Illamasqua The Reign of Rock Elemental and Experimental palettes review
Today's review is about the Illamasqua eyeshadow palettes from the limited edition The Reign of Rock collection, which launched because of Illamasqua's 10 years celebration. I bought both of the eyeshadow palettes: the Illamasqua Artistry Palettes Experimental and Elemental. Both very nice on their own, but in my opinion, very strong together. I will tell you why and will show swatches in this blogpost today.
I've discovered Illamasqua several years ago, but it wasn't easily available in The Netherlands then. So when I went to London 3 or 4 years ago, I visited the Illamasqua flagship store and met the products for the first time in real life. I was amazed by the look and feel of the store and browsed the store for an hour, I think. In the end I went home with and eyeshadow palette named Complement, a sculpting face powder duo in Helio/Lumos and a very pigmented lipgloss in a square tube of which I forgot its name... It might have been Belladonna. So, when I moved to London, I wanted to visit the store again, but found out it wasn't there any more. So I looked up where to go for my shot of Illamasqua and found out it has a counter at Selfridges. Several products went home with me in time and now there are these 2 beautiful new eyeshadow palettes which I'm very happy with. Nice note: If you have the pro discount, you get 40% off of these palettes as well.
"Famed for our unapologetic approach to beauty, Illamasqua is celebrating 10 years at the forefront of the beauty industry with a new rock inspired limited edition product collection, headlined by British beauty Amelia Windsor. Join us in celebrating 10 years of raising eyebrows, glorifying individuality, championing artistry and always advocating self-expression." - Illamasqua
The palettes - Experimental and Elemental
Both palettes have that typical Illamasqua shape: concave on all sides and black as the night, but this time with a leather-look to emphasize the theme of the whole The Reign of Rock collection. The palettes are made of cardboard, which I like because that means the palettes are less heavy and the lid can be folded so that it takes up less space, which is nice when working from small surfaces.
Elemental palette (top) is that palette to create that steady basic look with. It has 12 shades in it with more natural colors in both cool and warm undertones, which can be used to warm up a look or make it look cooler. There are blending colors to create that nice blended eyeshadow look and there are also 2 matte highlighters (as I call them) in a yellow and pink undertone. Then there is a deep black and a clean white as well. I often use the black as an eyeliner, but also to create darker colors when mixed with the Experimental palette. I do the same with the white color, which can lighten up some of the colors in the Experimental palette. I think you know now why I think the two palettes are a perfect combo, right?
One note though: If you've bought the Illamasqua Vanitas Rose Gold palette in the past, you might want to reconsider buying the Elemental palette, because I think they are kind of the same. I have both because I liked the addition of the blending colors, grey and the white in the Elemental palette.
Experimental palette is the rainbow colored one (bottom), which has the whole basic colorwheel in it, 12 shades as well. You have the primary colors blue, yellow and red, the secondary colors orange, green and purple and then it has the tertiary colors like red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet. This one is perfect when you like more colored looks or when you want to add that pop of color. I think it's a nicely balanced palette, but maybe it would have been a nice addition with one pink color in it. You can mix your pink with a bit of red, red-violet and white, but it will never be that strong as a pink can be. Besides that, I think I can create lots of looks with it without having to carry a lot with me.
The swatches
Top - Elemental: Perdita, Hedda, Tosca, Hamlet, Lear, Cordelia,
Eponine, Tranio, Medea, Portia, Desdemona, Elphaba. Bottom - Experimental: Expression, Bouffe, Melodrama, Comique, Disturbing, Monologue Tragedian, Opera, Dramatist, Spectacle, Staged, Masque.
I've tested some of the colors with brushes and I am pleasantly surprised to find there is almost no fallout and that it's not as dusty as some palettes are nowadays, as you can see in the picture below. You can see brush streaks, but not a lot of dust.
I will create a look with these palettes soon, so keep an eye out on my Instagram and if you don't follow me already, you might want to ;)
Thank you for reading and if you have any questions regarding this post or other topics, please email to info@sabinelemmens.com and I will reply as soon as I can.
