Makeup

Illamasqua Powder Blusher gets two thumbs up

“Sir, let my report show that Illamasqua’s Powder Blushers ($23) join their lipsticks and cream blushes in the oh-my-gawd-this-is-hella-pigmented department.”

I’ve been getting to know Excite and Beg, two of the 15 shades currently available online at Sephora.com, and I think I might be hooked on both.

Vibrant and buttery

As if their rich colors weren’t awesome enough, these finely-milled blushes feel just like buttah, melting seamlessly into my skin.

The texture reminds of Shu Uemura’s Glow On Blushes, some of the best blushes I’ve ever tried.

All-day wear

Both shades (and I’m guessing the others, too) last for hours, with the colors staying true on my cheeks from dawn until the freaks come out at night.

Excite, $23

Excite applies as a REALLY bright matte orange. Beauties who love bolder blush looks just might love it paired with coral lipsticks and glosses. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Excite

Swatch of Excite

Wearing Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Excite
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One layer of Scandal applied with a lip brush

Hiya, ladies. I wanted to share a few more pics of the two Illamasqua lipsticks from yesterday’s swatch post.

Like the other Illamasqua lipsticks I’ve tried, Obey and Scandal apply with intensely VIBRANT pigmentation, but that’s kind of a double-edged sword…

High pigmentation = tread lightly!

One the one hand, the richness and boldness of these lip colors took my breath away, but working with this much color proved tricky; I found it easy to unintentionally cross the line between dramatic and Baby Jane.

Scandal, $20

Scandal, a matte yellowish pink, has just the faintest touch of cream. I think it looks bold and bright applied directly from the tube — cool for dramatic makeup looks (like for theater) — but it may be a bit much for everyday use.

A lip brush seemed to produce the most natural look, and because of Scandal’s pigmention, I only needed to use a very thin layer of product for complete coverage.

Added bonus: Scandal photographs *really* well. 🙂 Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Obey, $20

At first I struggled with Obey, a matte coral pink, because it lacks Scandal’s creaminess.

That seems to make it look and feel somewhat drier than its sibling on my lips, and coupled with Obey’s intense pigmentation, it spelled a full-on recipe for lip trubs.

One layer of Obey applied with a lip brush

A single layer applied directly from the tube looks thick and kinda soft porn-ey (eww), and even a thin layer applied with a lip brush still looks heavy.
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My BFF Cindy likes to tell the story of the time she caught her grandma watching music videos on BET. Grandma, an older Chinese woman, doesn’t speak a lick of English and looked a little confused by 112’s Peaches and Cream.

Whether it was the gyrating women in booty shorts or the slow-mo scenes of milk pouring over ripe peaches, we’ll never know, but we think she may have thought she was watching a commercial for fruit. 🙂

To this day, whenever I hear the song or see peachy makeup like Chanel’s Joues Contraste Powder Blush in Fresque, I think of grandma…

This morning I spent some time with the blush ($42), released with Chanel’s Venice fall 2009 collection, while bumping some Peaches and Cream.

Is that a duochrome?

At first I thought Fresque looked like a pretty standard peachy blush, but something unusual happened once I got her on my skin.
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Thanks to Urban Decay’s two newest 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils, public nudity is back — nudity as in nude lips, the kind that go great with everything. They’re super low maintenance, which spells great for lazy beasts like moi.

But getting the right nude lip look can be tricky. It doesn’t take much to go from Angelina Jolie lip color to Night of the Living Dead.

This fall, Urban Decay is making nude lips a little easier to get with two new shades of lip liner.

Wallflower (a warm peachy pink) and Paranoid (a cool dark pink) join UD’s existing family of 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils ($16 each).

If you’re new to them, you’re in for a treat. UD cooked up a moisturizing formula packed with hydrating ingredients like vitamin E, jojoba and cottonseed oils. They combine to create a soft, creamy lip pencil that applies like butter on bread.

All that, and they’re waterproof, too, lasting all day long without drying out my lips.

Both Paranoid and Wallflower pair perfectly with Urban Decay’s creamy pink lipstick in Naked ($22), another standout member of UD’s collection for fall.

Paranoid

Paranoid on lips

Paranoid layered beneath Urban Decay lipstick in Naked

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