Illamasqua Generation Q Complement Palette.

I don't think its much of a secret that my favourite brand of make up is Illamasqua. When I discovered it a couple of years ago, I fell in love with the philosophy, the colours, the textures and all of the products I've bought since.

So far, this year, I've attended three Illamasqua classes and have failed to write up two of them. The first was about the Human Fundamentalism collection and met Spob O'Brien (head of Professional development) and Mika Johnson (key artist, Illamasqua art team). The second was on making up black skin where I learned so much about the different tones of skin and how to get a perfect finish. This class was headed by David Horne (Director of new product development and School of make up art). The third was about the new Generation Q collection and was headed by Adam John (Illamasqua Trainer for all new members of staff) at Precious About Make-up in Hammersmith. The video below shows Adam working his Illamsaqua magic.

Adam introduced us to the Generation Q collection and explained that it had been formulated especially for the older person with satin finishes rather than full on glittery shimmer for eyes and a creamier formulation for the lipsticks enriched with Vitamin E.

Too much shimmer on the lids can make them look more crinkled than they really are and so most make up counters give older women plain matte flat beige eyeshadow rather than what they really want to buy. However, too much matte can also make the wrinkles look worse than they are as well.  As Adam said, these women grew up with glamour, colour and shine in the 60s, 70s and 80s with brands like Biba so showing them that they can still wear the colours they want without emphasising the bits that they want to tone down, hence satin finishes.

He then demonstrated the new palettes on a model so we could see exactly what can be done with them and explained how to adapt it for all ages. Whilst doing this, he answered a few questions and gave a few tips to get a fantastic finish;

When powdering over cream blush to set it, mix the tiniest amount of a powder highlighter into the setting powder to keep the dewyness of the blush. It stops it all looking matte and flat.

When applying make up to the eyes and face, think of it all as a set of 'positive triangles' (all pointing upwards towards the temples, hairline and ears. This stops all the highlighting, contouring and shadow from dragging everything down. Also, when figuring out where to end the eyeshadow, use the end of a long handled brush to determine where your eyebrows end and use that line as a guide to end the shadow (making sure it blends upwards like a positive triangle).

Don't merely think of products having a specific use - use cream blush as lipstick, lipstick as cream blush, a very pale foundation as highlighter, a dark foundation as a contour etc. I remember David Horne talking about this as well - he used lip gloss on the eyes to add shine and change the entire look all over. It does stay on if you powder, add the gloss and add powder again.

Clockwise from top left - Powder eyeshadow in Slink, Liquid Metal in Focus, Powder eyeshadows in Queen of the Night and  finally, Forgiveness.

So on to the make up. I went for the Complement Palette because I'm naturally attracted to dark colours for my eyes. I will be getting the Empower Palette and the Gleam highlighter next week so keep an eye out.

It consists of 4 shadows, one cream, one shimmery, one matte and one satin formula. The cream is a slightly shimmery (without being too glittery) dark brown shade called Focus that works amazingly on its own or as a base for a smokey eye using the other colours. The high shimmer is a pale champagne highlighter colour called Slink for the browbone and inner corner. It can also be used on the cheekbone and cupid bow as a highlighter.

Forgiveness, Slink, Focus, Queen of the Night. Lipstick is Eurydice. 

All the colours look brownish on my hand - top 3 l-r Forgiveness, Slink, Queen of the Night. Bottom - Focus.

The matte shadow is a beautiful dark almost chocolatey pink shade called Forgiveness and is perfect to contour the socket or blend over the cream to create a deeper chocolate pink. The satin finish shadow is a rich dark purple with a hint of shimmer but not overpowering called Queen of the Night. Again, it can be used alone, in the socket and to create a smokey eye with the others.

Overall, this is a wonderful dark palette that makes for some serious smoking eyes on a person of any age. The colours blend well together and can be all used alone or all together day or night.

See the Generation Q collection here.

 See the Generation Q interactive lookbook here and more of Adam John demoing the products.

See Eyeliner and Spraypaint's post on the masterclass here.  She remembered loads more than me and also has pics of inside Precious About Makeup.

Visit Precious About Make Up here.