Illamasqua Earth Collection

I think Prince discovered that calling yourself a symbol is dangerous territory – but the new Illamasqua Earth Collection uses an earth element symbol as the name of its collection. It pops up on some obscure sites to say the least and naturally, my keyboard says no. So, I’ll just carry on with Illamasqua Earth Collection.

Starting off with the Nomadic Palette (£34) above which is the cornerstone of the collection, it’s deep and earthy with a mix of matte (Terra, Solitude and Loam, the red, pale grey and green) and shimmer (Gravity, pewter grey). I’d personally describe Solitude as taupe – to my eye it doesn’t look grey at all.

The palette is swatched here with Glamore Lipstick in Kin (£18.50), a satin finish brick red.

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The things I like best from the Illamasqua Earth Collection are the Pure Pigments (£16.50), Ara and Draco (presumably named for the constellation), for their light fuelled sheen effect. I don’t generally like loose shadows but these are intense and interesting. Ara is silver and Draco is a green gold.

They’re shown here with Slick Stick in Iron (£18.50) – a deep silver, waterproof eye liner.

The final piece from the collection is the Nail Varnish in Element – a gunmetal grey, shown here with Glamore in Kin.

I like the adventurousness of the palette and I know I’ll be all over Loam when the timing is right (the collection launches on 27th August) – in fact, there isn’t anything not to like in this, but I’m not experiencing the Illamasqua related rush of past collections. Illamasqua walks a fine line – they came under fire for producing ‘mainstream’ products (nude palettes, for example), but also for creating overly dynamic looks that nobody can wear! I do feel that the Illamasqua Earth Collection is probably somewhere in the middle of keeping everyone happy, but making nobody ecstatic, if you see what I mean!