Illamasqua Christmas Collection 2013

Spread a little envy this Christmas with Illamasqua's latest holiday collection, it has everything you need to glitz, glam and sparkle this festive season. With a collection to add a bit of colour to your celebrations including an eyeshadow palette, sculpting highlight and contour duo, nail varnish and intense lip gloss, you have every you need to dazzle this year. Whether it's a gift for friends, family or yourself Illamasqua have got you covered...
FATALE PALETTE

£34.00*
The four colour Fatale eye palette is vividly pigmented with buttery soft formulas that are long wearing and crease free. Cranberry has been the colour of Autumn/Winter 2013 so I'm really happy to see a nod to it here, and isn't it beautiful! Every colour is wonderful, I experience very little fallout and all four shades apply like a dream. The gold is very apt for this time of year, the purple adds a nice splash of colour and the brown means you can create endless smokey and cut-crease looks. Not a disappointment and not one to be missed if you love a bit of colour in your palette that's easy to use and wearable.
SCULPTING POWDER DUO

£26.00
I bought this the day it launched and was not disappointed one bit. Consider the Sculpting Powder Duo your one stop shop for highlighting and contouring in one palette - making it easy breezy and fool proof to do for near enough any complexion. The shadow pans are shaped perfectly for the Blush Up Brush (which I really need to review, it's great!) but easily work with any other brushes too - the rectangular shape picks the product up onto your brush in the perfect shape for creating a defined, angular finish. The colour selection is perfect - the highlighting powder is so buttery soft it's unreal, there's a little fallout but it presses down perfectly onto skin. It's beautifully shimmery without being overpowering or frosty, it's extremely flattering used along the upper cheekbone, or under and just above the brow bone. The contour colour is perfect, it's similar to Illamasqua's Hollow Cream Pigment but pressed and less grey, Hollow didn't suit me but this does perfectly. Its completely matte and has hints of brown and soft grey which mean it's perfect for creating a natural looking shadow contour along the hollows of you cheekbones, down the nose and swirled around your temples. If you purchase anything from the collection purchase this - I so hope it remains permanent, Illamasqua have hit the nail on the head when it comes to highlighting and contouring.
NAIL VARNISH IN BLIZZARD

£14.50*
Blizzard is the perfect polish for topping your nails this Christmas, we may not be expecting a white Christmas here in the UK sadly (just a wet one…surprise surprise) but you can adorn it on your nails instead! Blizzard is a clear topcoat varnish saturated with iridescent white speckles of different shapes and sizes. It really does give the effect of a blizzard on your nails and makes a great showstopper on its own, on top of your favourite polish or as an accent feature nail. Illamasqua recommend wearing it with 'Boosh' - a matte black polish - for a maximum impact effect.
INTENSE LIP GLOSS IN MAIDEN

£14.50*
Illamasqua's Intense Lip Glosses certainly live up to their name - intense, bold, rich colour that melts onto your lips with a finish that's soft and sumptuous, not sticky or tacky. The packaging used to be a tube with a slanted tip, that's been done away with and revamped into a matte clear tube with a really easy to use wand applicator. Maiden is an unusual holiday season colour, I'd typically expect a red or berry hue but in fact it's warm, milky peach! Luckily it doesn't have a white undertone so won't wash you out. The formula is long wearing and more like a lipstick-lipgloss hybrid, it has the long wear and colour of a lipstick and the high shine finish of a gloss. Love it.

L-R: Lipgloss in Maiden, Sculpting Duo, Eyeshadow swatched as palette appears
Santa has well and truly come early this year with this collection that's awash with colour, festive excitement and professional MUA favourite techniques made easy. If you fancy something even more dazzling this Christmas then there's a range of false lashes, lipstick sets, fragrance exclusives and much more in store and online.
You can still order online in time for Christmas using express delivery, or pop into one of the London stores or Debenhams/Selfridges stockists.