Posts Tagged ‘MUA’

First experience with MUA

Hi All!

So this is basically a haul post and first impressions/review of this mountain of MUA products I received last week. A couple of weeks ago this UK based makeup company had a Halloween sale where if you spent over ten pounds you received three free gift products. Needless to say that was all the convincing I needed to place my first ever order with them and try out a bunch of their products. This brand of makeup is known for being low in price but pretty high on quality and considering a lot of their products are between 1-4 pounds it was hard to resist. Anyway, here is what I got and what my thoughts are so far :)

First up here are the 3 gift products they were giving away. First up is their trio eyeshadow in Smoke Screen. These three shimmery shades are rather gorgeous and very pigmented. I don’t often do extreme eye looks but I’m looking forward to trying this combo on a night out. Second was one of their 1 pound nail polishes in shade 8 which is a rather nice pink-toned red. I haven’t tried this yet so not sure what the quality is like. Last up in the gifts is an eyeliner (not a lip-liner like I first thought) in the shade Bright Orange. This is so smooth and pigmented! I was pretty surprised. Now I just have to figure out how to use it in an eye look…I don’t normally rock orange liner but this is such a nice product I feel I have to try!

Blusher in Shade 4 and Mosaic Bronzer in Natural Glow
So the first two products I chose were a blush and a bronzer (I actually have never owned a bronzer, weird right?). The blush was £1 and is a small size but a gorgeous pink colour with some peachy undertones that I was looking for coming into summer.There’s a bit of fallout when I apply this and its not hugely pigmented but I love the colour and for me a subtle and buildable blush is better than a highly pigmented one purely due to lack in application skills haha. The Mosaic bronzer (£2.50) is in the shade Natural Glow and has a mix of pink, brown, taupe and gold shades that blend to create a nice subtle bronzer that luckily works well on my skin tone. Keen to start using this to bronze up a little over the summer.

Gel Eyeliner in On The Move and Mega Volume Mascara in Black Waterproof
I have never tried gel eyeliner before so decided to grab one of theirs for £3 in the shade On The Move. Seriously, this colour is gorgeous! A stunning rich brown with copper shimmer throughout it. Seems really pigmented but I haven’t tried this for a whole day so unsure as to how well it will last. Comes with a little brush tucked away in the lid. The mascaras on MUA are £3 and I was interested in giving one a go so decided on the Mega Volume Mascara (waterproof). I’ve used this a couple of times and I like it a lot but it’s not mega volumising on my lashes. For me it gives my lashes really nice definition with little clumping and provides a little bit of extra length and volume but not to any dramatic extent which is kind of what I was hoping for. Definitely still a mascara i’ll use up quite happily but could have done a bit more volume wise.

Undressed 12 Shade Eyeshadow Palette
Last up for the eyes is probably the product I was most excited to try. This is the undressed eye shadow palette which is a teeny £4 for 12 amazing neutral shades! This palette contains quite a few close dupes for some of the Naked shades with the shimmers being amazingly close from what I can tell but the matte shades are definitely less pigmented despite being lovely colours. I love the variety of  shades in here with a dark metallic navy, a rich golden shimmer to pale pinks and champagnes. Absolutely stunning! Below are some swatches of some of my favorites on the palette but you can also see a great review here.

Left to Right: Shades 8, 9, 7, 6, 12, 1

Hot Lips Lip Balm and Nail Varnish in UR FAB
Next are two of the products I chose from their Love Hearts range which I thought was such a cute concept! I grabbed one of their tinted lip balms in Hot Lips which is a stunning hot pink that gives a pink flush to my lips that looks pretty natural. Not hugely moisturizing but cute right? The nail polish I chose after putting every single on into my basket was UR FAB which is a warm pink colour. Not sure how to describe it but pretty close to the photo really. These were £2 each.

Lipsticks in Shade 3 and Shade 1
Okay up to my last products finally! These are my favorites in tie with the undressed palette. These two lipsticks were £1 each. I expected rather little for such a tiny price tag but I seriously adore both of these. Shade 1 is the rich red which has a bit of a pink tone to it once on my lips and shade 3 is a gorgeous hot pink that is almost neon. These aren’t drying, are hugely pigmented and last a decent time on my lips without much bleeding into the lines around my lips. Tempted to get all 16 of these lipsticks for such a small price but I’ll resist for the moment haha!

Shade 1 and Shade 2 Lipsticks 

Well there is my pretty extensive “haul” from MUA and there’s so much I love and not much I don’t so overall I was pretty pleased! In NZD this came to around $50 including the shipping so not too bad considering the huge amount of products I got. In England MUA is known as a pretty amazing brand but I think people overseas and here in NZ/Australia should definitely look into their products especially some of their eyeshadow palettes and their lipsticks. No more shopping for me that’s for sure!

Xx

Made Me Smile

Hi all!

So today was my final exam for my undergraduate BA/BSc degrees and it all feels kind of strange haha. But anyway, here is my past week in the things that made me smile.

So last Monday was the day of the worst exam of the year (which I hopefully still passed) so to recover on Tuesday I retreated to Waiuku (in the country down South of Auckland) where my mum, nana and 3 amazing siblings live along with a plethora of animals. Here are the bunnies and ducks :) A great day full of opshopping, chats over teas and coffee and being with people who have supported me over the past 4 years. I’m a very lucky person.

One of the large nmr of photos I took of Callie during her photoshoot on the car in the middle of the week. This girl can pull some pretty awesome faces.

Also this week we had new neighbours move in above us in the house we live  in which is subdivided into two flats. I was keen to scope them out as well as make them feel welcome so baked some of my normal, fail safe chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream on some and a new icing of peanut butter and cream cheese on the others. Both flavours were incredible and I’m not sure which is my favorite. Either way they both went down well and luckily there were a few left overs for Edd and I to munch on!

I was lucky enough to be bought an early Christmas present from the lovely Mr when I was totally sucked into buying some of the amazing mineral dead sea products from the mall. Although sceptical at first, after trying them out in store I was convinced. Since using them at home I LOVE the nail kit, the buffer works incredibly well and has a lifetime warranty so if it craps out I can get a new one yay! The body scrub and butter are divine as well and much needed for my poor dry skin. Made me very happy indeed.

Ok that same shopping trip as mentioned above Edd and I spotted this Fox mug at Starbucks and I was over the moon! Edd who understands my crazy love for foxes and annoyance that in NZ there is so little fox stuff so he bought it for me right away. It is now my official tea mug and spends every afternoon at my side. I love it. Possibly unhealthily so…

Mail is something that always makes me smile (when it doesn’t contain bills or loan statements of my hideous student loan) and this week I received my big order from MUA over in the UK. Boy was I like a kid at Christmas. Haul post coming up very very soon but here is a photo I snapped of one of my favorites – their lipstick in shade #1 which they sell for a grand total of 1 pound. Yup.

On Saturday Edd and I took my Grandma who is at a resthome due to her Alzheimers out for some delicious lunch at a restaurant called Elevation situated in the top of the Waitakeres in West Auckland. The food was great but my goodness that view! It was stunning. NZ is a blessing in its lush landscapes and blue skies and Saturday reminded me why I love it here.

Ill leave you with another stunning photo from the deck where we ate lunch. Seriously, if you are anywhere in Auckland make the time to take a trip up here and head on over to Piha while you’re at it! What a magnificent view.

Hope all had a beautiful weekend :)

Xx