Illamasqua - Empower Eyeshadow Palette

One of the two new eyeshadow palettes from the latest Illamasqua collection - Generation Q, Empower has three powder shadows & one Liquid Metal cream.

 The four shades included are -

• Blink - a beige nude matte
• Synth - iridescent pale pink with glitter
• Fervent - reddish brown with green/teal duochrome
• Slick - metallic charcoal grey Liquid Metal

Blink, Synth, Fervent, Slick

Blink

Blink - slightly warm-toned beige nude with a matte finish. Applies easily, soft texture, blends well.

Synth

Synth - pale pink satin shadow with a sheen & micro-glitters that flash green, gold & silver. Soft texture, a little less powdery than Blink, applies & blends beautifully.

Fervent

Fervent - brown base shade with red tones, green/teal duochrome, metallic finish. Extremely soft finish, applies & blends really well. Very similar to MAC's Club eyeshadow.

Slick

Slick - Liquid Metal cream in a charcoal grey with a silver tone, metallic finish. Applies & blends well.

L-R - Blink, Synth, Fervent, Slick - with flash

L-R - Blink, Synth, Fervent, Slick - no flash

The swatches were done using the powder shadows dry, straight from the pan. All of the colours were applied directly on to bare skin, no primer was used underneath.

Empower is quite a versatile palette, it could easily go from a toned-down look into something more dramatic. What really drew me to Empower was the inclusion of Slick. Firstly, it's the kind of shade I tend to go for, but also because it has a neat little trick up its sleeve - use slick as a base, then apply Synth or Fervent over the top & you get another shade.

Applying Synth over Slick gives you a gorgeous purple-pink & the glitter absolutely pops in Synth when it's used this way.
By using Fervent over Slick, you cut out on some of the reddish brown tones & it brings the duochrome to the fore, giving you a very metallic teal with a hint of brown that is just stunning.

L-R - Fervent over Slick, Synth over Slick - with flash

L-R - Fervent over Slick, Synth over Slick - no flash

Again, these swatches were done without the aid of a primer underneath.

Although I do own a Liquid Metal already, I've shied away from using them on my lids. Even with a primer & a colour to set them, I rarely have good luck with cream shadows, they always crease. Happily, I wore Slick with Fervent over it all day yesterday, the colour stayed true & I had absolutely no creasing at all. 

The one drawback with Empower for me would have been Fervent, reddish browns do not look good on me. I can wear bright red shadows, I can wear browns (although I rarely do), and they look fine, but the combination of the two shades really doesn't work on me at all.
Luckily, the inclusion of Slick means it's not an issue. I use that as a base for Fervent & it looks much better on me.

Empower is a nice palette to own. Two textures, four shadows & with a bit of combining, you get a couple of extra shades thrown in to the bargain. If the colours appeal, it's a worthy addition to your collection.