Deenie Hartzog writes: 

I’m a simple kind of girl.  No high-maintenance hair cuts!  No over-the-top outfits!  I like pared-down, streamlined and minimal.  However!  A girl likes to get dolled up now and then…and if I’m going to all that make-up trouble, I want to turn heads.  (It’s so annoying spending ages crossing the “t’s” and dotting the “i’s” with my make-up, only to find my purple shadow pigment-less as soon as I leave the house.)

At the Illamasqua preview last week, I received an answer to my disappearing make-up woes.  Inspired by 1920’s Berlin, Illamasqua is a highly dramatic cosmetic brand whose slogan is “Make-up for your alter ego.” They consider themselves a night-time brand, because that’s when people tend to let their guard down and explore boundaries within their social and cultural ideals.  Don’t be tricked into thinking this means, “Find the inner crazy in you and hit the town like a maniac! ” They simply encourage you to embrace you true self, and have a little fun with make-up while at it.

The brand sports eyeshadows in rich, luscious shades of colors ranging from Daemon, a deep crimson, to Lestat, a static black, to a bright white shade called Sex. (Interesting.) Yet, my favorite Illamasqua piece was, by far, their nail varnish.  Boasting a vibrant hunter green called Rampage and a fluorescent acid yellow named Rare, the nail colors span just about every shade in the wheel.

Previously sold in only the U.K. and Ireland, Illamasqua believed New York was the most appropriate next step for the theatre-influenced make-up brand. It launches next week at the new Times Square Sephora, and will eventually roll out into 26 stores.