This was a gift set I received for Christmas which I thought I would review at it is currently on sale on the Debenhams website, which it is an exclusive to.
The Illamasqua Eyes & Nails Mystery Selection Box (found - here) retails for £35.00 exclusive to Debenhams but is currently £23.33 - a bit of a steal I would say for 6 full-size Illamasqua products which are worth £92 all together!
Firstly the idea of this set is that you only know two of the products that are in the gift set - Liquid Eyeliner Precision Ink in Glister (opalescent nude) and Liquid Metal in Electrum (rich metallic cream in antique gold) and the 4 other full size products are then kept a mystery until you actually purchase the section box and open it up! So if you don't want an idea of what you could receive (all boxes do vary though) then do not scroll down past the next image!
Here are the two products that you 100% receive in the gift set. As you can see with the retail prices of the two products you are instantly getting your monies worth.
Liquid Eyeliner Precision Ink in Glister
(retails for £17.00)
This is a lovely nude liquid eyeliner with a slightly pink tone to it and fine multi-coloured glitter running though it. I haven't got any nude liquid eyeliners in my makeup collection so this is a different sort of product for me but it is so beautiful that I know I will think of ways of using it. What instantly impresed me when first wearing it was the staying power... this stays so well and is actually hard to remove it is that good!
Liquid Metal in Electrum
(retails for £17.50)
Totally in love with this product, the colour of this is just soooo beautiful that the images above don't do it justice. It is a wonderful old gold shade that when the light hits it is just amazing. The cream formula also glides onto the lids and blends and sets perfectly. This would make a great eyeshadow base for bringing other metallic/shimmer powder eye shadows to life or used on its own.
The other 4 mystery products in the eyes & nails selection box will always consist of two mystery powder eye shadows (normally £15.50 each) and two mystery nail polishes (normally £13.50 each) but the shades will vary from box to box. You can see another review of the gift set and the contents from blogger Lets Drive Far Away - here.
The mystery products I received were...
Powder Eyeshadows in Fiasco(left) and Feline(right)
Nail Polishes in Radium(left) and Rampage(right)
With the selection of products my first reaction was 'Really two green nail polishes?... and a blue eyeshadows, hmmm'. So not a great first impression of the products and even now after looking at the products more I am not too impressed with the shades I received. However I do like the Feline eyeshadow as it will be great for soft smokey eyes (I can't pull off a dramatic smokey eye) and the texture of it is literally so soft.
As for the three other products I just know I won't use them. I can't pull off blue eyeshadow and I'm not a fan of green nail polish, so I will either be including them in my up-coming blog sale or selling them on eBay.
In total I really like 3 products out of the 6 in the set which isn't that great, as I have seen better boxes especially with nicer shades of nail polishes. So I do feel like I did get a bit of a bad box. Having said that it was a present and also I do think it is still worth the month as I do really like three of the full size products which total more than the price of the box. Plus I realise Illamasqua is a very unique brand with some creative and interesting shades so I was aware there could be shades I maybe would dislike.
All in all I really love the concept of this box and feel it is a great way to dip your toes into Illamasqua if you a new to them without spending too much money on a few full priced products.
Also this would make a great gift for a makeup lover!
Fee xo.
