Brands

Buying make-up has a lot to do with the brand. Many people buy products because of the brand name however, this isn't always a good idea. You can miss out on some great products purely because you don't know much about the brand and many people will look down their noses at a brand because of its price.

Illamasqua

I love Illamasqua and I'm a loyal customer. It isn't an extremely well-known brand yet as it's still very new. The products are great quality, some can be a little pricey but you know your getting quality so paying a little more than highstreet brands shouldn't put you off. A lot of the make-up has been made by make-up artists and it's a great brand for make-up artists. It looks professional and it's made mainly for professionals. You'll notice that all the products especially the foundations are put in bottles that stand up and don't take up lots of room in your kit, and as they stand up they take up less space on a table. Also the bottles only let you squeeze out a little bit at a time, as you don't need a lot of the product as they spread so well and this way you don't waste as much. I have found them to be cheaper than MAC and other high-end make-up stores on many items. Alex Box is a big part of Illamasqua. She is a spokeswoman for the company, the face of Illamasqua and creates all the advertising and campaigns, she also has a big input on many of the products. Here's some of Illamasqua's campaigns.

Sleek Make Up

I love Sleek Make Up. It's Cheap, the colours are bright, it's compact and made up into palettes which is great for a make-up kit as it takes up less room. The textures of the make-up are perfect. It's created mainly for darker skin and different ethnicities. The colours come out the way they look which is very rare usually the colours look bright but when using them they don't come out as bright but this isn't true with sleek as it's intended for darker skin tones. Their advertising isn't as strong as Illamasqua's and doesn't show the true quality of their products.

Natural Collection

Yes i know this isn't what you'd expect but the products are great quality. They're so cheap and if you're a make-up artist the products are great for brides. They're mainly natural colours, browns, cream, pinks, corals and they are bang on trend for spring/summer 2012. You can create amazing natural looks with their products and the colours are great. I love their lipsticks. Lipsticks are my guilty pleasure, i can't help myself and at £1.99 who cares. Trust me, buy this brand you won't be disappointed. And at the moment they're on 3 for 5.