Illamasqua Precision Ink in Alchemy | Review

I'm usually a gel eyeliner kinda girl. I always use my trustworthy Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in Black Ink on my waterline and tightline and generally don't line my top eyelid. However, sometimes I want to line the top lid, and instead of choosing a traditional black, I often opt for Illamasqua's Precision Ink in Alchemy. I've heard from many sources that this eyeliner is practically identical to MAC SuperSlick Eyeliner in Pure Show, personally I don't own this so I can't say for sure.

Colour:

One of the best things about this eyeliner is the colour payoff. As you can see in the swatch, the gold colour is very intense. I find a lot of metallic coloured eyeliners tend to have a liquid with glitter particles suspended in them, meaning that the effect is lots of glitter bits with no sold colour. However, this is a solid gold colour and you do not need to use a lot of coats to achieve this. I believe this is what makes this product worth its pricetag as the colour payoff is some of the best I've seen.

Application:
This is housed in Illamasqua's trade sleek black packaging. Personally, I am a big fan of Illamasqua's packaging as I find it all to look sleek and uniform. However, if you own many of these or a lot of eyeliners, I can see this being a problem when trying to find certain colours.Without opening the eyeliner or looking for the name up close you can't tell this apart from the other eyeliners in Illamasqua's range. Personally I don't own many liquid eyeliners so this isn't a problem for me, but I can see others finding it a hassle.

This has a felt tip type applicator which I find easiest for liquid liner. I'm by no means the best at putting liquid eyeliner on, but I find with this colour it is a bit more forgiving if I do make a mistake.

Lasting Power:
This really stays put. According to Illamasqua this is waterproof, and while I haven't poured a bucket of water over my head to find out, I have find that this stays put whenever I wear it out and I don't need to worry about it smearing all down my face. I don't have oily eyelids but the lasting power on this is very good that I feel like it would last on someone with the most oily eyelids.

Avalibility and Prices: 
Illamasqua's Precision Ink liners are available from Illamasqua for £17.00. This is quite pricey for a liquid eyeliner however I do believe this worth the money. I use this a lot even though its not a 'traditional' eyeliner colour. If you do find this to be a lot, they do have precision inks in more traditional colours which some may get more wear out of.

Would I repurchase?:
I do really like this as I find it lasts well and the colour pay off is excellent. I'd really like to try Illamasqua's liners in 'Abyss' (black) and 'Havoc' (brown) next as I really like this formula.

Butter London West End Wonderland | Review and Nail Swatch

This is the only Butter London nail polish I've ever tried, but I love it. I spotted this while I was in T K Maxx and instantly loved it. I love glittery nail polishes (even though they are a huge pain to remove) and don't really have many plain gold nail polishes, most of the ones I own have multicolored bits of glitter in them, so I picked this up.

Colour
West End Wonderland is a gorgeous gold colour, as you may be able to see in the pictures, it has slight bronze in the glitter too although this isn't articularly visible. The swatches on my nails are three coats, you could probably get away with two but I prefer the look of three as the glitter looks more compact. The first layer is pretty sheer but means it would be good for layering over other polishes.

Application
Application of this is lovely, it goes on well and is easily layered. It also has really good drying time and I found it began to dry within 20 seconds, which is pretty good for a nail polish. The brush allows for easily controlled application. It's a smaller, thinner brush than other nail polishes but I find this makes it easier to control as I have pretty small nails.

Wear Time
I find wear time to be good on this. I've worn this without a topcoat before while doing washing up and washing my hair (which always seems to mess up my nails) and this stayed on for a good two days before there were any chips. With a top coat I've gotten 5+ days out of this before there is any noticeable chipping. In my experience glitter nail polishes do not last long at all on my nails (Some of them chip badly within hours) but this is one of the better ones.

Availability & Pricing:
Butter London West End Wonderland is available for £12 from Harvey Nichols.

I really like this nail polish and it is a great addition to my collection, I really want to check out the rest of the Butter London range, particularly the non-glitter formulas. They are on the pricier side at £12 but they are great quality.

Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Electrum | Review and Swatch

Illamasqua's Liquid Metals are a product I fell in love with as soon as I saw them. They are intense colours that look simply stunning in the pan and on the lid.

Illasmasqua's Claim:

'A rich and highly pigmented metallic cream that grabs full attention wherever it's applied. Smooth onto eyes, face and body with fingers or a brush and prepare to take the spotlight.'

 Colour:
The most notable thing about this product is its colour. It's a vivid antique gold that really catches the eye. Illamasqua's claim that it 'grabs full attention' is certainly true. As you can see in the swatch, it is a very intense gold colour, certainly not a pale or subtle colour! However, it can be sheered out to make it less dramatic.

Application:
The liquid metals are cream products which makes them ideal for acting as eyeshadow bases. . They are great to put under gold eye shadows as base as they make the gold eye shadows more intense and last longer. While you can wear them on their own, as they are cream products they are more prone to creasing throughout the day. I have worn these alone before and did suffer from a bit of creasing which was to be expected. These can also be used as liners as well due to their consistency.

The formula of this is really nice. It is a very creamy product and you do not need much to get the colour from the pan onto your eye. It tend to use a brush to apply this, but you can also apply with fingers.

Lasting Power:
For a cream product, these do have good lasting power. They last around 6 hours on the eye on their own (although with some creasing), and I've found they last all day underneath eyeshadow. 

Packaging:
Illamasqua's packaging is always sleek and this is no exception. It is lightweight which means it is easy to carry with you if you want to touch up throughout the day, and is compact enough to fit in a small bag. I also love that you can see the colour through the packaging, as when you have a lot of makeup products it can be a pain to have to open every product to see what colour it is.

Pricing and Availability:
Liquid Metals retail for £17.50 and can be purchased from Illamasqua.

Overall:
The intense nature of the liquid metals make them ideal for eyeshadow bases, helping to intensify your eye shadow and make it stand out. They can also be used as eyeliners and even as highlighters. I'm not usually a cream eyeshadow fan, but the Illamasqua liquid metals are so easy to use.

Twitter | Pinterest | RSS | BlogLovin' | Google + | SheSaidBeauty