Hello, Stranger!

I was browsing the Illamasqua counter in Selfridges on Oxford Street with a couple of friends and happened to try on their new golden lipgloss and well, what can I say.  It was a case of love at first sight.  So without further ado allow me to introduce you to Illamasqua’s new Intense lipgloss in Stranger.

You get 7ml for £13 (UK RRP), although I’m actually not convinced that you get 7ml in this tube.  Illamasqua’s standard lipgloss packaging is a cyclindrical squeezy tube with a hard plastic applicator tip but in their Summer 2012 collection Naked Strangers, of which Stranger is one of two lipglosses, the packaging has been changed to a solid rectangular tube with a brush applicator.  The brush applies the gloss pretty well but it’s actually pretty big and surely takes up a lot of space in the tube that could have contained more lipgloss instead…anyway it’s really a matter of personal preference as far as lipgloss packaging is concerned.  Personally I do like brushes as they allow more precise application but it does generally mean that some product has to be sacrificed in the tube.

The consistency of the gloss is very thick and quite sticky and to me it smells a bit like strawberry jam (although I’m sure that’s not the actual fragrance!).  I actually wiped a lot of the product off the brush in the above photo in order to show the shape of the brush more clearly.  It’s very pigmented and very long lasting for a gloss, which is also helped by the fact that it fades away so beautifully, leaving a gentle golden sheen as it goes.

When I tried the gloss on in the shop I was wearing the same make-up as above – just a simple flick of black eyeliner (I went over it with an iridescent pigment which is why my eyeliner has a slightly blue tinge).  I think the fact that I have quite strong yellow undertones in my skin does help make this colour more wearable for me as it is a very yellowy gold, although it’s definitely not a typical colour for a lipgloss.  I don’t have any problems wearing this as a daytime colour at weekends though, and it’s such a quick way of creating a statement look – just a quick slick of lipgloss and you can set out and impress the world in 30s!  I personally love the way it makes me look like a bit like a statue in the sunlight, especially paired with a golden highlighter on my cheekbones!