Illamasqua I’mperfection Collection (picture heavy!)

Prepare yourself as there is a lot to get excited about from Illamsqua’s new collection, I’mperfection. I’mperfection (a play on the words imperfection/I’m perfection; but I’m sure you worked that out!) focuses on the idea that we should explore and celebrate our imperfections rather than attempt to conceal them.  For example, Illamasqua model Jo has an obvious birthmark covering a large portion of her face, but rather than cover it in concealing make-up, the look below celebrates and incorporates the birthmark turning into a stunning, facial feature.  Now if only I could do that to my acne scars too!

There are several things that I’m really excited about (so excited that I rushed home and got snap happy – as you’ll see below – but I’m now regretting it as I look KNACKERED…but hey, ho) but I’m going to work through the full collection to give you an idea of what’s upcoming.

Eyes

First up, we have several new takes on the application of liquid liner, and I’m going to focus on the speckled eye as modelled by the ridiculously photogenic Jayne from Jayne’s Kitschen. As you can see, there’s a template of a typical eyeliner application, but it’s been given a 3D effect by including specks of black (Abyss) and white (Scribe) liner.  It appears to be a fairly easy look to achieve at home, yet the finish is absolutely stunning.

Face

There are another two Powder Blusher Duos being added to existing combination of Lover & Hussy and these are Beg & Bronzerella (brown and dusky pink) and Katie & Ambition.  I’m extremely pleased to see Katie feature in a duo, since Katie was what originally introduced me to the Illamasqua brand; if you’re pale and can’t find a pink that doesn’t make you look like a Barbie then I insist you try Katie immediately!

The second face addition comes in the form of the Blush Up Brush which I can pretty much guarantee is going to cause a storm.  It’s a very simple idea; a brush that allows you to both contour and colour at the same time, but it works amazingly well and considering contouring is going to be massive this year, it couldn’t have arrived at a better time.  You use it by applying your chosen blush shade along the cheek hollow (the bit that retreats when you suck in your cheeks) and flicking upwards as you apply.  This incredibly simple technique leaves you with both contoured cheeks and natural, diffused blush.  If you buy one thing to get on the contouring bandwagon then it should definitely by this as I’m guessing it will work with any powder contouring or blush product and makes contouring so easy.  Scroll down to see my efforts using this brush with Hussy*.

Lips

Two products; one I’m so in love with I could cry, one I’m so freaked out by I just want to destroy all evidence of it’s existence on my face.  Illamasqua are renowned for pushing beauty boundaries and using the power of suggestion to encourage us to experiment, but no amount of encouragement will see me leaving the home wearing their new green lipgloss, shade name Shoot.  It’s here to coincide with Pantone’s colour of the year which is Emerald, and if you were a fan of last year’s Apocalips teal shade then I’m sure you’re going to love this colour, but for me, the result is this:

Thank god I’ve given up on the idea of vanity for the benefit of this blog…

The other lip product joining the collection is the Lipstick in Immodest: imagine the prettiest, girliest, babiest, vinyl pink you can think of, and you have Immodest.  Applied sheerly it’s a light pink, but it can be built-up to a seriously neon shade and if I could pick the perfect lip colour then this would be it! I love all things pink and this could not be prettier.  It’s a very, very matte finish which means your lips need to be in extremely good condition to pull this off, but for the little extra work involved it is totally worth it and the matte texture stops the bold pink looking too sickly.  It brightens up the face of us pale girls and looks very pretty with paired down make-up like a little blush and one coat of mascara.  Just.  Too.  Pretty.

Nails

Just when you thought Nails Inc had covered everything textural, here comes a new concept which continues the theme of speckled and beautifully flawed: speckled nails.  Each varnish contains matte glitter segments which give a speckled look to the nail, not unlike a speckled egg.  It’s pretty and surprisingly unique, and I’ll be NOTDing it shortly, however, if you can’t wait for that then check out Sheenie’s post which includes a look at Fragile.   The five new shades are Mottle (green), Speckle (purple), Freckle (brown), Scarce (pink) and Fragile (blue) and I have Speckle to show you a little later.

So there we have a run down of what’s coming up in the I’mperfection collection.  I sincerely apologise for the poor picture quality from the event; I didn’t have my jazzy camera with me so I’ve taken some better pictures of the samples I received for you to have a look at here:

The two things I love the most are the Blush Up Brush and the Immodest Lipstick, both of which will become firm features  in my make-up kit! Everything lands on the 31st January, so only a few days to wait.