Don’t you love sale season? I’ve been keeping my eye on the Illamasqua x Amy Winehouse collection because there were a few items that interested me, this duo being one of them. These are two new shades and I’ve always had a great experience with Illamasqua blushes, so when this got to be 60% off I had to get it.
Shirley is a mid-tone, reddish coral blush and Baxter is a warm leaning bronzer with a very subtle sheen that would work for fair to medium skintones.
Right off the bat when swatching it though, I could tell the blush texture is not the same as their regular line blushes. It’s less powdery, more hard pressed, and not as smooth or soft as my other Illamasqua blushes. And the pigment was not as intense. Honestly, it’s easier to use – more buildable than the typical blushes, because those are almost *painfully* pigmented (though extremely blendable). It’s good: it blends out well, it’s easy to build up and lasted 9 hours with no fading (and no setting spray). Just know that it is not equal to the unique Illamasqua powder blush experience.
The bronzer has the same texture than the blush. It’s the first time I try an Illamasqua bronzer, so I can’t speak to how it compares to their regular line bronzers, but it was nicely pigmented and very easy to blend out. It lasted the same 9 hours with no fading (without setting spray).
Amount is the same as a typical Illamasqua blush: 4,5g each, so I consider both of the pans full sized. The packaging is pretty cute. It reminds me of those makeup kits for teenagers I used to see in the nineties, with sliding hidden doors and multiple compartments – the makeup was usually terrible, but the nostalgia is real. The blush is accessible by opening the lid on top, and it has a mirror on the inside, and the bronzer is only a little drawer below the blush. Yes, it’s bulky, but I like it.
This was limited edition and is still available on a few european Lookfantastic websites (I checked the Portuguese and Spanish sites, and it’s still there). It’s nice, but I’m glad I got it for a discount, because the shades aren’t particularly ground breaking, and I think Illamasqua’s regular line has even better offerings.
