Power to the Pout! - MUA's Power Pout Lip Balm/Tint Pen in Broken Hearted Review

Howdy do there me Lovelies, how has your week been? It is the Bank Holiday here for me which can only mean one thing... REST!!! I can hardly wait!

Anyway other than a bank holiday coming up, I do have something to review for you guys, and let's just say that I am kind of late on this bandwagon, but I wanted to try this certain product out before giving my thoughts on it, so here goes...

MUA have, once again, been on a whirlwind of new releases, with one of those releases being the MUA Power Pout. This is, much like a few of MUA's other make-up items, a copy of an existing product from a more expensive cosmetic line, namely Clinique's Chubby Sticks and Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stains. Whilst I do not own a lip stain like this one from either of those lines, I am certainly interested in trying them out - or at least, trying out the Revlon one. However, I am happy enough with this one, which I have purchased in Broken Hearted. I also have Rendezvous in my collection now, but I will be reviewing this one instead because... well, I just like it more.

MUA Power Pout is a lip treatment with colour intensity that relieves dry, cracked lips providing immediate moisturisation. The handy pencil-style applicator provides easy to apply sheer soft lip colour and rolls up for easy use.

Ensure you have the most kissable lips this spring and kisses they will remember forever…

When I first used this product, I was happy to see that the colour came out sheer upon first application (I can't say the same thing for Rendezvous, sadly) and I could build it up to the colour intensity that I wanted if I feel the need for a bolder lip. I also found that this colour is quite flattering on me, which always makes me happy when buying a lip product; there is nothing more annoying than buying lipgloss or lipstick and finding out that, hey, it does not suit me at all!

 

I actually love this colour; of the two that I do own, Broken Hearted is certainly my first pick of the two; I can use it on my more casual make-up days, and I can use it if I want a killer pop of colour on my pout. I also love the smell of it; subtly minty, not so overpowering that it's as if you took one of those strong breath mints. Lately, this has been my go-to lip product because it is just so gorgeous in colour, and so easy to re-apply when needed. I was also happy to find that, as it claims in the title of the product itself, it does stain! Though that has its drawbacks, for me, at least.

One of the drawbacks to the stain is probably how the product stains my lips; I found that, when staining, it can stain in patches; whether this is from random rubbing off or just because of the product, I did find this annoying and unsightly. I do not want my lips to look like I have random blobs of lipstick or pink sitting there for the heck of it; it's unattractive, in my opinion, so I do find this a bit problematic. I also find it problematic that the product stains darker than when it is a glossy balm, but I can get over that one pretty quickly... I just prefer my lips to look how I applied them, is all.

Sadly, I also have a few other problems when it comes to this product, but it is mostly due to the relief for dry and cracked lips claim.

When I apply this product, I find that it certainly does not relieve my lips when they are dry or cracked; in fact, I find that it does enhance how unattractive they look because, like most lip products, it clings to the dry areas and does nothing for any cracks, unless used with a balm beforehand, so if you are to use this product on a day where your lips are dry and, in no better way to put it, unsightly, I recommended using a lip balm first... just to be safe, if anything. Luckily for me, it's coming up to summer so my lips are being more than forgiving and not looking dry or cracked.

 

That said, I do like this product regardless of the lack of relief it gives. How could I not when it is so pretty!?

I find the product itself quite pleasant to use; it has a nice smell, and the pigmentation is great for both sheer and buildable application! It is not sticky, and extremely easy to use in my opinion. I feel that the only problem with it has to be the staying power of both the balm/gloss and the stain, oh, and the packaging; but I have become used to MUA's packaging being a bit on the cheap side to the point where the writing rubs off after a few days (I am not kidding).

For £3, I have to say that this product was better than I expected it to be; I was originally on the fence with purchasing this, however I am glad I did. Broken Hearted is a great colour and product, and if I find that I still love it in the future, I may repurchase it, who knows? For me it's a good product. Not the best, but for those no-fuss days or for something that is build-able, I definitely reach for this because it is just so easy to use and such a great colour!

...And that's all I have to say on this product for now! You can purchase the Power Pouts on MUA's online store or from Superdrug, either online or in-store! For £3, you can not go wrong in my eyes!

So, do you guys have a Power Pout in your make-up collection? If you do, what are your thoughts and which colours do you own? Please let me know, Lovelies!

MUA Cover & Conceal/Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit Review + Swatches

I was wondering what I could write about, and realised that I had some pictures in my blog folder (yes, I have a blog folder, how organised am I!?) that I took a while ago back when I had purchased some products from MUA. This was back when these products were brand-spanking-new, mind, but now that I have had them for a while and know what they are like, I thought that I could put the pictures to good use and give you a little review of them as well!

Finally, a blog post where I actually know how these products work and my thoughts about them! I usually give you guys first impressions posts, annoyingly enough.

So a while back I purchased the newest concealers that MUA had to offer, which included the Cover & Conceal wands in the shades Fair and Natural, and the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit in Porcelain - Beige. At the time I purchased these, I was in need of new concealers that I hoped would actually work well for me, because a good concealer is one of those things that I have a hard time finding, so of course I was hoping that MUA had created something that could work for my under eye circles and any blemishes that I may want to banish.

Did they work for me? Well... yes and no, I guess. To be honest, I get more use out of the concealer wands, as expected, but I had hoped that I would love the Pro-Base kit a little more, if I am honest with you.

L-R: Cover& Conceal in Fair, Natural and Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten shades

I actually picked up the concealer wands with the original intention that I would mix them together and use them as a foundation rather than concealers, however I have used the Cover & Conceal wands for both my foundation and concealer numerous times. Mixed with my SPF15 moisturiser, they create a nice and natural layer of foundation that manages to cover some of my redness, though not all. If anything, they act more like a tinted moisturiser when mixed together, but I don't mind; I prefer a tinted moisturiser as opposed to a full coverage foundation.

As concealers though, they suck pretty bad. Pardon my French, if you will.

The consistency and coverage is actually about the same as the Natural Collection wand concealers, which is pretty much non-existent in my opinion; the formula is moisturising enough, but the product itself barely covers anything and just sinks into the skin. I have more luck coverage wise by keeping the concealers as foundations when I mix them together, but on their own I see no improvement in how my dark under eye circles look, or even when covering blemishes, which is truly a shame, however I actually expected it... my first thoughts when I purchased these were along the lines of 'My Lord, I hope these aren't the same as the Natural Collection concealer wands'. Luckily enough, I prefer these as a foundation option, but I will stick to Collection 2000's 16 hour wear concealer for coverage purposes!

But in all honesty, I don't think that these are too bad, and for £1.50 a tube you can not complain at all! In fact, despite the negativity towards the concealers themselves, I do like them a lot, but for foundation purposes mostly. Other than that, they do not work well as concealers. At least for me, that is.

Next up is the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit. My oh my, did I have a battle with myself when I was purchasing this... I had to tell myself to either get this kit or the Pro-Base Complexion Kit, and finally decided on this one because, hey they are practically the same, except the yellow concealer is a foundation in the other kit. Of course I did tell myself that if this one worked well for me, I would return for the Complexion Kit... I doubt I will return for it, though, because really, who needs two products which are practically the same minus one concealer and plus a foundation?

The kit itself, to me, is pretty big, with nice sized pans of product; in it you get two concealers, one peach toned and the other yellow, and a rose coloured highlighter, which I have found a few other uses for actually, and each product does what it needs to do: conceals and highlights.

The products within the kit itself are very creamy and nicely pigmented; the concealers actually conceal like they are meant to, and I have found that the peach toned concealer works well for my under eye circles, and the yellow for my redness. The highlighter is pretty nice as well, giving off a natural glow to the cheeks that is subtle but effective.

When it comes to this kit, I have one big issue with it that I have with a lot of concealers: It looks cakey and extremely dry once applied over my dark under eye circles. Despite this though, I have used this product numerous times (sadly with the same result once applied) and take it to college with me because I do like it, and find that whilst it does not work under my eyes, it does quite well on blemishes and spots that I may want to conceal. The yellow also works great for any red area's around my nose that I may want to hide, so it does have other uses that works for my problematic skin. Sadly, it does tend to dry out as the day wears on and leave lovely little patches of flaky skin where the concealer was sitting. Oh dear.

The highlighter, though, has become an item which I find is multi-purposeful; after leaving late one day for college the few things that I happened to grab were my concealer kit, my transparent foundation, a lipstick and mascara, so whilst I was travelling to college (by car) I was also applying my make-up (I was not driving, thank goodness...) and decided that that day I wanted to put eyeshadow on. Sadly I did not have eyeshadow on my person at that point, but instead used the highlighter and the transparent face powder as substitutes instead. I also used it as a highlighter for my browbone and cheekbones, but it did a nice job of making me look more awake than I really was! I have also tried doubling it up as a lipgloss too, and whilst a tad lighter than what I wold usually wear on my lips, it works pretty effectively if you have moisturising lip balm underneath the highlighter.

It's a pretty nice product, the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit, and whilst it didn't work for me like I wanted it to (i.e working for my terrible under eye circles without looking cakey, boo hoo!) I did find it useful in other ways. It's a nice little product, one which has various uses, and for £3.50 this is a bargain item to have in your make-up stash! If you have yet to try it, and you are a person who can wear cream concealers under your eyes, I say try this one out. It's easy to carry around, has a good amount of pigmentation, and the highlighter can work for you in a multitude of ways (or at least it can for me!).

The concealers that I have purchased are all good in their own ways, and I do like both the Cover & Conceal wands and the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit, but would I purchase again? The Concealer wands definitely, they are useful for my foundation routine that I currently like, but the Conceal and Brighten Kit? I don't know... I would need to really fall in love with it to repurchase it.

Until next time, Lovelies~

MUA Undress Your Skin Illuminating Foundation Swatch + First Look

So... guess who finally gave in and bought something new?

Hello there again lovelies, I have another post for you all to do with a certain foundation that was recently released! Of course judging from the title and picture, you know exactly what I am talking about!

MUA recently released their newest foundation to add to their ever-growing range, the Undress Your Skin Illuminating Foundation, which is also a part of their newest line, the Undress Your Skin range. There are a few things within the range such as a face primer, concealer and a highlighter, however this is currently the only product that I picked up... unless you count the Undress Me Too eyeshadow palette, that is.

I decided to pick up this foundation when I saw that Superdrug had it on offer for £3, however I never intended to buy this; I was quite happy with my current foundation routine, and I was not willing to pay the full £5 for it, however cheap that may make me sound. Of course the offer of £3 for the foundation dragged me in, and I also wanted to see what it was like (pretty contradicting to what I said about being happy with my current routine)... so I bought it, and when I got home I decided to play around with a bit to see how well it fared with me.

First things first; I think that the product packaging is a little funny, but I like how squidgy the tube itself is. It looks quite thin, and when you squeeze it it does not feel full at all, which I guess can be a bit of a turn-off from the product (a reason why I did not buy it straight away, actually). Also, the cap; It is not sealed. I have said before that this puts me off of buying a product because you do not know if anyone has played around with it. Luckily, the silver seal where the product comes out was still in place, so the one I bought had not been tampered with.

But in all seriousness, please MUA, start sealing the caps on everything! I get incredibly paranoid about these sorts of things!

Now onto the product itself; the foundation (I picked up the shade Porcelain) is quite runny, and when I say runny I mean that it is extremely runny. I accidentally left the tube, uncapped, laying on my counter and a minute later there is a puddle of foundation growing there. Oh dear. Not that being runny is a problem, but I am used to leaving my foundation tubes sitting there when I am applying foundation, and none of my products have ever done that. Oh well, my own fault! Just a warning for those who tend to forget these things like putting caps back on!

I actually quite like the runny consistency of the product; it is easy to apply and a little actually goes a long way I have found, which can be a bit of a problem if you put too much of the product on the back of your hand, and honestly I do prefer to use only a little. If you use too much of this, it starts to look cakey and even flakey. Ooh, I rhymed! But seriously, using too much made me look horribly cakey and I felt quite suffocated by the amount I had used. Luckily I like wearing a light layer of foundation, or I would hate this product!

Another problem, other than looking cakey, that I found with this product is that if you do not use a primer or moisturiser with it, it might look bad; even if you moisturise like there is no tomorrow. I have normal to dry skin, but once my moisturiser is applied most foundations look okay on me without a primer; this one does not. There were quite a few patches that looked dry and flakey and just all around bad, so I had to take it off. It was not until this morning that I decided to try it again, but with a moisturiser and then a primer. I have found that using a primer is the most effective way of using this foundation; it looks beautiful after that. It also goes on a lot better, too.

MY FACE!!! ARRRRGH!!!

I decided to take a picture for you all to scream at; I think that the foundation did a really good job at evening out my skin tone and even hiding a lot of my natural redness; I was happy with the finish as well, a lot more pleased than I was when I used it last night, and thought that I looked a lot healthier and well-rested in all.

All in all, I think that this is a pretty nice product; I hate that I have to use a primer with it, because I usually don't wear primers, but I'll get over that in time because I like the finish it gives me. It has a nice amount of coverage too, one which is build-able (as I have found out), but for someone who has dry skin probably not advisable, and covers redness quite well in my opinion. The only downside to the product is that, without a primer, it has a terrible finish and can look cakey if you put too much on. I also don't like that there are only three shades in the entire range from MUA, because it limits a lot of people from buying it; even me. Porcelain, whilst a pretty good match for most light people, is a tad lighter than my natural skin tone, but not too light that it is noticeable (thank goodness). Other than that, I quite like the product now that I know what to do when applying it.

Also, random little note: I like to apply this with a foundation brush. I have used my fingers too, but it looks incredibly streaky and uneven that way for me.

So... what are your thoughts on this product if you have it already? Is it pleasing you or has it become a disappointment? Let me know!

MUA: Undress Me Too Palette Review + Swatches

A while back, a day or two after the Undress Me range had been released by MUA, I headed to my local Superdrug with my friend to see if the collection had been stocked, only to find that only a foundation and highlighter from the range were there. Not what I wanted to see (it took a week for the whole range to be stocked, actually, which annoyed me) but my friend, who wanted the new Undress Me Too palette like I did decided to ask one of the store assistants if the new range was out, and low-and-behold, it was... It was just hidden in a drawer. Sadly, the palette that we both desired was not there, so I opted to try and look for the Heaven and Earth palette instead, or even the first Undressed palette.

Luckily enough, thanks to what my friend calls my Make-Up sniffing skills, I found the Undress Me Too palette - in fact I found two of them - behind some of the Undressed palettes. Luck or what!? Of course my friend was also ecstatic, and we both bought a palette each.

I have now had this palette for a while, and it is one of the few MUA palettes (actually, one of the few palettes I own in general) that I own; I own three, the Glamour Days palette, The Artiste Collection and now Undress Me Too. Of course, after having read so many great reviews concerning this palette, I was excited to try it out.

I need to learn to not buy into the Hype of things.

Behold my terrible swatch skills!

When I first used the palette, I was amazingly disappointed by the pigmentation of some of these eyeshadows, especially with the colours in Naked and Reveal, the two shades that I had been most looking forward to; the pigmentation is extremely weak, or at least weak for MUA's standards, but for £4 I can not complain much... but I was still disappointed, because MUA have amazing eyeshadows so I sort of expected these to be a little more pigmented than they were...

I have a feeling that my own skin tone does not help that some of these colours do not look too pigmented on me, but I have found that when I apply them some of the shades just fade into each other and make no difference. The first time I used Undress Me Too, I played around with my two favourite colours; Naked, Shy and Reveal, only for Shy and Reveal to basically look the same. To say I was disappointed is an understatement; I did not want those colours to basically blend together so well that they looked the same.

Now despite all my complaints, I do not think that this is a bad palette, I just find that it did not exceed the expectations I held thanks to the positive reviews it had or the hype behind it. I do like it, and I use the shades Naked, Lavish, Tranquil, Wink and Corrupt quite a lot; Corrupt is reserved for eyeliner purposes mostly, but the others serve as great day-to-day eyeshadows for a simple and easy look. When I use Naked though, I tend to use a sponge tip applicator because using a regular brush makes the eyeshadow look sheer, and the sponge tip applicator gives great application and brings out the colour to its true intensity.

It's a nice palette I think, but it really did fail to impress me like I expected it would; I know I will be a part of that minority who are not totally overwhelmed with this product, but it really did not live up to the hype or the standard of quality that I had hoped for or expected from MUA. If I had the chance to repurchase this again, I probably would not. It's not amazing, but for the price, it's decent.

But this is MUA, and when it comes to MUA I can not complain much. The brand is cheap and you get some top notch products for a killer price. This sadly is not one of them, though.

MUA Undress Me Too Palette - £4 from your local Superdrug or online

Haul or Nuthin': MUA 3-in-1 Contour Pens + Single Eye Shadow

I am not very good at keeping up with these blog posts, am I Lovelies?

So I actually decided to venture outside today and check my local Superdrug for MUA goodies, with the original intention to hopefully buy something from the Undress Me range that has recently come out. Sadly that did not happen, however I did pick up three things that I have either wanted for a while, or wanted to try out recently.

The three things that I did happen to pick up are from the older and original lines that MUA have produced, and they are the 3-in-1 Contour pens in Smoked Plum and Sage, and a single eyeshadow in Shade 8. Now I actually went into Superdrug with the intention of purchasing the 3-in-1 Contour Pen in Smoked Plum, but I was also planning on buying a foundation and a new eye primer from the newer ranges from MUA, however because some of the products do not have seals on them (an issue that is frequent with the cosmetics brand Collection) I had to pass; I do not want to buy something that could have been played around with, and considering the little amount of stock that was left of the Undress Me range, I did not want to risk the few product that may or may not have been tampered with.

I am a bit of a freak, yes, but that is how I am.

I was also planning on picking up a new eye primer; sadly my Superdrug does not seem to stock it (or MUA are planning to pull the primer's plug, who knows?) and the one that was available was from the new line, however there was no seal. Not gonna risk it for a biscuit, thanks.

But yes, I decided to purchase two of the 3-in-1 Contour pens. I picked up Smoked Plum because it is purple, and purple does quite well with me, but the surprise when I bought these two was that I actually liked the colour Sage enough to buy it. I love the colour green, in fact it is one of my favourite colours, however it is also my eye colour; Green does not suit me either, however this is a kind of grayish green colour, and I really wanted to try it out.

In terms of colour payoff, I am pretty happy with what I have got; for £1.50 I can not complain, but both colours are very pretty once you swatch them. I plan to use these both as eyeliners or bases for my eyeshadows because they are not as dark as I thought or hoped they would be, but really, I am not complaining!

My dreaded eye

I decided to try out Sage to see how it would fare on my eyes, actually, and I was pretty impressed; it goes on smoothly, however I did need to build it up a bit for a nicer colour payoff, and it is pretty easy to use. What impressed me the most, though, was that it did not transfer onto my eyelid at all during the short amount of time I wore it, which was about 2-3 hours. I have very oily lids, so I was sure that it would transfer pretty quickly and crease or fade within 30 minutes to an hour (the normal amount of time for cream shadows or liners for me) and considering I did not wear a primer either, I was amazed that it stayed as it was. Hopefully this will last all day, but so far I am indeed impressed!

I also had a play around with both contour pens later on once I had removed my liner and used them as bases, and both seem to work well as basic cream shadows... I still need to play around with them a little more though before I can say much more, but the 3-in-1 Contour Pens are easy to use, nice as eyeliners and seem to work as a good base so far!

Finally, I bought a single eyeshadow in Shade 8. I have actually wanted to buy this shade for a while now, however never seemed to because new collections from various brands kept coming out, so I tended to overlook it, however I managed to finally pick it up and have a little play around with it when I got home, too.

Now I actually do not have a lot of the MUA solo eyeshadows; in fact I now have a total of four, but that's because I generally don't use a lot of colourful eyeshadows, that and some of the colours just do not appeal to me. However I like this colour; it's a nice teal colour, and one I have admired from afar. Why I have admired it from afar, I do not know, because MUA's single eyeshadows are only £1 - I am not exactly killing my bank here! However, there are so many pretty things, and I overlook other things that I have wanted for a while, as I have said.

Anyway, this is a really pretty colour, and also: It is highly pigmented. I kind of forget that these solo eyeshadows are nicely pigmented, to the point that I was actually surprised that colour showed up on my eyelid when I applied it with my flat brush; that's how terribly pigmented the Undress Me Too palette is to me... it makes me think that all MUA eyeshadows need to have a massive amount of build-up before I get a decent amount of colour on my lids.

Tangent done, I really like this colour - it's pretty, and extremely pigmented as I have already said. I've really been liking blue eyeshadows recently, so I hope to include this in a look soon enough! It's too pretty to not use!

And that is pretty much it! It's a small Haul, I know, but I really did not expect to come back with much anyway, just a few things such as one of the contour pens and possibly a new foundation and eye primer. Of course that did not go to plan, and I ended up with a few different things, but I am happy with my purchases; is that not what counts, lovely readers?

Until next time. Toodles!

MUA Glamour Days Palette First Look (Swatches)

Hello Lovelies! Another day, another post... actually, I haven't posted in a while. Sorry!

Recently, I was told that I had won one of MUA's competitions. I was surprised, especially since I had obviously forgotten I had even entered a contest, but pleased as well. I mean, who isn't happy when winning a contest? It means you have a chance to try a new product, and believe it or not, I have never tried this palette before, so this was a great opportunity for me to get my mitts on it and see what it's like!

The palette that I have won is the Glamour Days palette, a palette that I have never used (as previously mentioned). This seems to be the sister palette of the Glamour Nights version, which has much darker colours. I'm glad that I won this version, because I prefer more neutral colours as opposed to darker, flashy eye shadows, so nice win there!

All MUA palettes like this one retail at just £4 each, so even if I hadn;t won the competition this would have been a bargain in itself.

 

It's a very pretty palette, but not something I would pick up myself if I was looking for something new to try out. I like colour, but I tend to play it safe and choose what I know suits me, but I think this is a nice little palette to have in your collection if you want something that has both neutrals and colour in it.

You also get a nice mix of shimmer and matte colours, something which I was surprised by when I first saw the palette after opening the envelope it was hidden in. There is a gorgeous skin toned, rather pinky matte shade, a lighter brown shade and a dark brown nearing on black shade which are the matte colours. I also found the purple colour to be less shimmery as well in this palette, taking on a more metallic sheen as opposed to glittery.

Top Row

The colours themselves are pigmented nicely enough. I found that some I needed to swatch more than others, with the hugest swatch disappointed being the purple shade. However, once used with a primer, these shadows go on nicely enough in my opinion.

Bottom Row

Sadly I suck at swatching, especially when it comes to the bottom row. I had a hard time taking the picture too, so it's darker than I want and isn't angled correctly. But that's what I get for using my left hand known full well I am right handed.

I have done a quick eye-look with these shadows, using the gold-ish colour from the bottom row as my inner lid colour (beside the matte dark brown) and the reddish-purple wine shimmer colour from the top row for the outer shade. I used the matte light brown from the top row as a crease colour, and then added the shimmery brown shade on the bottom row to my crease as well. I finally used the light gold/cream colour on the top row as a highlight for my brow bone. I found these colours to be quite Christmassy and very pretty.

They are easy colours to work with and blend nicely together. The shimmer isn't in your face, and the colours are very pretty and I think you can do an assortment of looks with them all. I still need to do some playing around with this palette, but I quite like it and find the mix of colours fun and pleasing.

You can purchase this palette through MUA's online store, or purchase it at Superdrug!

Have any of you tried out this palette yet? If so, then what are your thoughts and do you like the pallete?

Until next time, lovely people.

The Newest in MUA Lip Products (Reviews + Swatches)

Hello once again lovelies, and welcome back to what seems to be another MUA related post! I think that it's become pretty obvious which brand I really like, eh?

This time around, I will be talking about the lip products I have recently purchased from this fantastic Budget-Beauty brand! So far, I have quite a nice little collection of MUA lip products, but these are the most recent items I have purchased, including the newest lip products from MUA! Those guys over at the MUA Headquarters have really been churning out new products with us, and I will be sharing my thoughts on some of them with you all... with swatches, of course!

I've recently purchased five of MUA's lip products through the past two weeks, with five of them being a part of the new collection that they have released. These include Out There Plumping Lip Gloss (£2) in the shade Peach Shimmer, the Sheer Finish Lip glosses (£1) in Happy Days and Some Me Time, the Intense Kisses High Intensity Gloss (£2) in the shade Quick Kiss, and the Kiss Proof Lip Stain (£3)  in the shade Fabulicious. With the exception of the Out There Lip gloss, nearly all of my new lip products are the latest from MUA, and I am pretty much loving them!

I'll go with the 'oldest' product first, which is the Out There Plumping Lip Gloss - this is £2 both online and in Superdrug, however with the current 3 for 2 offer going on in Superdrug, this became my freebie after purchasing the Kiss Proof stain and the Artiste Collection Palette. This is one of my newer products, but it's been around for a good while now and I hadn't tried this specific porduct out until now.

Like many other plumping glosses, this one works with a tingling effect to your lips. Now, the last time I used a plumping gloss was a good while ago, about two years I would say, and so the whole tingling sensation came as a massive shock to me, because this actually hurt a little for me. I tried it again though, and the tingling hurt a lot less, so I guess I just had a reaction to it for the first time use.

That said, this is a very pretty colour - I wasn't expecting the amount of pigment that this gloss has! It's very bright and extremely pretty to look at, and it translates so well on the lips! The shade I have, Peach Shimmer, is more of a very hot pink colour, and from what I can see, there really isn't much shimmer in it... but I like the colour as it is, it's bright and cute, and really like no other colour that I currently have in my small gloss collection.

I really find nothing to hate about this product, despite the surprise I got when I first used it! The pigmentation is fabulous, and the colour is just so pretty to look at! The packaging is probably the least attractive thing about this product, but for £2 a gloss, I really can't complain, and you get a nice amount of product in it, so you really can not complain about the packaging!

I can see myself wearing this one quite a lot the more I get used to the slight sting that the plumping gives my lips. It's nice, though I do have one complaint: It smells quite bad in my opinion, a little like paint... why can't it smell like Ice Cream Soda like the other glosses?

Next up I have one of the newest products from MUA, well actually I have two of them, but you know what I mean, right? These are the Sheer Finish Lip Glosses, and I have the shades Some Me Time and Happy Days. These are two of the more neutral colours in the collection, with one being more of a baby pink tone and the other more peachy. They are both extremely pretty colours, and whilst I was at first a little disappointed with these two glosses, I have come to like them a lot more.

Of course, the whole concept of these glosses is that there are very sheer in finish, and add only a tint of colour to your lips. This isn't a problem for me, because I love the sheerness of most glosses. Usually, I only need that little hint of colour to complete my look, so these were going to be perfect for me!

Again, these are a sheer finish gloss, so if you are looking for something with amazing colour pay off, then go and look at the plumping glosses or even the Intense kisses for something with a bit more POW!

These are pretty glosses, I like the finish that you get from them - sheer, but quite noticeable. There's a noticeable shine and a nice tint to your lips, and that's pretty much it. You can't really notice the colour difference in the lip swatches, but they're more noticeable in person. I find that Happy Days has more of a nude finish and just enhances the shine of my lips more, whilst Some Me Time is a lot pinker and gives my lips a fresh coat of colour. Needless to say, I like both of these colours and they will fit well with my natural make-up looks for college.

I have used both for different things - I have used Some Me Time during a music video project my sister has to do for college, and Happy Days for college. They both can last a decent amount of time, just as long as you don't eat or drink. I find them to be really nice glosses, actually, and they aren't overly sticky, but the stickiness is noticeable in my opinion. The shine is also quite intense the more you build up the product on your lips, something I like in a sheer gloss. Actually, these remind me a little of the Boujoirs 3D effect glosses in a way. I used to have a gorgeous shade which I eventually used up and never found again, so to have these glosses in my collection now is a good reminder of a gloss I used to adore.

They're very nice, with decent packaging which some may find cheap, but I quite like it! The only problem I have with these glosses is that the smell is a little sickening. But that's just me!

Next up is another new product from MUA, and that is the lovely Intense Kisses High Intensity Gloss. This is a product which has great colour pay off, though not as good as the Out There gloss. The colour in the tube is what you get on your lips pretty much, and you can build it up to create a more intense, bright lip!

Currently, I only have one of these glosses in my collection, but for £2 a tube I can see myself buying more in the future! This gloss is just beautiful, and with just one coat you can get instant colour to your lips!

I found that about two coats of the gloss was enough for me, because the pay off for these glosses is amazing! I have the shade Quick Kiss, which is a nice reddish-pink colour that looks so pretty in person! I am adoring this colour, and the shine of the gloss is beautiful!

This is the darkest shade I have purchased, but I really like it. I'm not the sort of person to really wear darker shades when it comes to lip products, but this is a gorgeous lip gloss and I think that colour is perfect for anyone who wants to try something darker, but doesn't want to go straight for a lipstick. The gloss is very pigmented, and you can really build up on the colour for something more intense, or you can keep it simple with just one slick of this gorgeous colour.

This gloss is truly intense! I love the colour, it's just beautiful to look at, and lovely to wear. The product itself is very nice on the lips, it sits comfortably and I find that there is no noticeable stickiness with this product. The longevity of this is still unknown to me, however as it's a gloss, I do think that this one will wear off when you eat or drink. The packaging is lovely, I find the square tube to be quite sleek and a nice change from the circular tubes you usually see with most MUA lip products, and also, it has that familiar Ice Cream Soda (or vanilla some people say) smell which I adore!

This is a very nice product, and you could easily wear this gloss on its own due to the great pigmentation, and depending on how intense you want the gloss to be, you can wear this product day and night! Just one coat will do you for the day, and a few more for night will give you a lovely evening look!

Ending this post will be one of th newest additions to the MUA line. This is one of those products which many MUA lovers have been looking forward to and trying to buy, but it's sold out pretty quickly in store and online since it was released! I was quite lucky to find this in the Superdrug that's close to my college, because my local store had sold out, though honestly, I never intended to buy it at all... Anyway, this is the Kiss Proof Lip Stain, and for £3, this is a bargain product like everything else MUA has to offer!

I sadly don't have a hand swatch for this, because the colour barely appears on my skin, so a swatch for this away from my lips would be completely useless in my opinion, however on the lips is a totally different story....

Once the stain has dried on your lips, you get a nice, natural tone added to your lips. Now, I don't use stains - in fact, this is my first lip stain in a very long time (try a good 8 years), so I'm very new to this product. What I like about it, of course, is the fact that it won't (or at least I hope it won't!) disappear when I eat, drink or maybe even kiss someone. Also, I can easily apply a balm over it without the worry of the colour transferring to my lip balm at all or the colour going onto my fingers. I am also loving the colour pay off of this stain - it's very natural, pretty and I know that in the future, this will be great for an on-the-go look where I won't have to worry about my lip product rubbing off.

The shade that I have is Fabulicious, which is a lovely light pink which actually looks more like a berry stain once the product has fully dried. I like the colour a lot, though I was initially worried that it would be far too light for me and would look ridiculous.

Considering I never intended to buy this product, I am pleased that I did - it's a nice product to have, and whilst lip stains are essentially summer products in my opinion, this will really do for the winter when I need something that will stay put, and won't cling to my hair if the wind gets a bit hap-hazardous!

It's a nice little product, and a wonderful bargain as well! I find the product itself has an easy application, as well as a lovely fruity scent. It keeps my lips moisturised and the pigmentation is nice. The packaging is really cute too, with all three shades having an individual colour so that you know which on you're getting, and I really love the font! The only thing I think that is a problem, but this will be with any lip stain I think, is that you need to make sure you apply an even amount, because the stain can come out darker on certain parts of your lip, and lighter on other parts, something which can be annoying I think. That said, I do like this product, and I a very glad that I bought it!

These products are all fantastic in their own way, and they will work differently for everyone. Each product has a different function that works for me, such as the shine of the sheer finish glosses, the longevity of the lip stain and the intensity of both the Intense Kisses gloss and the Out There plumpling gloss. I like all of these products equally, and I think that MUA have produced a fantastic range of different lip products that are sure to suit everyone's tastes!

This makes me anticipate future lip products from MUA, because their products are not only absolute bargains, they are also quality and great for everyday use without having to spend too much for something which works wonderfully for everyone.

So, do you have any of these products? If you do, which one is your favourite?

 

MUA Lipgloss, NYC and L.A. Colors Nail Polish Haul!

Hello lovelies, I am back with what seems to be another haul! Once I again I traipsed over to the train station to go to town because of something new that I wanted to get my hands on. Of course, I came back with more than I set out to get, but that is what generally happens when I step into Superdrug. Luckily, nearly half of what I bought is just a small part of my sisters Christmas present, so I don't feel so bad spending money in my favorite drugstore...

It's not a massive haul, it never is with me right now, but I basically got the things that I wanted the last time I went to Superdrug, which was the MUA Sheer Finish Lipglosses. I then decided to finally cave in and get the Intense Kisses lipgloss that I had been eyeing up for a while as well, seeing as there was that magnificent 3 for 2 offer going on in Superdrug. I also happened to pick up a new lip balm, because I accidentally dropped my Carmex on the railway track. R.I.P Carmex, you will be dearly missed.

Sadly I have no swatches this time around, due to poor lighting thanks to how dark it now gets at just 4pm! If there is one thing that I do dislike about winter other than the cold, it is how little daylight we get!

Anyway, all the nail polishes in this haul are a part of my sisters Christmas gift from me. She is a massive nail junkie, and she adores pastel colours! So, I popped into my local Boyes store and picked up two L.A. Colour nail varnishes for her as well as three more polishes from Superdrug. Hopefully she will like what I picked out for her!

L.A. Colors Nail Laquer in Metallic Purple (£1) - I really couldn't resist getting this one for my sister, because the product in the bottle looks so pretty!  We both love L.A. Color nail polish, so getting her a few of these was a given anyway, but this colour just really stuck out to me and I knew that I had to buy it! At £1, it really is a seal, and these are fantastic nail varnishes anyway!

L.A. Colors Nail Laquer in Cotton Candy (£1) - This picture really does no justice for the nail polish itself, because it really is a very pretty pale pink colour with a slight metallic sheen to it in the bottle. My sister adores pink, so I really wanted to get her something light and cute in the colour she just so adores! That, and it was the only pretty pastel pink colour I could find, but really, it's so cute!

NYC Expert Last Nail Polish in Lavender Cupcake (£2.49) - If the name isn't a steal in itself, the colour is! This is such a pretty lavender colour which the picture really gives no justice to, once again. It's a beautiful pastel colour, and I really think that my sister will like it. Very girly and dainty! Sadly, I have not tried out any nail polishes by NYC, so I really can't tell you how well they work! Hopefully the polish will work wonderfully for my sister, because it is a gorgeous colour!

NYC Expert Last Nail Polish in Bubblegum Pink (2.49) - This has to be my favourite polish in terms of colour that I have picked up for my sister! The picture I have taken, due to the terrible lighting, really does not show the true colour. In fact, it looks darker than it truly is! But really, this colour is a nice shade of bubblegum pink as the name suggests, and is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle! I love darker pink colours, they really stand out and just look stunning on nails in my opinion! Hopefully this one will please my sister, even if it isn't pas pastel as the other colours!

MUA Love Hearts Nail Varnish in U & I (£2) - I really had no clue what colour to get my sister for this nail polish, and I was actually heading towards another purple colour, until I realised that I had begun a theme in what I was picking up for my sister... so I decided to pick this one up, remembering that my sister wanted a yellow varnish a while back (which ended with her taking my BarryM Lemon Ice Cream polish off my hands, thank goodness!) and I thought that this would be a nice little polish to add to her collection. We both have an MA nail varnish (somewhere), and they are actually very good for the £1 price tag! Hopefully the Love Hearts collection of nail varnish live up to the £1 range, because this colour is just lovely!

Of course, I did have to pick myself something up, and my original intention was to buy the new Sheer Finish Lipglosses from the MUA line - at just £1, you really can't go wrong, and I wanted to try these out myself! I love lip products, however I only have one lipgloss from MUA from their £1 line ( Shade 3), but I do have four of their £1 lipsticks (Shade 7, 11, 15 Juicy and 16 Nectar) , a Lip Boom (OMG) and a Love Hearts Lip Balm (Sweet Kiss). Needless to say, I have a good amount of MUA lip products, but my lip gloss collection with this brand is ever-growing.

I decided to pick up the shades Some Me Time and Happy Days, two of the lighter shades in the collection, though you can't really tell from the terrible lighting in the pictures yet again.
Happy Days is a very pretty peachy pink colour, whilst Some Me Time is closer to a baby pink colour. Of course, as sheer lip glosses, they do go on very sheer but still give a nice hint of colour to the lips.

My favourite of the two upon using them for the first time is Some Me Time - it's very pretty on the lips and isn't too in your face, and makes the lips nice and pretty! Both of these glosses do have a little bit of shimmer in them, and fair warning to those of you who hate sticky lipglosses; These are very sticky, or at least, that's how I find them to be. Not that it is a problem for me personally, but before these glosses came out, MUA did not have a sticky lipgloss from what I knew! Their own £1 range is very smooth on the lips, but these have a different consistency it seems. Also, the smell is quite sickly and the major turn off point for me with this product. For £1 a lipgloss though, who can complain?

These glosses are quite nice I guess, and I can see myself using them again in the future, but not so much in the winter due to the wind and fear of the dreaded hair-sticking-to-lips that happens if you have long hair like me! I will need to come back and give a better review after a few weeks, see how I feel about them then!

Now, here's the dark horse... or at least, the dark horse to my haul. I really thought that I would prefer the sheer glosses over this little beauty, but honestly, I think I have found my favourite part of the haul! The Intense Kisses High Intensity Gloss in Quick Kiss is something which I told myself I would uy, and never did until now. I really didn't know if I wanted it or not, but I am so glad I purchased it now! It's a lovely light red colour, a colour I don't usually head for, but with quite a few of the other colours being sold out in Superdrug, I decided to pick this one up because it appealed to me more, and from the reviews this gloss has been getting, I did want to try it out!

It actually pains me that I can't show you the swatches for this - it's really beautiful! The gloss itself is very high in pigment, and can be layered to give more of an intense colour to the lips. It feels smooth on the lips, and it smells yummy like many of the other MUA lip products that I have!

It's so pretty, and I will give a more detailed review at some point with swatches so that you can all see how lovely this lipgloss is. This is definitely my favourite buy from MUA for today, and I have a feeling that I may buy myself another Intense Lipgloss in a different, lighter colour!

Do any of you have any of these products at all? If you do, which ones are your favourite and what colours do you have at home?