Beauty| MUA Spring Break eyeshadow palette & face of the day*

Hey you!

I have swatches and a makeup look using the MUA palette Spring Break to show you today. It's a pretty palette full of shades for all the year through, despite the Spring themed name.

MUA Spring Break palette £4 (limited edition)

The colours are absolutely stunning, particularly the nuanced brown far right on the top row, which is called Sorrel.

I did a quite muted makeup look using 4 colours from this palette: I used the matte brown (top left) to accentuate my eye socket, and Cherub (top second left) over my inner eye to brighten that area. This sparkly pink reminds me of Dust in the Naked palette 3. I used the minty-blue Seafoam on the main part of my lid, and Damson (bottom right) along my lower lashline.

I didn't use eye primer and you will get a more vivid look using one.

I'm also wearing MUA Powerpout acrylic lip gloss in Supreme, £3.50.

When MUA first came out I found it hard to believe that anyone could knock eyeshadow palettes out at such a bargain price. Of course 5 years on MUA are a staple in my makeup bag and I probably have more eyeshadow palettes from MUA than anyone else. 

*The palette and lip gloss were sent to me but my opinions are honest and my own.

Are you an MUA shopper? You can buy MUA on their website, Superdrug.com and Superdrug stores in the UK.

Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo

MUA Power Pout Glaze in Enchant & Spellbound*

Hiya love bugs,

I'm really into makeup again at the moment. I seem to veer between wanting to buy clothes and being obsessed with makeup and at the moment it's the latter. Here are a couple of lip glosses from MUA.

MUA Power Pout Glaze is a medium-opacity lipgloss which smells like cookies to me. It's reasonably moisturising and is a little sticky, but not unbearable. I can't stand really gloopy lipgloss! Both of them have very subtle sparkle which you can't feel at all. I hate chunky glitter in lip products. The glosses have a twist and click system - twist the silver end of the gloss, and every time it clicks some gloss is dispensed onto a brush - see photo at the bottom of the post for a photo of the brush. You may have to twist the end 20 or so times on the first use to get the brush to load, but that's perfectly normal and only takes a click or two per subsequent application.

Enchant is a soft pink shade which shows up as a wash of colour on my lips. For more impact I would wear it over a darker pink lipstick. You could also wear it over lip liner worn all over the lips. MUA's lip liners are soft and creamy enough to wear all over your lips without dragging.

Spellbound has more colour pay off and is my favourite of the two shades as it packs a punch.

Here's a photo so you can see the brush, and a little clue into the way I use photos as prompts to battle Fibromyalgia fog. Sometimes I take detailed notes as I do my swatches so I can write the posts up fully later, and other times I take photos of things as a memory prompt. The shot with the Pepsi can was to remind me that after drinking it all the lip gloss was half gone, so you will need to reapply after eating and drinking - standard for most lip glosses. Sometimes I'll hold one or two fingers up under an eye to remind me if I'm wearing one or two coats of mascara when I write my post up (I just crop them out of shot) and I usually order things for swatches in name or number order so I don't get the shades in a pickle afterwards - especially if they're similar shades. Of course there's no completely avoiding boo-boos when your brain is affected by chronic illness - like the few times I've put the same photo in a collage twice - but having a system makes me feel less daft some of the time! ;)

You can see another recent post about MUA from me here.

Do you prefer lip gloss or lipstick?

Thanks for reading.
Leah xoxo

*Items sent by MUA but my opinions are honest. I've been buying from MUA for 5 years and will continue to do so.

Beauty | Some new lines from MUA*

Hiya loves!

A few weeks ago the people at MUA sent me some new lines to try out and here are a few of the items. In this post I'll be talking about:

MUA wet look liquid eyeliner £2 (discontinued)
MUA Eye Define lengthening mascara £3
MUA power pout acrylic lip gloss in shade Unwrapped £3.50

I used to be paranoid about my ageing face and used to erase some 'imperfections' using Picmonkey. I use inverted commas around the word imperfect as anything which occurs in nature IS perfect. We all get spots, we all age, and we all have bits we're not happy with. But I no longer believe in hiding any aspect of my natural face so here's I am as is - spots, wrinkles, milia, fresh mascara splodges and all. Unless I have a blemish on my face big enough to have its own post code you'll see me exactly as I am in that moment. I think Photoshopping harms us all and gives us false ideas about how most people look, so I'm all for more real life representation of ageing faces, blemishes and all that jazz.

It started raining as I was taking photos so here's some natural wet look on the packaging!

MUA WET LOOK LIQUID EYELINER

This eyeliner does not budge. The longevity of it is such that you will need an oil based cleanser (or elbow grease) to remove it. It does have the wet look appearance without looking overly shiny and I think it's a nice change from uber matte liquid eyeliners. If you want an eyeliner which goes nowhere through the course of a day, this is the one for you.

MUA EYE DEFINE LENGTHENING MASCARA

This is a quite moist mascara which can transfer to upper and lower lids if you blink or sneeze within a short time of applying. Once less new it should be less wet, but even with the clean up required, this mascara is great. It really does lengthen (as well as thicken slightly) and one coat is ample for me. If you apply two coats you will go into Tammy Faye Bakker territory - Google Image her, I dare you! It does clump slightly so a lash comb is essential, but if your lashes are on the short side you should check this mascara out. If you want Benefit's They're Real on a MUA budget, this is for you. It does however give me a slight crispy lashes feel (like some waterproof mascaras do) so if that's a deal breaker, perhaps try another one of MUA's mascaras?

MUA POWER POUT ACRYLIC

Unwrapped is a pink-leaning neutral which appears slightly coral on my naturally highly-pigmented lips. It's completely opaque in one application and is quite long lasting for a lip gloss on me. It's hard to give a definitive answer on how long something will last as our body chemistries and how much we eat/drink will vary, but on me with slight drinking it lasts a couple of hours. It smells amazing, although I can't put my finger on what of exactly. One very annoying Fibromyalgia symptom is the inability to distinguish scents any more! It smells slightly of vanilla and musk. I adore it and would gladly wear it if it were available as a perfume!

Here's some slight wear on the lipgloss after having a couple of drinks.

I'm a fan of MUA and have been since they came onto the scene 5 years ago, happily buying maaaany items. Some were misses, but many more were hits. 

Have you tried anything by MUA? If so, what's your favourite? I love their eyeshadow palettes and their £1 lipsticks. I have most of them. 

Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo

*Items sent by MUA and my opinions are honest and my own.

Beauty | MUA Luxe shimmer sticks and how to use them*

Hello pickles,

I have some new things from MUA to show you over the next couple of weeks. Today I have MUA Luxe bronze and highlight shimmer sticks which are full of pretty sparkles.

These sticks are £4 each and twist up just like a lipstick. The highlight is lovely, and gives the look of sun bouncing off skin. The bronzer is a little light for my face at the moment since I'm quite tanned, so I've used it heavily so it shows up on camera.

Bottom right - blurry shot to show the sparkles

The photo below shows unblended swatches of the bronzer. To blend the sticks you can use your fingers or a brush. I used a flat, rounded tipped foundation brush to blend mine, using gentle downward strokes as I didn't want to risk it 'balling' up as some creamy face products can when you blend in a rough windscreen-wiper motion.

WHY HIGHLIGHT/CONTOUR?

Highlighting is all about bringing areas of your face forward, and using contour or bronzer is about making things retreat. Highlighting gives a healthy, youthful glow to the face which gives the look of the sun falling on areas which naturally catch the light, and it's a great way of cheating on dull skin days. Using bronzer or contour gives the illusion of depth, which is why I used it under my cheekbones to give them the appearance of being deeper than they are. Using highlighting and contour/bronzer in combination helps give the face definition.

Here's how I used the highlight and bronzer. 

You can also use bronzer or contour to drastically alter your face, but I did a quite light, natural look in this instance. By using a dark product at the sides of your face you give the illusion of a longer, thinner face. You can also contour your jawline and double chins to give the illusion of having less chins - I call it the fat girl contour and I'll cover that another time. :)

Another place you can use bronzer is in your cleavage to give the impression of a bit more oomph! Just apply between your girls and blend up and outward in a v shape. It really works. It's an old drag queen trick. ;)

MUA also do a shimmer blush stick, which is also £4. Buy here or on Superdrug.com and in Superdrug stores (depending on stock levels.)

Do you highlight and/or contour?

Thanks for reading.
Leah xoxo

*These items were sent to me by MUA but my opinion is honest and my own.

Quick beauty reviews #2

Hello love bugs!

**EDIT** August 2015. The VIVO website no longer exists. 

I haven't done one of these quick beauty posts in a while, so here goes.
(Click the titles to be taken to the items.)

VIVO TRIO EYESHADOW GRAPHIC GLAMOUR

This trio is £3.19. I have a few of these trios and they're good every day colours with reasonable pay off and not too much fallout. The packaging is sturdy, there's a little mirror in the lid and you can see the colours from a glance because of the 'porthole' windows, which I like.

VIVO is make up from Tesco and the makeup artist Karla Powell has just started working for them, which I'm really happy about as they have great potential if they market themselves a bit better. Their range is a bit stagnant though - they really need some new lines.

VIVO LIQUID LINER GLITTER BLACK

I have a few other liquid liners by VIVO and they're great, but this one didn't agree with me. I got a flake of glitter in my eye and it went red and it wouldn't stop watering for about 10 minutes and left me with a very sore eye. I do have sensitive eyes though, so you might be fine with it.

ELF CONTOURING BLUSH & BRONZING POWDER ST LUCIA

This is a dupe for the Nars Orgasm duo apparently. Well, I'm all up for more orgasms. ;) I found both pans rather powdery and I think the bronzer is a bit too dark for my skintone but I can use it as an eyeshadow and even as a brow powder. It's a tiny bit too red for my eyebrows, but I could use it in a pinch. Because it has some gentle sparkle in it it looks nice as an eyeshadow.

The blush is nice enough and it's the kind of colour that should suit most light-medium skin tones. It's £3.95.

MUA GLAMOUR NIGHTS PALETTE

This palette has a mix of shimmer and matte shades and has a nice selection of colours. It's just £4. At this price I can take these palettes anywhere and hit pan and not wince. I've dragged various MUA palettes up and down the country with me and have never yet experienced a broken shadow (but the old style round £1 palettes did break.) Oddly the blue in the top row and the green in the bottom look similar colours swatched (on my monitor at least) but they're not.

None of these makeup items are going to set the world on fire but they're all cheap and cheerful - just the way I like it!

Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo

MUA Luxe lip velvets in Reckless, Criminal, Kooky

Hello honey buns!

Never have I been so conflicted about a product. I wrote about these MUA Luxe lip velvets about a month ago and I've changed my mind about them about 3 times since then. I'm still conflicted.

When I first got them I LOVED them because they were new and cheap (I'm easily pleased) but as time went on I realised a few drawbacks.

The next 3 photos are taken with flash.

Reckless

Criminal

Kooky

Firstly, they're £3, which is very reasonable for such bold colours. They last a long time on the outer lips, but wear in the centre of the lips when you eat or drink. The product is slightly thick and gloopy in the case of Reckless and Criminal and this means it's difficult to shape the lips correctly without making a mistake. Using a fine lip brush dipped in the product from the doe foot applicator it comes with may be an idea for precise application. Kooky applies most smoothly of the three as it's less thick and gloopy. Because the product is SO long wearing, when you do make a mistake you need to have a good make up remover at hand with a cotton bud to clean up straight away or it will NOT budge, and if you're not careful you run the risk of smearing the rest of your lips as you clear the mistake. I have done this a few times and then had to cover it up with concealer.

The product takes a minute or so to dry, and you have to wait with your lips parted or else they will stick together like you have PVA glue on them. I've done it and it's really not pretty! There's no discernible scent from a distance, but if you sniff the tube it smells faintly like an alcohol wipe. For just £3 there's no surprise they didn't add a scent. And now I come to the biggest downfall with these lip colours. When you want to remove them it gets ugly. They're very hard to remove from the outer area of your lips. I end up with product smeared all over my face and have to use a huge amount of make up remover to do so. From the nose down I end up covered in smeared lipstick.

How do they feel on? OK. Dry, matte obviously, but not too uncomfortable. You might have a problem if you have very dry lips, though. Because of the nature of the product I don't think it's suitable to go directly over lip balm, but a slick of balm half an hour beforehand so it can soak in probably won't harm.

Because of the wear from the centre of the lips and the mess they make when you want to remove them I can't give them a resounding approval, but they do look good when they're on if you're not eating and drinking. CONFLICT! I wouldn't say rush out and buy them, but I would say if you have a spare £3, try one and see what you think. Of the three I have, I think Kooky would be the only one I would repurchase, both because of the formula and the unusual colour. Purple lipsticks tend to be very patchy overall, so I'm pleased to have a good purple in my stash.

For me, their best use is to put them on at home when I have plenty of time for a precise application, and to wear them out for a couple of hours when I know I won't be eating and drinking. I don't personally think it's the kind of product you'd want to cart around for repeat applications, due to the care you need to take.

Have you tried these and if so, what do you make of them?

Thanks for reading.

MUA Luxe Lip Velvets in Kooky, Criminal & Reckless

Hiya lovelies,

I got my hands on some of MUA's new Luxe velvet lip lacquers, which are similar to the Lime Crime lip velvetines, so I thought I'd link to my review of the Lime Crime velvetine and talk about both that and the MUA ones.

I have edited this post - it was initially quite positive - as after further use, I've changed my mind about the MUA velvets. Read on to find why.

The Luxe range has been really hard to get hold of overall, so I got hold of the 3 colours I wanted over 2 Superdrug online orders. I picked up:

Kooky - purple
Criminal - hot pink which looks neon in some lights
Reckless - red

So, how do they compare to the Lime Crime velvetines?

Firstly there's the price difference.
MUA - £3
Lime Crime - £13.50

The Lime Crime Velveteen (review here) applies smoothly and dries fairly quickly. I have no problem shaping my lips or over-extending them with the applicator it comes with as the product goes on thinly and evenly. Once set, it does wear from the centre of my lips when I eat and drink, and if I accidentally brush my mouth with my fingers it transfers quite badly (without smudging my lips.) The Lime Crime velvetines smell like vanilla or cookies, which is lovely. When the Lime Crime velveteen wears off totally, it does so fairly well without leaving my lips in a mess.

The MUA velvets apply much more thickly, dry more slowly (you need to go slack jawed until they dry or your lips will stick together) and need a bit more finesse. I feel they would apply best with a fine lip brush rather than the doe foot applicator, because it's easy to make mistakes. If you go over your lip line you need a great make up remover to get it off. When they set they don't budge and don't transfer easily. They stay on for a few hours with little wear (unless you eat or drink) but when it does start to wear, it goes bad VERY quickly and looks like a mess. You can reapply over the top of a previous 'coat', but when you finally want to remove it, it's like trying to remove the toughest grease you've ever seen - you're likely to end up with product all over your lower face. It smears, rather than removes. They're TOO hard to get rid of. The MUA ones have no discernible smell until you get in close and then it smells like vodka breath the morning after. I think it's an unscented product (unless hangover breath is a new thing) and that's just how the product smells. I'd have liked a vanilla scent but for £3, I think I can deal.

On more thought and longer use, I can't really recommend these lip creams over Lime Crime any more. I would say save up and buy the Lime Crime ones. I might re-buy Kooky once it's all gone as the formula is the best out of the 3 I have and the colour is quite unusual. I'll be saving up my pennies for the new hot pink Lime Crime Velveteen.

Here's a photo of me wearing Kooky.

I will have proper SLR swatches as soon as this God-forsaken Vit B6 deficiency goes. The corners of my mouth are so split and sore and look disgusting!

Have you tried any of these velvet type lip creams? I know Topshop do some as well.

Thanks for reading.

EOTD with MUA Smokin palette

Hiya!

I bought the MUA Smokin palette (swatches here) for one colour only, the gorgeous green shade Chaos.

I used it over the black from the palette which gave it extra depth. I absolutely love it, it's stunning.

I also used the black eyeliner which comes with the palette. Two words - don't bother. About ten minutes after I put it on, it had spread about an inch below my eyes. Ugh.

Excuse my greasy eyebrows. I was trying eyebrow wax for the first time and went rather OTT.

I think I'll do a look with the plum or blue shade next.

Thanks for looking.

NEW! MUA Smokin Palette Swatches

Hi all!

I fell in love with this palette as soon as I saw it on British Beauty Blogger.

The top row contains some perfectly good neutrals, including a taupe so good it's almost sexual, but the bottom row is what set my heart ablaze.

The colour names are:

Top Row L-R Glory, Boudoir, Ghost, Fantasy, Mythical, Broken.
Bottom Row L-R Icon, Unleash, Chaos, Wicked.

It also comes with an inky black eye pencil. (Side note MUA - Would it have killed you to put a LID on it?)

Onto the swatches! That taupe (3rd in) is SO good!

That plum, that blue, that green, that grey! In love. Especially that green. It's my kinda porn.

Here's them all together and the black pencil swatch, which is really creamy and as black as coal.

All in all, this palette is a steal for £6. You can get it from the MUA website, and will be in store in Superdrug soon I believe.

Do you like the look of this?

I'll be doing some looks with it this week.

Thanks for reading!

MUA Intense Kisses lip glosses

Hello flowers!

I have a quick look at some MUA Intense Kisseses lipglosses for you.

L-R Stolen Kisses, Smooch, Kiss and Tell, Lips Are Sealed, Quick Kiss.

These lipglosses are £2 each for 5.1 ml from Superdrug stores and the MUA Store. They come in 8 shades in total and are super-pigmented. There's no wishy washy colour here, and they last for a good few hours on me. They aren't gloopy and sticky like some lip glosses are. I really like them.

I'll be doing lip swatches with these babies soon.

Do you prefer lipstick or lipgloss? James hates me wearing lipgloss as he ends up wearing it too.

Thanks for reading.

NEW! All 6 new MUA blushers swatched & reviewed!

Hiya dolls!

When I saw MUA were releasing 6 new powder blushers for 2013 I was in like a rat up a drain pipe! Delivery was surprisingly quick since they're smack bang in the middle of a 3-for-2 offer, so colour me impressed!

Onto the photos - click to make larger:

Shade descriptions (mine.)

Bon Bon -  matte darkened tea rose
Bubble Gum - matte deep pink
Candyfloss - a heathery pink with fine sparkle
Cupcake - a matte peachy brown
Lolly - a peach with fine sparkle
Marshmallow - a matte hot pink

Review:

These blushers are a lot creamier than their predecessors and they blend beautifully. I ordered all 6 shades for review only expecting to like a few of them, but I really like all of them and think they're very versatile shades - you've got everything from demure to diva covered here. I don't need to tell you that £1 is a bargain for 2.4g of product - especially if you snag them on the current 3-for-2 deal and only pay £4 for all 6! Go go GO!

My pick of the bunch is Lolly as I favour peachy tones but I look forward to doing different looks with all 6.

If you're a fan of bargain make up keep your eyes peeled over the next few days as I have 6 new MUA nail polishes to show you.

Will you be buying any of these blushers?

Thanks for reading!