The promo images released so far for the up and coming “Art of Darkness” A/W 2010 collection from Illamasqua look fab. The range includes two new liquid liner pens – the Precision Inks. They are available now on the Illamasqua Website, retailing at £16.50, and come in two shades  – Abyss, which is a classic black, and Alchemy, a gold shade.

I was kindly sent a Precision Ink in the shade Abyss to review.

The liner is packaged in the standard style Illamasqua black and white packaging, and has a screw on lid with a long handle – the long handle is a real plus point for me, as I find liquid liner to be the most tricky to apply - the handle helps stabilise the product making application that little bit easier and also making the product easier to control…

The actual applicator is a spongy tip, with a fine end, which I find a lot easier than a brush applicator…

As you can see in the picture above, the liner is quite “wet” looking. I did have a little gulp moment at this point, as I have (and always have had) quite liney/crepey looking skin on my eye lids. It’s almost like there is too much skin there. I blame my father, he has the same type of lids. Yes, I have checked… and I realise how much that says about my depth of character. And I’m not ashamed.

Anyway, the point is, often liquid liners don’t really work for me, as the liquid can “seep” into all of the fine lines and look very feathery on me, a far cry from a nice sharp line which is the look you really want from your liner… So it was with some trepidation that I swatched…

The picture above shows a swatch on the back of the hand – I literally swatched, and then switched on my camera, and took the picture. In the time it took to do that (about 10-20 seconds?), you can see the liner is almost dried, and also, joy of joy’s… NO FEATHERING!
*HAPPY DANCE*.

So I put on my steadiest hands, and had a play…

I’m impressed with this product – yes, my application technique ain’t perfect, but like I said, many other liquid liners have passed through my hands, been applied once and then never used again, because of the feathering problem – this is one of the first I have encountered that hasn’t had that issue. To me, that alone, makes this product worth its price tag.

Also, when Illamasqua describe this as long lasting, they ain’t kidding. That swatch I applied to my hand stayed put despite washing the dishes and washing my hands several times after serving cat “food” to Coco and Ren. You need an oil based remover to get this baby off.

I’ll be buying the gold version ASAP (That’ll be tomorrow then – its payday, another reason for a happy dance!) - I love unusual colours, and the idea of a nice gold line with a coloured smoky eye really appeals to me.

Regular readers might have twigged on to the idea that I’m a big fan of Alex Box. Not only is this talented lady the artistic director of my favourite makeup brand Illamasqua, she has done sterling work for magazines including Dazed & Confused and Vogue. She also recently released a book in collaboration with photographer Rankin.

Some examples of her work? Why here you go…

Alex’s work may not be conventional, but to me, that makes it all the more interesting… It actually made my life when I had my makeup done by her at the Illamasqua bloggers event (*MizzWorthy spies another opportunity to flash the pics…*)…

Interested in coming? IMATS is on Jan 30th and 31st, get your tickets here.
Hope to see you there!

I’m so upset as I write this as my fave MUA Alex Box is having a book launch of her collaboration with Rankin (second mention of his work this week!) next week, which I was invited to.

For various reasons though(lets just say I am having homicidal thoughts about whoever it was that invented the five week month) I cannot go… I actually could cry!

Anyway, rather than spread my misery, I have decided to show you a few of the images from the book. A picture says a thousand words, and these pics sum up why I love Alex’s work, and her approach to makeup artistry (with the emphsis being on the ART)

Its hard to pick a favourite from these images, but I personally loved the black and white look – so striking, simple yet complex. I can’t help but look at these images and wonder “how did she do that!”

Yes, the book costs £50, but I so want me a copy!

MizzWorthy xxx.

Drumroll please!

As mentioned in previous posts, myself and Krystle were extremely pleased that Alex Box agreed to make the final decision about the winner and runner up in out Myths and Legends contest… Without further ado, our winners are;

In First Place – this gorgeous ethereal and imaginative look from Cat of http://swirledpeacat.blogspot.com/, who based her look on “the lost goddess” of Spring, Senua… you can read all about her inspiration behind this look (including how she created those lashes!) here – http://swirledpeacat.blogspot.com/2009/07/senua-lost-goddess.html
A HUGE well done to Cat!

Alex Box made the following comment on her entry;

“Cat’s ideas were soft and mythical and the more she works at her ideas the better she will become…”

As our winner, Cat wins the following fab bundle of makeup love;

1 x liquid metal in the shade of her choice

1 x bronzer in the shade of her choice

1 x nail varnish in the shade of her choice

1 x Sirens Shadow Quad

1 x Powdered Metal in the shade of her choice

And our fab Runner-Up?

That honour goes to Piggy, of http://makeup-piggy.blogspot.com/, who gave us three fab entries! Piggy’s Succubus look really impressed us and we thought it was “very Illamasqua”! We loved the fact that Piggy went to so much trouble to even do a face chart for each of her looks. You can read about the inspiration behind her look here –

http://makeup-piggy.blogspot.com/2009/07/entry-2-for-illamasquas-myths-and.html

Alex Box felt that “makeup piggy’s execution was fantastic and I cant wait to see her imagination go even wilder!”

As our second place winner, Piggy recieves the following lovely goodies;

1 x Liquid metal in the shade of her choice

1 x nail varnish in the shade of her choice.

1 x Sirens Shadow Quad

I hope you will all join me in congratulating the winners… Well done to both Cat and Piggy, and I hope you both enjoy your well earned goodies! Please make sure you both email me ASAP with your prize choices and your adresses so that we can get your goodies out to you as soon as possible!

Myself and Krystle and the lovely peeps at Illamasqua are already plotting and scheming for the next contest, which will commence in a few weeks! If you have any ideas for the next or future contests, then please let me know, by either leaving me a comment or sending an email to me!

Thanks again to everyone for all your FAB entries!

MizzWorthy, Krystal and everyone at Illamasqua

xxx

Aga shows me how to smoke it up…

Mika works his magic on Tali – not that she needs much help! Gorgeous girl!

So what look did we create for me? Well after applying my base, and powdering with PINK loose powder (more on that later!), we contoured and highlighted my face (using bronzer, yellow blusher and pigments in marvel and breathe) and Mika painted on some fierce brows for me – I need to practice doing this – with black cake liner in mislead!

Aga then applied a fab orange and brown smokey winged out look to the eyes, and the look was completed by an application of red lippie in the shade Box….

A couple of close ups of the eyes…

I really loved my finished look – I think I would actually wear this out for a night out too. As Alex pointed out on the night, everyone is nervous about doing something different with their makeup – people will commit to a long term thing like a tattoo, but get all worried about putting on some makeup, which can be wiped off anyway!

After finishing off the look, Mika was lovely enough to pose for a couple of photos with me –

Strike a pose!

Messing about with Mika – I’m definately not his type lol – but he was such a star – he was so patient with all our questions and really taught me a few new trick – I’m so pleased I met him!
I was also lucky enough to meet the gorgeous Alex Box in person, and I was so flattered that she actually knew my name/who I was, and all about the blog – she was lovely and she actually said thank you to me for running the contests. I was really really nervous about meeting her, but she just put me straight at ease! I really wish I hadn’t had to run off early!

So after it was all over and I had to dash off to get my train I picked up a couple of bits – loose powder in the shade 005 – this is the pink powder which I believe Sam Chapman (Pixiwoo) has mentioned in her videos. This was one of the products I was interested in finding out more about – I had heard Sam mention that it brightens the face and makes you look refreshed, sets your foundation, but doesn’t look cakey – all true – this made me look like I had just woken up from 12 hours refreshing sleep… And as you can see I don’t look red faced or flushed.

I also picked up a powder blush in Posess (I’ve since found out I snaffled the last one as a few other people wanted it too – sorry everyone!) – this is the yellow blusher. Obviously at first this might seem a bit of a strange choice, however this is great for softening up bronzer to avoid that “hello world, I have applied a lovely streak of bronzer to my cheeks there, can you see it?” look – it also works as a highlighter for darker/tanned skins in the same way that Intruige (the white one) does on us pale types. I am wearing this in the pictures together with some bronzer and I’m loving how it looks – a really clever trick!

Finally I picked up a sheer lipgloss in the shade Lily-rose, a see through red glaze, which looks great on its own, but really brings red lipstick to life as well…

So, what else did I learn?

1. Let your brushes do the work for you – eg when blending, dont press to hard, blending brushed are designed to work best with a light small circle motion – the outer bristles do the blending for you!
2. Don’t be afraid to try new products – pink powder and yellow blusher? Hell yes!
3. Remember, it’s only makeup! If it doesn’t work take it off and start again! I LOVED my finished look – it might not be the right thing for everyone, and yeah, I got a couple of “double takes” on the train, but do you knwo what – I didn’t care at all, and I reckon they were admiring my look! I loved the attention lol!
4. ="center">Although makeup artists can at times seem a bit intimidating you should still ask lots of questions about products – Mika and Aga both really knew their stuff and just by answering our questions they taught us a hell of a lot!
5. Don’t be afraid to clash – red lips and orange eyes might not be everyones first choice, but I think it worked amazingly!
6. Just because it says its blusher, doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else with it – I noticed a lot of the artists used products for reasons other than their “label” says they can be used for – blushers on eyes, shadows on cheeks… don’t be afraid to experiment! I often use cream shadows (eg hunger) as a highlighter on the cheek…
7. Have fun with it, and don’t stick to the “rules”.

So finally, a MASSIVE thank you to all the Makeup artists, Alex Box, Alex the model, and all the other people who helped make it such a fun night – I really hope I get the chance to go to another one of these in the future!

MizzWorthy xxx

Oooh, I have been looking forward to today for so long! (Well a few days anyway, but it’s seemed like forever!)

I recieved an invite a few days ago to an Alex Box Masterclass in London – Alex is one of the artistic directors of Illamasqua and as a makeup artist, her work has appeared in mags such as Vogue, Numero, V, Another Magazine, Dazed & Confused, 10 and i-D. She has also worked with some fab designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.

It goes without saying that I am very very excited about this! I have no idea what to expect, but It will be fab to see this lady in action!

Tonights class is all about creating alter ego looks and runs from 6-8pm in Selfridges. There is another class tomorrow too, focusing on glamourous night time looks. I just wish I could have gone to both lol! (Each class costs £20, but this is redeemable against anything from the range).

I was also overjoyed by the arrival of the postie yesterday – or rather at having to shoot-down-to-the-post-office-and-pick-up-a-parcel-because-the-postie-couldn’t-be-arsed-knocking – because he brought me some fab samples of the new powdered metals from Illamasqua!

These are gorgeous – lovely, extremely finely milled powders which add a metallic sheen to the skin, and they are designed to be used on the face or the body. They would be perfect for adding a dramatic highlight to the cheekbone/browbone, or doing that sheen on the collarbones and down the leg thing!

These were actually developed after the Illamasqua Sirens collection shoot – Alex Box created them after getting fed up with having to hand grind various products down to get that gorgeous sheen seen on the models skin – “After an age of hand crushing the Powder Eye Shadow in ‘Moonflower’, Liquid Metal in ‘Solstice’, Pure Pigments ‘Furore’ and ‘Marvel’ and blending them together, she started to mix them in a pot.” (Quote from the Illamasqua blog). Here they are used to their full glory;

The powders come in three shades, and they have chosen names of Goddesses for them (which I think is a lovely touch).

Erzule – The Voodoo Goddess of Beauty – Described as a golden bronze shade with a brown base (made for olive/black skin-tones). My initial thoughts on this one? Definitely made for darker skin tones as a highlighter, BUT I did quickly swish this over my eyes last night to see how it worked and it was lovely, so I will def use this for eye looks, and should I ever get one of those deep tans (Stop laughing you!), I could use this on skin – down the legs…

Thalia - The Greek Goddess of Poetry – Described as a warm bronze with a gold undertone (for medium skin tones). My initial thoughts? A gorgeous golden bronze shade – Great on the body – I’ve fake-tanned my legs recently (testing out the Garnier spray tan!) and this looks great dusted over that. I have also just swatched this on my cheekbone and it adds a lovely warm bronzed sheen.

Bebhionn – The Irish Goddess of Pleasure – Described as a light bronze with a pink under-tone (for pale skin). My Thoughts? I think I want to buried with a pot of this, in case I do get to be a goddess of some form when I die – it’s divine on pale skin! It looks amazing as a highlight both on the face and body (I will be dusting my collarbones and arms with this today and testing its longevity in the heat), and somehow it gives me a summery sheen whilst still playing up my paleness – the pink undertone seems to brighten the skin as well – I love the fact that Illamasqua cater for us pale types!

All three colours just give a lovely sheen to the skin – they don’t mattify and they are NOT glittery, but they add a gorgeous metallic sheen.

As you know the winner of the contest gets to pick one of these for their very own! I shall post swatches asap and will also report back about how well these lasted in the heat of the tube etc in London! Don’t forget to get your entries in asap – contest closes 7th!

I have also just spoken to Alex at Illamasqua, who has informed me that following the rush on Liquid the Liquid metals and the sirens collection, the company are going to be setting up a waiting list facility on the website hopefully in the next couple of days – so if you want to be certain of getting your hands on these then keep checking the website out for that!

MizzWorthy xxx

I can finally confirm that myself and Alex (the lovely PR peep I have been working on launching the contests with…) have managed to secure a very special person to make the final judgements on the winners of the contests… So while me and Krystle will still be responsible for picking the finalists, I am so pleased and very very proud to say that the fabulous Alex Box – makeup artist and creative director of Illamasqua) has agreed to judge and choose winners for us from the finalists…

I’m sure Alex needs no introduction, however here is the lady herself -

I’m extremely pleased to be able to share this news – I suggested this idea thinking it would never happen, so I’m thrilled that Alex has agreed to do this, and I hope you will all really enjoy doing your entries for the first contest, which I am bursting to announce!

The idea behing asking Alex to judge was to ensure that people actually get a chance to have their work seen by a leading makeup artist, to make sure the judging is fair and impartial, and to take the pressure off me and Krystal LOL – I hope you agree that Alex agreeing to help has achieved all three goals!