Tuesday 4 September 2012

This is honestly like pornography to me

These are my lip products. Well. Most of them. I know there's at least five missing...However, luckily for you guys, they ARE organised by brand. Top row is Revlon, Benefit, Sleek, Tarina Tarantino, Sephora, Kat Von D, Missguided, Chanel. Middle row is MAC, NYC, Soap & Glory, Cargo, Bourjois, No. 7, Yves Rocher. Bottom row is Yves Rocher, Collection 2000, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, SOME FRENCH BRAND THAT I CAN'T REMEMBER THE SODDING NAME OF AND THE LIPSTICKS ARE NOW BURIED IN A SUITCASE, Make Up Forever, Illamasqua, Boots 17. As far as I'm concerned it's a fine collection ^_^

You'll see that I don't discriminate in terms of cost. Drugstore products are just as appealing to me as high-end, and as I face up to life as an unemployed graduate, they become frankly ever more appealing. I was looking at my MAC lipsticks today and realising they are a luxury I will not be indulging in for a good long while. However, I think I would have to be actually dead to stop buying Illamasqua. I'll save a pound a week if I have to, I do not care, I will continue to drop insane amounts of cash on their BEAUTIFUL products.

(This has given me an idea: if I use my biscuit tin as a penny box, I could lose weight AND buy lipstick. Hmmmmmm.....)

Swatches and more pictures, after the jump...





So on the Illamasqua theme, I swatched the six Illamasqua lip products I could lay my hands on. Kontrol is my favourite ever and it's not featured here I'm afraid. I'd love to say it's because I have better plans for it, but it was in my handbag upstairs and I am highly committed to staying sat down. However, I said on Twitter (follow me! @MakingUpForIt!) that I'll be doing a video tentatively named "Love Letter to Illamasqua" in which I will not only be wearing Kontrol but talking about it, at length. I love it. But here are some pretty swatches anyway:

Starting at the top. Now, don't be frightened. I know these are really pigmented and insane colours. However, I think Illamasqua's genius - undoubtedly inherited from their creative director/mother goddess Alex Box - is taking the most insane ridiculous colours with frankly unbelievable amounts of pigment, and making them into fabulous products that can be used by EVERYONE. Everyone with money that is. But what I mean is that if you're a make up artist or an amateur or just someone who appreciates a nice red(/pink/nude/green) lip, Illamasqua make a product that will work for you. And mannnn do these products WORK. HARD. Starting at the top is a lovely coral-peach shade called "Brink". I bought this mostly because I volunteer at a place called... The Brink. Ironically enough I have never worn it for a shift. It has a relatively dry texture, which is common to a lot of Illamasqua mattes. A pain in the ass if you have dry lips, but it does mean that these suckers ain't going anywhere. And I do love longwear products. As I may have said. Once or twice. Next up is Salacious. Oh man, do I have a lot of time for this colour. It's not quite red, not quite pink, somewhere in the middle, vampy as all hell and just gorgeous. A lot smoother and creamier than Brink so altogether a nicer experience :) After that we have the driest lipstick EVAR, Apocalips. There's really not much I can say about this. It's teal. It... takes a brave person to rock this. And I'm only that brave a couple of days a year. But man, when I do rock it, I ROCK IT. Next one down is Temper, an Intense Lipgloss I got in a sale. I don't wear it very often because I have a love-hate relationship with opaque glosses. They look awesome. For about five minutes. And then I have a drink or smoke a cigarette or just get really enthusiastic about something and it goes all over my face. I can't make it stop. I wish I could. Much more up my street gloss-wise is Sheer Lipgloss in Datura, a limited edition mauve gloss that came out with the Freak giftset, which because I am spoilt and irritating, I actually got for Christmas. The Freak giftset came with a perfume, Queen of the Night pigment, Datura gloss and Hemlock nail polish. It was very limited edition (I think the Liverpool store only got 10?) and it was beautiful, so beautiful. This is a lovely soft purple colour that is just interesting enough to perk up a neutral look, and just soft enough to complement a brighter look. Finally...wow...it looks so good in the swatch! Illamasqua Violate. This is so so so so so insanely fierce on its own but is another that takes a real brave day. How I wear it most often is over a pale lipstick: it turns pink lipsticks into insane multi-dimensional deep berry colours, and pale purples turn dark red and shimmery.

Here's some more stash!porn for you:





Hope you have enjoyed!
Alison xx

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