I found it impossible to pick a handful of products from the vast variety Illamasqua had to offer, least of all off the Internet. So, I was ecstatic when I stumbled upon the Illmasqua counter in Bangkok last week. On my first visit to the counter, I was totally overwhelmed, and went away empty handed. But when I found myself back in Central Chidlom during my final hour, I abandoned all reasoning, and just went with my instincts. I wanted to try an eye palette just to get a sense for the quality, and I picked entirely based on instant attraction, no pre-conceived notions based on previous reviews or what’s the latest, etc. And I picked the Empower Palette.

Illamasqua’s Empower Palette consists of 4 eyeshadow shades in 4 different textures. Clockwise from top left:

• Blink – a matte beige which is fairly soft and well pigmented
• Synth – iridescent light pink glitter, is slightly on the dry side but well pigmented
• Slick – this is a Liquid Metal, i.e. a metallic cream shadow, which photographs quite differently under different lighting. It is a metallic charcoal gray but could look both dark blue-ish and red-tinged depending on how you look at it.
• Fervent – reddish brown with multi-tonal shimmers. This is my favorite shade, and the reason I chose Empower!

Here is a swatch to give you an idea of how the colors really look on my skin.

I found Blink to pretty much disappear into my lids once applied, and thus acts as an all-over base. Synth is lovely, and shows up well but is easily dupeable. Slick is absolutely stunning, and blends like a dream. Fervent was the most disappointing – I tried applying it as a liner on my lower lid, but I simply couldn’t get any color to show up! All I managed to achieve was a light grey metallic shadow instead of the dark, bold color that swatched on my arm. I tried applying it all over my lid as a dark base too and I simply couldn’t get any color down! I think the only way to get this to work is to use a finger (which is the way I swatched them above), which is quite sad really.

The above EOTD was created using Blink as a base all over, Synth on the inner half of my lid, and Slick on the outer half. I also lined using my NYX black liquid liner along the lash line, but I tried to smudge it with Fervent without much success. My apologies for the clumpy lashes *yikes!*

And here is a 2nd EOTD that I experimented with. This time, I primed my lids with NARS Pro-Prime Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base first. I then dabbed Fervent along the lower half of my lid with my finger, then I patted Slick over the top half of my lid, and finally dusted Synth above. My apologies for the blurry image, I will try to get a better photo later today! NARS Pro-Prime extended the wear of my eyeshadow, but there is still noticeable creasing (just less) by the 6-hour mark.

I’m not sure yet how Illamasqua will price the eyeshadow palettes locally, but they retail for GBP34 (about SGD68). I managed to get Empower from Bangkok for about SGD66 (after VAT and other prevailing discounts). Overall, I liked Illamasqua Empower Palette – I am really digging dark bronze-browns and metallic hues for this upcoming holiday season, and you will *hopefully* be seeing a lot of those here in the months to come! Quality-wise, I think it is fair for the price point (it is afterall, only SGD66!!), and I loved the variety of textures and shades in the palette. I’m not crazy over the bulky plastic compact it comes in, and I wished Fervent was much easier to work with. I will keep playing with this over the coming days, and update if I discover anything new. And a final note, Empower lasted about 6 hours on me before I noticed creasing and fading, so a good primer is a must if you’re planning to wear this for a long day out.

xoxo

If you’re interested in more Illamasqua items, please check out my review on Illamasqua’s S.O.P.H.I.E. Powder Blush here.

Also, please do not miss the amazing giveaway i’m holding right now! I’m giving away a deluxe travel set of La Mer items for the ultimate luxury! Head over HERE asap!