Makeup is an amazing thing. You can use it to hide flaws, enhance your best features, or simply to change your image, immediately. Anyone who has ever worn a bright lipstick knows the nearly shocking transformation that it can produce, and yet you can wash it off and return to your natural state, just as quickly.
Illamasqua (tag line: make-up for your alter ego) has a collection of Human Fundamentalism products featuring shockingly bright shades, that let you express your individuality in bold, new, trendy ways. These colors will either make you want to dive right in an paint your face a rainbow of color, or perhaps you’ll want to dip your toes in the proverbial color pool a bit more slowly. But I defy you to walk away from these products without the urge to experiment!
Vapour by Illamasqua
The Human Fundamentalism collection includes four powder eye shadow singles: Fledgling (vivid green); Hype (bold yellow); Inception (rich violet) and my favorite, Vapour, a shade of bright tangerine that can be worn as a wash of orange, or bright and shockingly trendy, as an opaque citrus. I know that bright orange might not work for your law firm’s annual meeting but I get such a rush applying products that look so pretty in the compact. And so shockingly bold (and a bit naughty/wrong) on your eyes. At $20.00 for a single, they’re a luxury, but who says you can’t?! This British cult brand was awarded CoolBrands® status in 2011, an honor shared by the uber-popular winners such as Prada, Manolo Blahnik, Apple and Dazed & Confused.
For lips, there are two long lasting lipsticks in this collection for $22.00 each: ” Liable” is a stunning, red orange, but for sheer bright-ness, Eurydice a fuchsia pink with a matte finish so bright, it’s nearly a neon. This very cool, blue pink is most flattering on deeper, cooler complexions, but I like the shocking way it looks with pale skin and even unexpected with blonde or red hair, and freckles. To make it even more transformative and shocking, make the matte shiny with a clear or shimmery lip gloss. If you’re just not certain you can pull of a hot pink neon in all its intensity, blot it for one of the longest lasting lipstains you’ve ever worn.
Eurydice, in Greek mythology, was one of the daughters of Apollo (the god of light). She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly. In a condensed version of the sad tale, Euridice was fleeing an attacker when she stepped on a venomous snake, dying instantly. Distraught, Orpheus played and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept and told him to travel to the Underworld and retrieve her, which he gladly did. After his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, his singing so sweet that even the Erinyes wept, he was allowed to take her back to the world of the living. In another version.
Orpheus wouldn’t give up the love of his life without a fight, and if you love this lipstick, it won’t give up on you either. You really need to remove it with makeup remover, or really scrub to get rid of. The wearability is long, long and longer! But that’s a great thing for Summer. One swipe and I felt more glamorous. Makeup is simply, “fundamental!”
The human fundamentalism products are all available at Sephora, and the Illamasqua web site has dozens of other products and amazing colors to check out: http://www.illamasqua.com/
