One of my favourite British brands is Illamasqua. I have A LOT of their products in my stash and it is a testament to how much I love them as I buy lots of a similar thing from them. Pencils are not generally considered the most exciting part of your make up arsenal but you can do so much with a pencil on every part of the face, they are very underrated. This is probably why I own more pencils from Illamasqua than any other brand. So beloved and well used are my Illamsqua pencils that I own the old and the new style.
Old Style (Medium Pencil)
These are a shorter pencil and the texture of these pencils is harder then they newer style HOWEVER what I loved about these pencils is that they were not just designed for the face. Whether you choose to use them for the eyes, lips forehead or body, they are just a pencil. For this reason the colours were outstanding, it was one of the first things that drew me to the brand. The old style pencils do not have the tackiest finish so if you are going to use them as a base for eyes hadow then a foiled application of the shadow help.
Top tip, heat the nib slightly to soften the texture and make is easier to use on the eyes.
Elate – White, good base for yellow eyeshadows like MAC Chrome Yellow and liner work on the eyes.
Adamant – Grey, blends beautifully with blue and silver tones on the eyes.
Fidelity – my most used colour, for eyes and lips, it is almost skintone and is the perfect nude shade
Ascend – dusky nude pinky/brown, great on the lips
Uncanny – warm mid tone brown, this pencil is quite hard, I mainly use it on the lips
Torment – Red with a hint of brown – great on the lips and in the crease on the eyes
Debonair – Bright Turquoise, I mainy use it on the eyes, as a pop of colour on the lower lashline or a base for blue and green eyeshadows, one of the softest textures of the ‘old style’
New Style (Eye Crayons)
These pencils are much longer, softer and tackier. These are the perfect base for powder products as they really make the product stick. Again they have a great range of colours and Illamasqua make some of my favourite pencils ever. I use them on both eyes and lips. As you can see – Discipline is my most used pencil – here’s why
Vow – warm cream too bright to put on inner water line, but a great base for eye shadow. If you think that you won’t get through a whole cream eye shadow base before it dries out, this is a good alternative.
Fidelity – see above
Seize – Purple. Love it (obvs) it’s a great base for sheer lip colours
Discipline – Beautiful navy tone – great on the eyes, and on the lips to turn pinks shades into purple
From the swatches, you can see that the colours are true from the pencil to the skin. The old style pencil give a thinner line but both types of pencil can be blended out with a flat shader brush. Top tip – Illamasqua do great sales and their pencils are often included – it’s a great time to pick them up.