Finally! The review I've been promising for about a month now! Illamasqua's Multi-Facet Palette in Aura! So, despite the delay I've been really excited to review and swatch this product. It was released back in November as part of the Facets collection and I managed to get my hands on one in Illamasqua's winter sale, which has just ended. I'll try to keep this a little shorter than the last post, so here we go!
In my last post I spoke briefly about Illamasqua changing their product packaging, and this is a perfect example. The packaging of Multi-Facet palettes are a little different from previous Illamasqua products; they're still made of black plastic and are very chic and professional looking, however the quads have slightly concave edges whereas the Multi-Facet palettes are flat-edged. Also instead of the usual raised Illamasqua logo, in the middle of the lid is "Illamasqua" and their logo embossed in matte black, which you can only really see when it catches the light. Fancy.
The back of the palette just has a sticker to tell you exactly which shades are included, and where they're located. I think this grid is a nice little touch and super helpful! So, shall we see what's inside?
Beautiful! Now, by no stretch of the imagination am I a lover of nude tones. A little bit of taupe is okay every now and then, but I'm more of a "smother it in glitter and neon green" kind of girl. That being said, as soon as I saw the Multi-Facet palettes I fell in love. Being the practically translucent-skinned creature that I am I thought Aura would suit my complexion much better than it's sister, Semblance. Surprisingly the shades really appealed to me, and I loved that it also included Aurora and Hollow, two products I've wanted to try for a while now.
Another bonus for me was that this cute double ended brush came with the palette! On one end is the angled brush, which is great for eyebrows and eyeliner, and on the other is a flat eyeshadow brush, which is perfect for packing on eyeshadow and getting all that gorgeous pigment on before you blend out. The palette also has a little compartment for you to store the brush. So cute!
So here's the layout of the palette and all of the shades included. Soooo pretty! In the first photo you can see that it comes with a cellophane sheet with the intended use of each product printed over the top. This is a really helpful guide to get you started. Now let's swatch!
First up we have Gleam in Aurora and Powder Blusher in Tremble. Aurora is described as "Champagne" and I think that's 100% accurate. The texture is very creamy and it's packed with shimmer, making it blend-able and light-reflective. When first applied it's fairly opaque so you can blend depending on how prominent you want your highlight to be. Personally I think it's the perfect highlight for fair skin and I can't wait to create some alien-esque looks with it!
As for Tremble, I'm a little biased seeing as I already own the full-sized version and it's my go-to blusher. Online it's described as "Soft lilac pink" and whilst I agree that it is very soft, I think it has more coral undertones than lilac. When applied with a brush it gives very subtle colour payoff, which looks beautiful and very natural on fair skin.
As for Tremble, I'm a little biased seeing as I already own the full-sized version and it's my go-to blusher. Online it's described as "Soft lilac pink" and whilst I agree that it is very soft, I think it has more coral undertones than lilac. When applied with a brush it gives very subtle colour payoff, which looks beautiful and very natural on fair skin.
On Illamasqua's website Hollow is described as "Toffee" and again, I think this is an accurate description. The texture isn't as creamy as Aurora but the application is still very smooth and the product itself is highly pigmented. I don't really use cream products for contouring, but if you do and you have fair skin then this product is perfect for you, as it creates a very soft shadow which can be made more intense by building up product. The great thing about Hollow is that it can also be used as an eyeshadow base! Yay for multi-purpose products!
I was really surprised at how Thunder swatched in comparison to how it looked in the pan, it seems to be a lot darker when applied. It's a very rich, dark brown and although it seems to drag in the swatch above, it's actually super easy to blend if you're going for that fade-out brow look. I much prefer defining my brows with powder than with pencil and a few years ago when I had red hair I used Eyebrow Cake in Stark, so I've been a fan of the formula for a while now. The staying power is great, especially when mixed with a fixative, and there's a good range of colours which cater to everybody.
And now we have the eyeshadows! I really love this quad, the colours look so gorgeous together and I've noticed that pink-tones on the eyes have been quite on trend recently.
Vision is a silky, shimmery pearl colour which doesn't really show up too well on my skin, being the ghost that I am. It's the only shade in the quad with a shimmer finish, the rest are matte. The colour payoff is probably a lot more prominent on darker skin-tones, and I think it makes a really pretty highlight for the brow bone and inner corner. It's also exclusive to this palette.
Then we have Servant, a beautiful matte pale peach tone. This is supposed to be used over Vision to add a wash of colour, however I'd also like to experiment with using it as the base to create a completely matte look.
Feint is a dark, dusty rose colour, used to add definition to the crease. Although all of the shades were very easy to blend I found this one slightly easier, and it also seemed to give the best colour payoff. Like Vision, Feint is also exclusive to the palette.
And last but not least, Machine! My favourite black eyeshadow is without a doubt Illamasqua's Obsidian because it's SO highly pigmented, it's the blackest black I've come across in a long time, and I've been itching to try Machine. I don't think it's quite as dark as Obsidian, and this might have something to do with the glitter particles. I didn't find that the glitter showed up very well either, but I did use it dry so maybe there's more sparkle when you use the eyeshadow wet. All that being said, I still think it's a great product, it was super easy to blend and I was surprised at how little fallout there was after application. I think if it was as dark as Obsidian it would probably overpower the other colours and make combining them a little difficult.
You can buy this palette at an Illamasqua store or counter, or online. I hope this review was useful, and next time I'll be reviewing Lush Lip Tint in It Started With A Kiss. Stay posted!
