Fave 5 MUA products

As if it wasn't bad enough to be a beauty junkie, I'm probably also a shopaholic (as you can tell I still haven't quite accepted or embraced my condition) which is a lethal combination for any bank balance and very difficult at this time of year when a lot of us are on a spending ban, to recover from the Christmas excesses. Fortunately there are makeup brands on the high street that seem to cater to people with my affliction and one of them is MUA (Makeup Academy). MUA's philosophy is that makeup shouldn't cost a fortune and that to get affordable products you shouldn't have to compromise on quality - no arguments here! I first discovered MUA a few years ago and I'm very pleased to see that since then the range of product has grown so much, and includes more or less everything that you could possibly want, all for under £5. I've certainly made the most of the purse friendly prices and tried quite a few things from the ever expanding range so today I'll show you my fave 5 MUA products starting with the famous Undressed palettes.

 

The MUA Undressed eyeshadow palette (£4) - the first MUA product I ever bought, is famous for being considered a dupe for Urban Decay's Naked palette. It combines twelve nude, neutral shimmering and matte eye shadows and it's a great starter kit for creating both everyday natural, and smokey smouldering eye looks which I'll try to describe since they don't have any color names:

Shade 1 - Matte vanilla, Shade 2 - Shimmering wheat, Shade 3 - Matte tan, Shade 4 - Shimmering dark ecru, Shade 5 - Matte camel, Shade 6 - Shimmering copper, Shade 7 - Shimmering russet, Shade 8 - Shimmering dark chocolate, Shade 9 - Shimmering mahogany, Shade 10 - Shimmering chestnut, Shade 11 - Shimmering charcoal, Shade 12 - Shimmering blue grey

All of the shimmering eye shadows have great, strong pigmentation and they are easy to work with to build up color with no fallout (I've only noticed that for Shade 11), and they wear well throughout the day - on me they last for about 5 hrs before they start to fade. In general I find it difficult to get affordable good matte eyeshadows on the high street, and while these are OK, the pigmentation isn't strong enough for me and they start to fade after only a few hrs. That doesn't mean that I like the palette any less, and because of the compact format it's easy to take it with you and retouch whenever needed. I love to combine shade 4 and 6, or 7 and 9 for variations on everyday looks, and in the evening 8, 10 and 12 make a dramatic smokey eye - all in all, it's a great buy!

From left to right:

Top row - Shade 1, Shade 2, Shade 3, Shade 4, Shade 5, Shade 6

Bottom row - Shade 7, Shade 8, Shade 9, Shade 10, Shade 11, Shade 12 

The other eye shadow palette is Undress Me Too (£4), again this is considered a dupe (for Urban Decay's Naked 2) and the eye shadows are lovely warm and golden in a mix of matte and shimmering textures, perfect for a paired down subtle eye with a statement lip: 

Naked - Matte blonde, Devotion - Shimmering bronze, Shy - Matte buff, Fiery - Shimmering golden brown, Lavish - Matte fallow, Dreamy - Shimmering sepia, Tranquil - Shimmering russet, Exposed - Shimmering taupe, Reveal - Shimmering ecru, Wink - Shimmering cinnamon, Obsessed - Shimmering coffee, Corrupt - Matte gunmetal

We have the same situation with pigmentation in this palette as with Undressed - all the stronger colors are excellent and gorgeous to work with, and I'd even say that the Undress Me Too shades last longer on me than the Undressed ones do, however the matte ones are weaker, but to have 10 excellent shades out of 12 certainly isn't bad. In all honesty it took me a little while to start appreciating this palette properly after I got it, but now I LOVE to use it and it's my go to box of tricks for a "no makeup" makeup look, and I much prefer the golden undertones of this palette to the colors in Undressed, it's a beautiful little bargain.

From left to right:

Top row - Naked, Devotion, Shy, Fiery, Lavish, Dreamy

Bottom row - Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal, Obsessed, Corrupt 

Moving on, we actually have some more eye shadows to look at since for me MUA is particularly strong in this area and I was so excited when I saw that MUA also jumped on the chubby stick wagon a while back with their version of the eye crayon, the Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tint (£3). The formula of the pencils is lovely and creamy, and you get a nice sheer coverage without having to be heavy handed or pull on the eyelids. The color is really long wearing and doesn't crease, which is super for any product, but especially one at this price point. There are six lovely shades in the range, but I'm showing you Diamonds, a subtle shimmering girly pink which is perfect as a base shade and Bring it back which is a golden rusty brown, also with a subtle shimmer and I love to wear this just on its own all over the lid, with some black eyeliner, lashings of black mascara and a red lip - classic and simple.

Out of all the products in this post, the next one is my absolute favorite - it's the Bronzer in Shade 1 (£1). The packaging is as basic as it can get, but if you can see past the uninspiring plastic packaging the pigmentation is amazing and it gives a gorgeous natural subtle apricot glow, without any hint of orange (never a good look, unless you're a clementine...). It's easy to apply, it feels lovely and light on the skin and wears well without getting cakey. This product is an absolute steal, and I've repurchased it three times already - says a lot about how well this product is working for me.

My favourite MUA lip product is the Intense Kisses Lipgloss in Kiss and Tell (£1). This formula is very similar to Rimmel's Apocalips and it offers excellent pigmentation, high gloss and long wear (up to about 4 hrs). It's perfect when you're looking for intense opaque coverage with a glossy, glamorous finish and you can't be bothered with adding a separate gloss to a lipstick (yep, that's me). Other selling points for me are that the gloss isn't sticky, it has a subtle candy like vanilla scent and the applicator seems to get just the right amount for nice and even coverage without any bleeding. I've really enjoyed wearing Kiss and Tell which is an intense, warm fuchsia pink and when it fades, it leaves a stain like look that you can easily re-apply the gloss over.

From top to bottom:

Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tints - Diamonds

Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tints -  Bring it back

Bronzer - Shade 1

Intense Kisses Lipgloss - Kiss and tell

As you know, I love my manicures and one of my most loved nail effects is the caviar look. Ever since I first saw Ciatés original caviar manicure, I've been collecting different colored bead mixes that I add every now and then to a standard mani for a more fun, frivolous and whimsical effect. As much as I love Ciaté (and I really REALLY do) and the caviar mani, even I have to say that the standard price (£20) for some micro beads is pretty hefty, and there are other more budget friendly options available. MUA was probably the first brand on the high street to come up with a more affordable alternative, the Nail Constellations (£3) and I have of course added some of them to my caviar collection:

Pisces - a fresh and sporty mix of silver and turquoise, great as an accent to a white nail

Scorpio - an interesting mix of warm gold, copper, forest green and lilac - lovely with a dark green or purple nail

Libra - a dark black and turquoise mix, and for me this works best with plain black

The MUA range continues to grow and fairly recently the MUA Luxe range was introduced with some lovely new products, that are still affordable with no item more expensive than £9. If you haven't already tried MUA you can get the products from your nearest Superdrug or directly from MUA online, so why not make your next makeup haul not only beauty friendly, but budget friendly too!

A cheeky little beauty haul

The after Christmas sale is dangerous ground for someone like me, and I'm like a kid in a candy store looking at all the wonderful offers and discounts, trying my hardest not to get too carried away. Despite all the dangers lurking, I did tempt fate and braved the sales early one morning to beat the worst thing about sales - the crowds, and I ended up getting one or two things, well ok... maybe a few more than that...

After years of having played around with makeup but never really thinking about the tools that I was using, I fell in love with Real Techniques brushes last year, and I'm guessing I'm probably not the first one this has happened to. Previously I use to be content with using whatever little hard sponge applicator that came with the product, but having tried the amazingly fluffy, soft and pliable Real Techniques brushes, there's just no going back to anything less than this. Since I still can't quite get used to working with brushes to apply foundation. I decided that it would be better for me to invest in some more brushes for eye makeup and I ended up getting two of the Real Technique Shading Brushes (£7.99). I'm so looking forward to using these brushes with some new eye shadows that I got recently and I'm still completely enamored with Real Techniques brushes. and I have a feeling this new relationship will last for quite a long time to come.

One thing that I will do better this year is to take better care of my growing collection of quality brushes, so I definitely needed to pick up a brush cleanser, and I ended up getting the No 7 Makeup Brush Cleanser (£8). The cleanser is more of a quick fix between uses and it comes with a pump dispenser, so you can spray it onto some tissue paper and then wipe off the brushes. Sounds good to me and although I know I should cleanse the brushes properly at least once a month, this is a great stop gap for me and definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to brush cleansing - all I need to do now is to actually use it...

After these little essentials I passed the stand for Seventeen products and the range of mascaras caught my eye. I don't mind paying a bit more for a super quality mascara, however since I go through them at rocket pace I am always open to a bargain. When I saw what these picks from Seventeen promise to do for my lashes, for a fraction of the cost of what I would normally spend on a mascara, I just had to try them. I crave long, volumized, curled and preferably flared lashes. That's a tall order and that's what the Seventeen Falsifeye Mascara (£4) claims it can do - well I have actually started to use it and I'll do a review of it very soon, and we'll see how it did. The second mascara - the Seventeen Dolld Up Mascara (£4) also promises beautifully curved, volumised lashes for a wide eyed look that lasts 24 hrs and of course I just had to get that as well. I have never managed to get hold of a great mascara for less than approx. £8, but I'm keeping an open mind and let's see if any of them can give my beloved YSLs Baby Doll Mascara a run for its money.

The last product to hit my shopping basket in Boots was a cheeky little lipstick that I have been hunting high and low for, Estée Lauder's Pure Colour Vivid Shine Lipstick (£20) in the gorgeous shade Hot Lava. I love Estée Lauder lipsticks - they are beautifully moisturising, the shine is incredible and they have super wear throughout the day. Hot Lava is a creamy, glamorous, and timeless deep red wine shade that is simply stunning and despite the richness it's not too dark for Spring.

As you know for me no shopping trip is complete unless I get something new for my nails, and this time around I ended up with products that all speak to the OTT side of me (and believe me, there's absolutely no point in trying to quiet that side down). When I quickly browsed through Primark I accidentally spotted some very interesting caviar mixes and the price (£2) each was so low it would have been plain rude not to buy them. Both sets come with a base shade and a caviar mix and although I may not get much use out of the base shades or have very high hopes on the formula, at least I have two very interesting mixes to play with. The first one is a gorgeous and balanced mix of black, silver and gold and I just can't wait to try some different looks with this, and the second one is a lovely mix of different blues; navy, cobolt, deep sky blue, turquoise and silver. I imagine it would look amazing with a tan in the summer.

After that accidental purchase I wandered on to Superdrug where I found a great deal on Models Own products - 2 for £8, which was just too good an offer to refuse, and I ended up getting something I hadn't tried before - the Models Own Artistix Duo (£6) in Terra Crystal and Ember Red. It's the same principle as with Revlon's Moon Candy products, so it's basically 2 products in 1 with a plain base shade at one end and then a different effect top coat at the other. In the first one, Terra Crystal, the base shade is a muted bark brown and the effect is a glitter polish with pink and black particles in different sizes and together they create a very gritty but sparkly look. The base shade in the second one, Ember Red is a deep maroon and the top coat a shimmer mix of lustrous  bright red, orange and gold - I'm so looking forward to experimenting with both of these.

My last stop of this little treasure hunt was Debenhams, where a big sales sign at the Lancome section made me go a little overboard and I ended up getting a few Lancome Ombre In Love Eyeshadows (limited edition - £9.50). The shades are all beautiful shimmering pastels in pink and green with tempting names like Romance Tagada, Pistachio Cream and Cosmopolitan Mint and they looked soooo pretty. The eyeshadows had been taken out of the packaging so what I didn't realise was that they come in a slightly flimsy paper packaging. I really don't like it and it's not at all what I would have expected from Lancome, but I'll just take that in my happy blogger stride hoping that the formula won't disappoint.

I haven't tried any eye makeup from Lancome in a very long time so I kind of look at this as research for the blog, which we all know has to be done - hrmm... and as you may have seen from the Spring & Summer collections 2014, these shade will be VERY useful and I've been very good to plan ahead. Despite my disappointment in the Lancome packaging, I'm still quite happy about what I got overall and I look forward to start testing everything out and I'm planning on publishing the first review in a week or so.

Manic.Monday: Red caviar

Yep, it's here... the first work Monday after the Christmas holidays and the first one of the new year... I'm not going to lie, it was pretty tough getting out of bed and getting ready for work this morning - bright eyed and bushy tailed I'm NOT. To make this Monday a little bit more cheery and since I'm not quite ready yet to let go of that fluffy, warm and cosy Christmas mood I'm sporting a festive inspired mani today, and since I am partial to some red caviar I've added some matching beads as an accent nail using products from Rimmel and MUA.

As a base I've used a Rimmel London Lycra Pro Nail Polish (£3.29) in the shade Jungle Princess. I must confess that I'm not actually sure if this particular formula is still available on the High Street, but I do know that you can get it from Amazon or eBay. I haven't seen it in Boots or Superdrug which is a real shame because this is a brilliant nail polish. First of all it comes with a very wide and flat brush which is lovely to work with since it makes it easy to apply the polish with high precision and it gives a streak free finish because you only need a maximum of 2 strokes per nail - which I think is amazing. Secondly, the formula has just the right creaminess without being gloopy and it attaches well to the brush without any dripping. You can wear just one coat of this polish to get a more sheer shade, however since the formula dries very quickly it's ideal to use if you want to keep on building the color and you'll get about 4 days wear from this wonderful formula.

The shade Jungle Princess is a nice dark rusty cinnamon red with a slight blue shimmer to it, which really stands out if you only wear one coat. In the photos however I have two coats on, and as you can see the shade deepens to a more opaque and almost mahogany red nuance and personally I think it's quite stylish and has a bit more character than your classic dark red.

The caviar mix is MUA's Fashionista Diamond Rocks (£1) in Red Diamond, which is a bead mix dominated by a rusty, slightly orange red color and then there's also some black and silver beads. As with most nail effects the result is best if you work on one nail at a time, finishing that one before you move on to the next. In this case I added a second coat of Jungle princess to all the nails except the accent nail and let that dry for a few seconds while I got the caviar beads ready. Then I added a second coat of Rimmel to the accent nail as well, and I made it a lot thicker than I normally would so that the beads attach better. I prefer to pour the beads straight from the bottle over the nail since you then get a very dense coverage of the beads on the nail - and if you do it over a bowl or something, you can then easily pour them back into the bottle when you've finished, to minimise any waste. When you've covered the nail, gently tap or press down the pearls into the polish and add some more if need be to get a nice, thick and even caviar coverage.

I wouldn't recommend using a top coat over a caviar look since I think it takes away from the effect and it makes the beads look as if they've been glued in, but you can take a tiny bit of top coat and run along the very edge of the nail to seal them in and this also helps to make the tip a bit more resistant to daily wear. This look will last about 3 days of normal daily wear and tear, and if you have a steady hand you can use a cut off q-tip or something to add a tiny drop of the the base shade to the nail and then add more beads to repair the look if it gets a bit thin.

A caviar mani isn't to everyone's liking and Jungle Princess is a lovely and versatile shade that you can easily wear just as it is, but for me the beads add an element of fun, playfulness and dimension. So I've got the red caviar, all I need is some blinis and bubbly, and I'm all set to do New Year's Eve all over again - who's with me?!

Manic. Monday: Dutch Caviar

What a wonderful A/W season for nails this is, particularly if you like to play with different effects. It seems like anything goes, we've got different colored glimmers and sparkles which is almost bog standard these days and then the more outlandish; real feathers, foil, ombre, gradient, confetti, sugar crush, velvet, matte and my personal favourite - caviar.

When Ciaté launched their Caviar manicure, it was a look that was completely different from anything else I had ever seen - it was new, fresh, fun and playful. I did think that the original Ciaté sets were quite expensive for what is essentially different colored micro beads which you can pick up in any arts and crafts store or on eBay, but luckily the look was quickly copied by other more affordable brands and you can now easily get lovely color mixes on the high street to create interesting looks. Now, I know that nail caviar isn't to everyone's liking for various reasons and although it of course makes a very striking look to wear it on every nail, I personally prefer to have just one or maybe even two accent nails on each hand with caviar, leaving the others with a plain polish to balance the spectacular look, which is exactly what I'm showing in today's Manic. Monday.

One of my most loved nail polish brands is OPI - they have gorgeous shades, the formula is great and it is purse friendly. The shade I'm wearing in the photo is I don't give a Rotterdam which is a muted Cambridge blue with silvery grey undertones. It's an unusual subdued shade with subtle shimmer that creates almost a 3D effect that creates a look that is sleek and stylish but also severe and cool. The OPI brushes aren't particularly wide, but the formula is creamy, quick drying and gives a lovely and satin like streak free finish. I find this particular shade quite sheer and in the photos I'm wearing 3 coats to get a fairly solid and opaque base.I find that OPI usually lasts 3-4 days before it starts to chip, which in my book is pretty decent. But when it did start to chip after a few days I thought I would add some fun to it by adding some caviar.

The caviar mix I have used in the photo is the Bourjois Toppings 03 Maliblue which is a lovely mix of blue and grey shades; dark, matte prussian blue, vibrant navy blue, cool grey and shimmery silver. The trick to applying caviar is to work on one nail at a time and to first cover your nail with a fairly thick coat of based polish in whatever shade you choose, and then to pour over the beads before the nail polish dries. When you've covered the nail, gently tap or press down the pearls into the polish and perhaps even add some more to ensure that you get a really dense and even spread of beads. I never use a top coat, since I personally think that it ruins the effect, however it is a personal choice and it may last a bit longer if you do use a top coat. What I do instead is that I take a little bit of top coat and just seal the very tip of the nail to make it a little bit more resistant to wear and tear. It dries surprisingly quickly and if you have pressed the beads into the polish they'll set really well, although I would recommend that you take the next 15 mins or so for some well deserved me time. Make yourself a coffee or tea, sit back and read a magazine and just let it dry properly.

You might think that this is a very impractical look and as soon as you do anything the beads will come off. On me this will last approximately 3 days and I still put the manicure through every day things like washing up, cooking,  showers, tapping on a keyboard all day long etc. I may need to touch up the beads a little bit by filling in the odd little chip, but in general it lasts about the same as most standard nail polishes - not bad for being such an extravagant look.

I am ridiculously fond of this 3D frivolous and fanciful look and have quite a few caviar mixes to match with different shades. For this particular look I think the caviar takes away the edge of the strictness and cold of the OPI shade and adds something unexpected. I sometimes wear caviar at work to break up the corporate suit look, adding an element of unpredictability and mischievousness - in short a bit of personality!

I love how creative and expressive so many are with their nail art, and the only limitations are our own imagination. Do you experiment with different effect nail polishes, and do you have a favourite?