Lately I’ve been favouring the latest trend on the beauty scene: the dark, vampy lip. Perhaps it’s my attempt to cling on to what’s left of winter before we step fully into the summer brights. Dark lips can be tricky to navigate, but as the masters of vamp, Illamasqua have the perfect products to create this look without it appearing overly gothic. When wearing a dark lipstick, apply the lip before doing the eye, as you can then determine how much eye makeup is required to balance the look.
Illamasqua’s new lipstick shade, Shard, is absolutely perfect as that statement colour that is still completely wearable. Growl is also a great colour; a few shades darker than Shard, it is a little more difficult to pull off. Being matte finishes, these colours are also quite dry, so make sure that your lips are perfectly plump and exfoliated, and that there is no residual product on your lips before application. Using a lip brush is also essential. To make the lip look especially sharp and clean, take a lighter concealer on an angled brush to clean up the edges of the lip.
Shard; Severity; Growl; Hermetic
Lip Colouring Pencil in Severity forms a nice base for this look, and by filling in the whole lip, you can achieve greater depth, as well giving the lip lasting, consistent wear. You can even just fill in the lip and slick a gloss on top to lock in the product. The on-trend vampy lip leans towards a matte finish, but if your lips are dry or you want to amp up the glamour, a glossy finish works too. Intense Lipgloss in Hermetic can be worn alone or layered on top of the lipsticks if your lips are a little dry.
Light Liquid Foundation; Powder Foundation (as bronzer); Powder Eye Shadow in Stealth
This look is all about the lip, so to make it wearable, pare back the rest of the face. Prep with Hydra Veil for a dewy finish, following with a minimal amount of Light Liquid Foundation just to even out skin tone for a fresh, natural base. The key is to balance the lips with a clean, bright eye. Try Stealth eyeshadow all over the lid, which you can also use to highlight the cheekbones and beneath the brow bone). Give the eyes natural definition with a swipe of brown mascara and lightly contour the cheeks with a matte bronzer (Powder Foundation #230). Also make sure that you also define your brows to balance the bottom half of the face (Eye Brow Cake and Brow and Lash Gel).
Complement Palette: (clockwise from top left) Slink, Focus, Queen of the Night, Forgiveness
For a more dramatic makeup look, add a seductive eye with the Complement Palette. Blend Slink all over the socket as a base. Keep colour fairly close to the lashline so the overall look is not too intense. Take Focus on a flat eyeshadow brush and place it on the inner third of the eye. Apply Forgiveness to the outer two-thirds of the eye and blend it well, joining it seamlessly with Focus. Using an angled eyeliner brush, line the upper lashline with Queen of the Night. Smudge a little bit of Forgiveness under the eye for a sleepy 90s vibe. Clean up any fall down and cover under eye circles with concealer.
You can pick up all of these products at Illamasqua counters at selected MYER stores, or online at myer.com.au and illamasqua.com
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