Illamasqua lipstick in 'Howl'.
Many moons ago, before a killer virus escaped from a laboratory on the bottom of someone's shoe, I was swatching makeup at the Illamasqua stand in Selfridges. There was a wonderfully shimmery gold eyeshadow that I can't for the life of me remember the name of, and a lipstick that I do. It was called Howl, which is a damn fine name for anything, let alone lipstick.
Last week I stumbled back onto the Illamasqua website and saw that Howl was on sale. I have to hand it to Illamasqua, my order arrived in 6 days and was beautifully packaged in black tissue paper. I was very impressed.
Howl is a terracotta orange leaning red. It's redder and brighter than Mac Chili but there's a definite orange tinge to it. Below Chili is at the top, and Howl below. The difference is much more perceptible to the naked eye.
When first opened, the lipstick bullet has a waxy, almost plastic feel to it. This makes it drag when first applying it to your lips. However, with subsequent uses this disappears. This ultra -matte formula means the lipstick stays where you want it to go. It is very easy to line your lips and then fill them in, with no pencil. It also doesn't bleed or feather. The lipstick is light but does feel ever so slightly tacky. It's completely non-drying. I have one other lipstick by Illamasqua, a blue-purple called Kontrol, that has the same very pigmented, matte formula, so it seems the formula stays consistent across the line. Unfortunately, Howl didn't last while eating for me, but it was very easy to reapply. Below you can see it on the lips.
Would I recommend Howl? Yes, and Illamasqua as a brand in general. I had a very positive experience.
Final score 4.5/5