Illamasqua Naked Strangers Collection
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The Naked Strangers collection is a total departure from the Spring/Summer collections you see around, and made up primarily of neutrals and foiled gold tones.
While I don’t think the eye shadow palette is anything to crow about since these are common colors, it IS a very well-composed one that includes a black for definition and lining, and two medium-toned shades which aren’t too light to make an impact. The texture is predominantly matte, with only the antique gold a metallic. (Most palettes on the market don’t give enough darker shades for definition.)
If you’re looking to invest in one single high-end neutral palette for both work and play, this is a very versatile one to look into. But again, if you can find this color-combo among drugstore palettes, by all means get that.
The one real standout for me is the the pale-gold gloss, Stranger, worn in the image above. Stranger is similar to Lime Crime’s limited edition Carousel gloss, Golden Ticket, but paler and less yellow. If your skin is quite fair or more olive-based (without any pinks), this is actually a color you can wear with a very matte, very smoky eye, in place of the typical nude gloss.
Other items:
I like the Liquid Metal cream in Electrum but it’s part of the regular collection anyway. Just remember this is like a very soft Cream Color Base that doesn’t set, so it WILL crease if you try to wear it neat as an eye shadow.
As for the nail varnishes, the colors are pretty, but I’ll be honest; I never buy polishes from makeup collections because I personally don’t feel it’s worth the money (£13.50 in this case) when you can get more consistent quality and bigger color selections from nail brands such as Essie, China Glaze, Orly and OPI.
What I DO recommend when MAC, Dior, Chanel, Illamasqua and other high-end makeup brands come up with a new collection is just to look out for similar shades among the Essies, China Glazes, etc.
