Makeup for Mark Ronson, Butter, & Club Kids

It's usually nightlife that inspires a guy or gal to get made up, but this is makeup inspired by nightlife. Illamasqua, a cult favorite amongst beauty junkies, club kids, makeup artists, and celebs, was conceived amidst the dark drama of 1920s Berlin -- embraced by alternative cultures, made by a British brand, and now readily available to help you develop your nightlife alter ego. I decided to try the pigment-rich rockstar colors for Friday night's festivities, which included Mark Ronson's Gucci party at the Bowery Hotel, followed by "Whipped," Butter's hipster dance party, to find out first hand why Sienna Miller, Lily Allen, Beth Ditto, and Karen O. are rumored to be obsessed with it.

“Illamasqua is for the bolder, darker person hiding inside us. It is an act and an attitude. A symbol of tolerance. A celebration of idiosyncrasies. A confident statement of self-ownership and self-expression. Illamasqua is your alter-ego.” After reading Illamasqua’s mission statement, I couldn’t help but be inspired to really go out as my alter ego, wherever she was hiding. I topped off a one-shoulder dress and an otherwise bare face with Illamasqua’s Liquid Metal. It’s a rich and highly pigmented metallic cream you can apply with your fingers anywhere on your body. On my lids, I used Enrapture, a bright orange color with a bronze finish, blending from lash to brow. The intense color was less club kid, more 80s trendy—which luckily garnered more approving looks than weird ones. Did I find the bolder, darker person hiding inside me? Maybe, but it could have also been due to the Bowery Hotel’s martini. In any case, I’m still going to rock Illamasqua’s Illuminator, as that seems to hold the same kind of power as a Bowery cocktail.