Illamasqua Eternal Shimmer cream in action

So, this is the Eternal Shimmer cream in action. All products are by Illamasqua.

Before: I have Succumb (powder) all over, Command (cream) applied with fingers over lid and into crease. Upper lid lined with Sophie medium pencil, Drama (powder) smudged over that. Truth (powder) blended over lid and into crease.

And this is the after: Eternal smudged onto lid with a fingertip. You'll see it blends and just messes up the powder products underneath it a bit, as well as adding the slight seafoam shimmer.

Sorry the pictures are not great, but hopefully it shows what this product does. 

Illamasqua eyeshadows

I was doing okay with resisting Illamasqua until Pixiwoo did a couple of tutorials on Youtube (I should ban myself from that channel.) 

Anyway, one haul was shortly followed by another until I ended up with the collection you see before you.

The first picture is without flash, the second with flash. From top left, clockwise, shimmer cream in Eternal (from the Sirens collection), cream eyeshadows in Command and Touch, Powder eyeshadows in Succumb, Truth and Drama. 

The cream and powder eyeshadows here are all matte and shimmer-free. 

Cream eyeshadows: 

Touch is a good neutral base shade; it's a peachy beige. 

Command is a greyish mauve/plum, which I bought to use as a darker base to use under pigments, and as the base of a neutral smoky eye with Truth powder eyeshadow. 

Powder eyeshadows:

Succumb is a peachy ivory shade; it's like MAC Orb, but a little less peachy and more neutral on my pale skin.

Drama is dark grey with slight blue undertones. I love this over a black pencil to smoke it out. 

Truth is a medium plum brown, incredibly versatile. This gives a very natural "shadow" effect. Illamasqua has some great bold shades, but it also has a lot of neutrals like this that would send Bobbi Brown sobbing into her beige duvet. 

Eternal shimmer cream:

I love this product. It's a quite greasy textured, pale seafoam shimmer. It doesn't set dry, it stays glossy. If you're a neat freak who hates shadows creasing, you will not like this product. I love it; after I do a smoky eye with Succumb, Command, Truth and Drama I dab a little of the Eternal in the middle of my mobile lid to just destroy the shadows a little bit and add a glossy look. This reminds me of the Club Monaco eye glosses that I used to love. It's a lot more pleasant to use than Vaseline to give a glossy eye look. You can also use it on cheeks, lips and anywhere else you want a mermaid gleam.

My top 5 red lipsticks

1. Vincent Longo Carnelian Whisper. 

This is a brilliant starter red. It's a muted brick red, which doesn't scream "look at these RED lips!" when you wear it. 

2. Julie Hewett Rouge Noir.

Classic scarlet, brilliant satin texture, wears like iron. Julie Hewett does some great reds; she was the makeup artist for Pearl Harbour and The Black Dahlia.

3. Besame Red Hot Red.

A more orange based red. Great retro-vintage packaging and shades.

4. Kevyn Aucoin Bloodroses.

Blue red, great for pale skinned brunettes. Very vampy. 

5. Julie Hewett Gem Noir.

This is a soft strawberry red. It's not a true red; it gives more of a warm sheer strawberry tint. This is a good dupe for the popular (and limited edition) Strawberry Blonde by MAC. 

Dolce & Gabbana Devil lipstick

Mr London had a techno-neanderthal disaster recently. He read a text from his sister that said "I'll get there pm 4 a while" as "I'll be there at 4pm" and consequently I had to run around and get a roast dinner ready (for his brother's birthday) two hours earlier than I expected. 

Happily, the dinner turned out okay, and as a sorry present he picked me up a Dolce & Gabbana lipstick and eyeshadow quad (and no, he's not psychic, he asked me what I wanted.) 

Devil is a gorgeous colour - a true classic red, no shimmer. This is the colour that Scarlett is wearing in the promotional picture. The texture is perhaps a little too creamy for a red lipstick - it bleeds a bit after a few hours. I don't usually have this problem; and I checked that it was the lipstick and not me by wearing my favorite Julie Hewett Rouge Noir the next day (no bleeding.) It can be improved upon by wearing a lipliner, but this is the first time a red lipstick has ever done this on me, and it isn't a good look. I also find the lipstick a little drying; even wearing a balm underneath my lips are a little flaky after a day of wear. These are scented; similar to the scent in Chanel Hydrabase, but not quite as strong.

I really wanted to love this; I love Pat McGrath, who is the creative director of the brand. I'll wear it, but it isn't my favorite red lipstick, and it's not in my top 5. I might still try out some of the more neutral shades in the line, and I do love the eyeshadow quad. 

D&G cosmetics are available in Selfridges, and the lipstick costs £20. 

Lipstick Queen Medieval

Lipstick Queen is the new(ish) line by Poppy King. I was a big fan of her first line in the 90s, which was sadly discontinued when the brand over-diversified into other cosmetics and even clothing.  She relaunched a couple of years ago with her Saints and Sinners - a line of 10 lipstick colours in both sheer (Saint) and intense (Sinner) formulations. She followed this with the Oxymoron glosses (matte glosses) and then Medieval lipstain.

 I became obsessed with this product when I read about it online before it was released in the UK; I even dreamt about it. At the time this was being featured in magazines and raved about on US beauty boards the BBC series Merlin was on, and I was convinced that only Medieval could give me the gorgeous flushed lips that the lead actress in that series wore. It was finally released in SpaceNKs over here just before Christmas last year, just in time for me to add it to my Christmas wish list.

The idea is that this product gives a natural flush to the lips, and for me, it does just that. It gives me a soft sheer cherry red blush that looks as if I've been biting my lips. This has a permanent place in my everyday makeup bag. I reach for it on days when I'm not wearing any makeup (sometimes it happens!) to brighten up my face, or when I'm concentrating on my eye look and just want to add a little colour to my lips. I also find it moderately moisturising, and I have very dry lips; I can actually wear this without a balm underneath it most of the year round.

This definitely has a cooler tone; I need to wear neutral or cool blush tones with it, which also tend to look more natural on me than warmer peachy tones. This isn't the product for you if you can't do or don't like cooler pinky tones. The picture is with one light coat blotted down; I can get more colour if I apply a couple of layers.

Lipstick Queen products are available at SpaceNK. This is showing up as £19 on the website, which is pretty expensive for a tinted lipbalm.

Illamasqua cream foundation in 135 and pressed powder in 005

Illamasqua is a new UK brand that launched in Selfridges, London. It's since rolled out to Debenhams and Fenwicks stores around the UK - go and check out the website for details of stockists. 

I went to the Selfridges counter, which has prime real estate at the front of the beauty hall in between MAC, Trish McEvoy and Christian Dior. The counter staff all looked like they stepped out of a Tim Burton movie, and that's a look that calls to me. I was helped by the fabulous Mika (he's  a tall brunette, young, with bambi eyes and very good makeup.) 

The textures of the base and powder products are very good - especially the base products. The cream foundation, pressed powder and powder blush give me a matte finish that somehow also looks luminous and glowy. There's no shimmer at all, but it seems to have a soft-focus effect. 

I love the pink powder. This looks bright in the pan, but it doesn't add any noticeable colour on the face, it just brightens and perks up my skin. It comes in a loose and pressed version, and I bought pressed.

I'm 135 in Illamasqua base products, and around about a 20 depth in MAC (but NC is too yellow and NW is too pink.) The 135 in Illamasqua is a perfect neutral pale but not absolutely porcelain shade. There are 4 shades lighter than this in the line, including a pure white and there are a great range of colours for deeper skintones, and all the shades in between. 

I plan to review some of the colour items I've picked up too (warning - the website swatches are often really off, particularly for the lip products.) The website is at www.Illamasqua.com, and it ships internationally. 

Sarah Chapman Skinesis skincare review - dynamic defence spf 15 and eye recovery

I'm a firm believer that in order to enjoy colour on your face to the full you need to start with a good canvas. My skin is normal to dry, and doesn't break out on its own but is very reactive to products that don't agree with it (I'll get clogged pores and even cysts if the reaction is particularly bad.) 

I like the idea of the hippy organic skincare lines, but I've often found they don't deliver on either user-friendly textures (oily, or they ball up under foundation) or results. The Sarah Chapman line is a fantastic compromise; it's paraben-free and uses a lot of natural ingredients, but also has the high-tech ingredients that product real results. The packaging is great for a germphobe like me; sealed pumps. This does mean you do have to guess when you're close to running out though. The line is compact; an oil cleanser (haven't tried it, does smell nice though when I've mucked about with it in Spacenk), a serum in normal and concentrate formulations (the concentrate is not for drier skins, but for skins that need more work or are used to high-potency ingredients), dynamic defence (normal and concentrate), eye recovery and an overnight treatment oil.

These two products were a Christmas gift from my very understanding husband (who supports my skincare/cosmetic addiction in the same way I support his video game one), and I've used them consistently since then. I ran out of the dynamic defence a week ago, and the eye recovery is close to gone too.

The dynamic defence is a fabulous texture; it's rich but it sinks in well, leaving my skin soft but not greasy and it works well under makeup, leaving no white cast or residue. I sort of wish the spf was higher though - an spf 15 is high enough for use during the winter and most of the autumn and spring in the UK, but it's not enough for my pale skin on the very hot days we sometimes get in the summer (the texture might be a bit rich on very hot and sweaty days too, and I don't think an oily skin would enjoy this product at all.) This does have a fragrance, which is quite perfumey - monoi with some jasmine thrown in.  This is slightly weird to me in a facial product, as it seems more of a body product type of scent, but it hasn't irritated my skin. The scent-sensitive should patch test first. I've finished the tube, and I'm currently using an spf 30 from NIA24 which I don't like nearly as much. 

The eye cream is also amazing - it's light, but it has made a huge difference to the fine lines I was beginning to see under my eyes. The skin under my eyes feels a lot more supple since I've been using this (every day and night since Christmas, and I'm still on the same tube.) It hasn't made much of a difference to my dark circles (I have a six year old who thinks 6 am is a lie in, even at the weekends) but I have pale, fine skin so I'm naturally disposed towards dark circles and I'm good with concealer. It does make the concealer I use apply more smoothly. It has light reflecting shimmer particles in it, which I could live without (if this is enough to deal with your dark circles you don't really have any) but it doesn't detract from the effectiveness of the product or look weird on the skin.

I'd repurchase both of these products, and I'm interested in her serum after I've finished the REN ones I'm currently using up. For someone as fickle as I am, this is unusual (the fact I've actually used a product up is really saying something!) 

Sarah Chapman products are available from Spacenk, QVCuk and from the Sarah Chapman website directly. There's a nice trial set available with the cleanser, serum and dynamic defence in it. This is an expensive line, but it's not quite at that ridiculous £100+ a pot level, and it delivers results.

Hello blogland

So, who am I? Well, the London (I work there) and the makeup (I'm obsessed) are on the level. The "girl" might be pushing it a bit. I'm a thirty-something who is still convinced that one day Robert Smith will realise I'm what is missing from his life. 

My love of The Cure influenced my makeup tastes at an impressionable age and I'll still go a long way for a good red lipstick (the application has gotten a little more precise over the years.)