Body Electrics - Nail Varnish Breakdown by Sophy Robson

The brand new SS10 Body Electrics collection has now been live to purchase for three days and every day this week I will be focusing on a particular piece within the collection.

Today, I bring you the highly anticipated Nail Varnishes!

Sophy Robson - the nail maestro behind the likes of Louis Vuitton and Henry Holland, owner of Sophy Robson Nailcare Clinic at the British shopping emporium Fortnum and Mason's, London and co-judge on our fabulous Nail Varnish Competition [update coming soon!] - created the tantalicious talons of the models for our campaign.

She tells me: "For the new Body Electrics collection I created long powerful nails, to show off the light reflecting pigments of the electrifying colours from the new collection. I wanted them to be extreme but ethereal at the same time, almost like insect wings. I love the versatility of Prism - it can be used on its own for a very modern, chic pearlised white nail or over any other colour to give it a subtle glimmer.


On the Force nails, I added jewels to show off the richness and intensity of the deep electric blue."

The main colour gracing the nails of the Illamasqua HQ team at the moment is Jo'Mina, a beautiful pink/purple/lilac creme [don't you just love my colour descriptions...] - it's a perfect season transition colour. Not too bright as to screaming "Summer time!" but not too muted as to remind us of Autumn. Spring in a bottle, then!

Illamasqua Collection - Spring Time!

You wouldn't know it living in London right now, but Spring is on it's way! So, what do we have lined up for you at Illamasqua?

Well, firstly the Pastel Nail Varnish Collection is due to land in stores at the beginning of March. Waiting lists are heaving and the Ops team at Illamasqua have predicted they will land on counters/ online and fly straight out again - so call your local counter, or sign up for a notification email if you haven't already.

Illamasqua's Spring 2010 collection Body Electrics is due to launched in April, so not long now...!

I will be interviewing some of the creatives behind the collection and the shoot and bringing them to you as we lead up to launch date!

Pastel Nails: Get on the Waiting List!

From tomorrow [Wednesday 21st January] Illamasqua will take over an extra site at Selfridges Oxford St to showcase the highly anticipated Pastel Nail Varnishes.

Due to phenomenal demand both online and in store, we have had to come up with a waiting list that is debuting at Selfridges Oxford St from tomorrow. To pre-order the bang-on-trend Nudge, Wink, Caress and Blow, just come along to the site between now and Thursday to sign up.

These colours will be launching online and in store from March and we predict a sell out.

Nicola Chapman [one half of Pixiwoo and fashionface.tv] will also be on the site from tomorrow. If you want your make-up done by one of the most talented make-up artists I have ever had the pleasure to meet, book in by calling 0207 318 3114. £20 redeemable against purchases made on the day.

Sirens... Dystopia... Pastel Nails!

From the evocative, sexy narrative of Sirens to the structured intensity of Dystopia, we have always been keen to mix it up and produce collections that surprise and excite.

Before the launch of our highly anticipated Spring/ Summer 2010 collection we have produced a line of four Pastel Nail Varnishes to get you in the Summer mood...


May I present to you...

Nudge - a lovely mint icecream shade that I think may well be my favourite of the four.




Caress - a beautiful cornflower blue that is a delectable hybrid of blue and grey. Very unique.



Wink - A lovely lavender lilac for the girls and guys who love their nails ultra pretty and feminine.



Blow - Think of the yummiest lemon sorbet you've ever had. We've bottled it.



The Pastel Nail Varnish collection is due to hit our counters and online shop from the end of February. You will be able to add your name and email address and we will notify you when it becomes available from the beginning of next week - we are expecting the MILF effect on these beauties as they are similar consistency and finish...

An Interview With... Kate Massarella, Brand Director

I grabbed a quick word with Kate Massarella, Brand Director of Illamasqua, for her views on the past year and what we have to look forward to in 2010...

As Brand Director of Illamasqua, you have final say on all marketing activity and new product development. Which aspect of your job have you enjoyed the most over the past 12 months?

"Creating the Sirens and Dystopia collections. They are both so different, yet so distinctively Illamasqua. Katie, our Product Development Manager along with Alex Box, has created some hugely iconic products for these collections - Liquid Metal in 'Solstice' and Nail Varnish in 'Obsess' are my personal favourites.

I also love the process of creating the images - Alex (Box) and I have so much fun coming up with ideas and I have had the fortune of working with some amazingly talented people on the photoshoots. I also really enjoy working on the way our counters look in store - it's such a great experience seeing an initial sketch turning into an actual counter, stocked with beautiful make-up and managed by our amazing teams of artists.


What has been the highlight of the past 12 months for you?

In addition to the stunning collections, one of the biggest highlights has to be the launch into New York and the week I had there introducing the collection to the beauty directors and editors at the top US magazines. An exhilarating experience as they all loved the brand already and couldn't wait to get their hands on the USA assortment. Plus, having a meeting on the 45th floor of a towering Manhattan building overlooking the city is like nothing else!

What do you think the next 12 months will bring for Illamasqua?

More creativity, more excitement, more great product development, more iconic imagery and loads more fun. In particular the Summer collection out in April - it's going to take Illamasqua to a whole new level.

Christmas!

It's the Illamasqua HQ Christmas party tonight. . . can't wait! I have been planning my make-up look for weeks. I think I might take inspiration from the Golden Goddess video we recently uploaded on to Youtube - the mask-like look. I will upload photos next week!

I think this weekend I'm going to start really getting in to the Christmas spirit - this will be top of my pile to watch...

Followed by...


I am also going to experiment with my new 'Boo' Nail Varnish that arrived in my order yesterday after seeing this review by All Lacquered Up.

Halloween Looks From Illamasqua!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! I almost forgot about it as we had been concentrating on the first anniversary of Illamasqua, so I loved it when some of the pictures from Propaganda's [our creative partner] Halloween party started to sift through to my inbox!

I am loving what our Account Manager Natalie did - an evil ladybug! Inspired choice, Nats!


I gave the normally platinum blonde bombshell a call to find out what she used...

"Well, the lashes are from a fancy dress shop," she tells me, "but everything else is Illamasqua! I used the Cream Foundation in 100 and topped it off with Loose Powder in 100 for a semi-matte glow. I used Powder Eye Shadow in 'Forgiveness' on the cheeks to sculpt the look and defined my eyes and eye brows with Eye Liner Cake in 'Mislead'. I love mixing this product with the Sealing Gel for maximum longevity."

What about those high impact lips? "I lined them with Medium Pencil in 'Spell' and painted over the top with Intense Lipgloss 'Besotted' for a juicy red lip!

Natalie also spread the art to her fingertips, using Nail Varnish in 'Ruthless' for a rich red base and blobbing on Nail Varnish in 'Boosh' for the ladybug effect.

Here is Natalie with Jo, Julian Kynaston's PA. Jo is rocking the new Birthday Lashes in 'Decadence' as well as plenty of Dystopia! On her lips is the shocking pink Lipstick in 'Avenge' and she has Powder Eye Shadow in 'Matter' smudged around her eyes for a sexy smoky eye.

Dystopia Look On Counter

So, you've placed your first order of Dystopia and now you have them sitting in front of you at your vanity unit.

So. What to do?! Well, one of the beauties of this collection is the versatility that it provides - an array of looks from robotic, smokey and stylistic, romantic, soft and shimmery through to full on, glitz and glam.

Our lovely artists on counter are here to give you inspiration for your new products and Krystle at Selfridges Trafford has sent in some photos of her work - Leanne from the Newcastle counter was her model!

So what products did she use?

Eyes

Concealer in 350 as a base with Pure Pigment layed on top. This was then followed by Pure Pigment in 'Lust' on the inner third of the eye for a romantic effect. Pure Pigment in 'Furore' kept the shimmer levels on full and was lightly dusted under the brow and across the cheekbones. Powder Eye Shadows in 'Virus', 'Maybe?' and 'Sex' were also used to add a multi dimensional look and to mix up the textures. Eye Liner Cake in 'Mislead' was mixed with Sealing Gel and a bold eye line created both under and on top of the lash lines.

Cheeks

Cheeks were sculpted using Powder Blush in 'Primal' and a subtle flush added with Powder Blusher in 'Unrequited'.

Lips

The lips were shaded in using Medium Pencil in 'Titivate' - a bright fushcia pink and coloured in using Intense Lipgloss in 'Petulant' mixed with Intense Lipgloss in 'Galactic' - my new favourite combo - for a vivid 80s twist.

Nails

Krystle's nails are a mix of Nail Varnish 'Obsess' [as the base colour] Velocity, Boosh and Glory - don't they look fantastic?!

Anyway, hope this has given you some ideas and I will keep posting new looks from the collection!

Nail Art Competition : WINNERS!

The Runner's up [and winners of three Nail Varnishes from our core range] are...

Helen's Wonder Woman Alter Ego

This was such an unexpected and unique entry. Well done Helen! Helen also has an absolute must-read blog. Click here to check it out.


LoungiesPunk Rock Alter Ego

Such an imaginative use of self expression [and use of props!] and beautiful application has resulted in this absolutely wonderful entry.


And the winner is...

OriginalWacky's Naughty/Nice Alter Ego

Sophy and I just fell in love with this entry - the contrasting colours, the creative theme and the explanation in to how this look was obtained and the inspirations behind it meant that this is a very worthy winner. Originalwacky has won both of the new Nail Varnishes from the Dystopia collection and two Nail Varnishes of her choice from the core range.

Thanks to everyone for entering and if the winners can contact me at info@illamasqua.com to let me know what products they would like, I can get those sent out to you! Thanks also to Sophy Robson for judging the competition - it was great fun!

Nail Art Competition: Finalists

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a nice weekend! I'm in a great mood today as it is nearly London Fashion Week and I'm really excited to see what all the designers are up to for Spring Summer 2010 - which means the noughties are nearly over! ['noughties' still sounds weird doesn't it...]

Sophy Robson popped in last week and we went through all of the Nail Art Competition entries to pick out some winners. Thanks to everyone - it was very difficult to pick our finalists, but we have and here they are...

First up is Sasa, who has entered this fabulous corsetry entry. She says "I just LOVE corsets. They look and feel so good. I guess I was a victorian lolita in my previous life." Sophy thought this look was very inspired and well executed. I think a victorian lolita is a great alter ego!


Next we have the hungry asian's entry. Sophy loved this because "pointed nails are where it's at for this season." I think the design is beautiful. "I call this the stiletto optical illusion. I am a quiet and shy person. I am the epitome of fufu girly: pink, bows, anything pastel, cute puppies, you name it. I don't like to wear dark eye makeup (maybe I don't know how to put it on, yeah!), I usually wear jeans and a t-shirt. My alter ego would be bold, loud and striking! She would wear 6 inch stilettos and a mini skirt." Sounds fab.

I really loved this entry from Myriam - beautiful colour combination and texture blend. I think the image that inspired it is also lovely.

Next we have Helen's entry from the fabulous nail blog helensheenie.wordpress. Helen says, "By day, your average office worker. By night – Wonderwoman!" Sophy and I loved the inspiration behind it and Sophy was very impressed with the execution - it was all done freehand! Fabulous design, Helen.

Following on from Wonderwoman, we have Punk Rock girl! "Sleeping all day, drinking all night, spitting on the floor and making loud and wild music." That is Polish Lounge's Punk Rock alter ego. Loungie gave us three entries, but we loved this one the most. Sophy thought it was very inspired and original and I just love tartan!

Next we have Happyberrynaiad's pole dancing alter ego entry! This is just beautifully executed and we loved the representational ideas behind it all. "The black line down te middle represents the beloved pole. I've tried to indicate movement by 'drawing out' some of the black. The red and white lines depict the dancer's movements. The dots are the audience." I think it looks quite japanese inspired. Very pretty.


Sophy adored this next entry from Chinda-Chan as she is a big cappucino fan! I was really inspired by the texture of this design and the unusual colour combinations to create the cappucino look! Chinda-Chan tells us: "I'm inspired by Coffee because I would not make one day without!". I hear that!

Next up we have this Naughty/Nice entry from original wacky. I was really excited by this entry as the nails were different on each hand yet the execution was spot-on. Sophy loved the inspiration, the style and the mixture of textures and colours. "By day, I am a nice person, who enjoys spending time with family, and volunteering for an animal rescue. By night, I'd like to think I turn into a hedonistic woman who demands fun at all costs." Sounds like my kinda woman!

We both also agreed that Lacquerlaine's Gunslinger had the perfect mix of humour and uniqueness. We were also suprised to see that this was one of only a small number of entries that utilised matt polish, which I thought was meant to be TNBT [the next big thing...] in the nail world! I also love her take on the Illamasqua Alter Ego poem that she put on to her blog:

My Alter Ego is the person I want to become.
She is a braver, gunslinging version of me.
She doesn't hold back.
She loads, cocks and fires.

We both also loved the textural mix of Holly's entry. The gorgeous matt black swirl over the glitter base looked beautiful. Holly tells us how she unleashed her inner Van Gogh, " was thinking about the famous painting "Starry Starry Night" when I created this design." Sophy and I both thought it extremely artistic!

Thanks to everyone who entered, we really appreciate saying all your work! We will host another competition before Christmas.

The finalists will be posted this coming Thursday 17th September!

Dystopia Launches On All Counters!

Yesterday saw the launch of the Dystopia collection nationwide across our counters in Selfridges Oxford St, Selfridges Trafford, Debenhams Belfast, Debenhams Glasgow, Debenhams Cardiff and Fenwick Newcastle.

I had a quick catch-up with some of our artists on counter to see whether the buzz that I have seen on the internet has translated on to the counters!

First, I called Cardiff where I spoke to the lovely Chetna. "We only have four pairs of the False Eye Lashes 21 left!" She tells me, "The customers have been absolutely loving the dark and dangerous feeling of the Collection. We have received lots of pre-orders and spent most of our day yesterday calling all our customers back to let them know the Collection had arrived."

Any tips? "I have been playing with the products constantly and have found that mixing a drop of Sealing Gel with the Intense Lipgloss 'Galactic' creates a gorgeous, shimmering glossy eye liner." Great tip. Unfortunately I have yellow and brown eyes today, so I couldn't demonstrate, but will definitely swatch this look one day soon!

The artists at Fenwick in Newcastle said that same thing "It's absolutely flying!" Leena excitedly tells me, "I am just loving it all - especially the Pure Pigment in 'Android' - I have never seen a product fly off the shelves so quickly. I am currently rocking a look of Nail Varnish in 'Velocity' with Pure Pigment in 'Static' scattered over the top for an irridescent effect, followed by a coat of glossy Top Coat. I have had so many compliments - it looks awesome". I love our artists, they are always exploring outside the box with how to use our products.

A great tip also comes courtesy of Krystle at Selfridges Trafford. Sharon, the account manager at Selfridges, tells me, "Krystle has been mixing the Intense Lipgloss in 'Galactic' with just about everything! Her favourite mix is with Intense Lipgloss in 'Petulant'." Intrigued, I followed up on this and absolutely LOVE the results. I was not expecting the pinky/grape colour or the finish - I think it would go a bit murky in truth! But I am loving this and it is making me love 'Galactic' more and more as the days go on! I was, like many I think, a little sceptical on its versatility but I was so wrong - this is not just a professional product as you can see it turns solid glosses shimmery and is very buildable, for a subtle silver gleam or full-on knock out Silver glitter lips. I am going to keep an eye on the fashion mags and their photoshoots - I think this could be big.

I also spoke with Sian in Glasgow whose favourite tip is "to start with Lipstick in 'Avenge' all over the lip and mix in Sheer Lipgloss in 'Explode' into the inner third of the lip. Add a pop of interest with Intense Lipgloss in 'Galactic'." See my version below!


Belfast have also been seeing some great interest from customers - "The new Pure Pigment in 'Android'. Wow. It has been absolutely flying!" Explains Nykkol, account manager. "I have been using the Liquid Metal in 'Phenomena' all over the eye lid and smudging in this Pure Pigment to create a dramatic smoky eye."

How about Selfridges Oxford St? I spoke to Francesco - "I had a lady come in this morning and buy the whole range." He says, "Everything is so beautiful - I am using Cream Eye Shadow in 'Wail', a muted, soft grey and then then Pure Pigment in 'Android' for a smoky effect with Pure Pigment in 'Static' in the inner corners. Perfect." So what are the best sellers in London? "The Nail Varnish in 'Obsess' and Intense Lipgloss in 'Galactic' are the standouts at the moment."

I have also been doing a little bit of experimentation myself - I took home the Sheer Lipgloss in 'Explode' to have a play around with it and discovered that when I put it on top of Box Lipstick, this look came out. This is so me - a red lip with a real edge. It also flashes bluey in some lighting and pinky in others.



To purchase Dystopia online, follow this link.