Illamasqua Powder Blusher

One of my favorite looks from this winter is the contrast between pale skin and bright cheeks, I was so happy to see that this look will be continuing well into the spring months and took that as a sign that I should start bulking up my blush collection since the trend doesn't seem to be ending any time in the near future.  I have been ordering Illamasqua like crazy over the past few months from the Sephora website so I decided to start trying their blush line.  I had seen pictures and swatches from this product on many of the major beauty blogs, they always looked amazing and are highly pigmented.  I started with the powder formula, I didn't realize that they carried a cream formula too until I was playing around on the Sephora website.  I bought three of the powder blushes from Sephora and I am so happy that I did, they are among the best powder blushes that I have ever used.

These blushes are available from Sephora only (in the United States) and Illamasqua (European Union), the Sephora website carries the whole line and only certain stores in the country have the counters.  Which is bad for me since I got addicted to this company last year after trying out their Liquid Metal product and I have been a slave to the website ever since.  "A powder blusher.  Illuminate and enliven your complexion with the color and drama of Illamasqua Powder Blusher.  Color intense and highly pigmented, it can be used to shade, brighten, enhance, and define the shape of your face.  Be bold, be daring, and be the center of attention."

The available shades of the product...

- Ambition Shimmer - shimmering neutral pink
- Beg - muted warm rose
- Chased - lilac pink
- Create - honey beige
- Disobey - matte bronze
- Excite - vibrant coral
- Hussy - bright petal pink
- Katie - light milky pink
- Lover - vibrant apricot
- Morale Shimmer - shimmering magenta pink
- Nymph - bubble gum pink
- Panic - cherry red
- Thrust - magenta
- Tremble - light warm pink
- Tweak - reddish pink

I bought three of the pink shades from this blush line, I started with Kate and then recently purchased Nymph and Hussy.   Katie is the first shade that I fell in love with, it is a "light milky pink".  This is the palest shade of pink blush that I own.  It produces a perfect, pale pink flush on my cheeks.  This shade is very pale and very cool so only the palest of the pale skinned ladies can pull this shade off, this is one of the hardest shades of blush to wear since it is so pale.  I do wonder how much this shade would actually show up on someone with medium to tanned skin, I don't know how much wear I will get from this shade when I do my self-tanning in the summer months.  But I love this shade now when my skin is very pale.
Nymph is a bright bubble gum pink shade, it is very pigmented but still flattering.  This shade is a bit deeper than Katie and not quite as cool.  This shade is much more universal and I can see many ladies getting wear from this shade.  I will wear this one all year round, the bubble gum pink is very innocent and girly but will still show up against a bit of a tan.  Hussy is the most pigmented all of three shades and the one that I was most taken aback by when I first saw it in the pan.  It is described as "bright petal pink", it is warmer than the description implies and looks like a bright, warm rose in the pan.  I put way too much of this product on the first time that I used it and I looked like a had a fever, the color was so bright and intense.  I had to work with this shade a few times before I figured out the secret for perfect application, I just lightly tap my blush brush on this shade and that little bit of pigment is enough to create a bright cheek look.  This is the only shade that will appear as intense on tanned skin as it currently does on my pale skin.

With how pigmented these blushes are, you must pick out shades that you really love.  I overdid both Katie and Hussy the first time that I used them, now I just lightly tap my blush into the product and sweep it on my cheeks.  I didn't have the same issues with Nymph, this one wasn't quite as pigmented as those too.  Of the shades that I own, Katie is my favorite shade however I will not be wearing it near as much when my skin has a bit more color to it in the summer.  Hussy was my least favorite of the shades, there is nothing wrong with it but isn't wasn't what I had in mind when I ordered the shade.  The shade is still flattering on my skin and I will wear it more when I have some color in the summer months.  Nymph is the most basic of three, it is great bubble gum pink hue but it isn't as unique as the other two.  However I am very happy with these blushes and i love this formula.

Many of the shades in this line are unique, I don't know that I could pull off any of the orange, red, or purple hues though I would love to see how they look on different skin tones.  I am really gload that there is a company that takes blush pigmentation very serioulsy because I love bright cheeks but a very highly pigmented blush isn't always the easiest to find.

photo courtesy of Sephora