MUA Cosmetics…. A Review.
Having worked for SpaceNK on and off for nearly 4 years, without noticing I became quite the beauty product Snob. I would NEVER shop in Boots, Superdrug or other high street stores that did not offer the likes of Laura Mercier, Nars, Chantecaille, ByTerry and so on. Being trained by international artists on luxury brands meant it was really, REALLY hard to believe anything other than luxury was good enough. I also admit, it is only this last year that I started to even shop at M.A.C Cosmetics.
I am now a total convert. So please forgive my old ways.
A few months ago I started following a girl called Karla Powell on Twitter. I had no idea then how much of an influence she would in future months have on me. Karla would regularly tweet about a make-up brand by the name of MUA Cosmetics, declaring that you could get eyeshadows for a pound. Not just eyeshadows.. but lipsticks, lipliners and much more. Yes you read correctly the first time… .£1!
I brushed it off, and never imagined I would ever buy into such a range.
During my recent trip back to the UK, I found myself picking up not one product from MUA Cosmetics, but two eyeshadow palettes, three bronzers, two blushers, two lip glosses, an eyeliner, an eyebrow pencil and a waterproof mascara – all for UNDER £20!
Let me tell you why.
Karla Powell, posts all these gorgeous pretty pictures via her Twitter, her Blog and Instagram, full of bright pigments, strong colour, and don’t even get me started on her nail art. Can you really blame me for wanting a piece of it all?
12 Shade Heaven & Earth Palette
Ok, so you have probably seen a lot of reviews on this palette flying about the blogging world, but what the heck, here is another. I love collecting eyeshadow palettes, and with this array of neutral shades I could hardly not pick one up to put in my kit.
I love the texture of these eyeshadows, and they are so, so easy to blend. With a good eye primer underneath the true, strong pigment shows and stays on for hours without creasing. For just £4 there is no excuse not to buy this palette.
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| From right to left – Shade One to Three |
Bronzer
One pound, for a bronzer. I had to pinch myself. I pinched myself again after testing them and realising how good they are for contouring, I was so happy with them. I usually spend around £25 on a bronzer that usually smashes, so to find such a good quality bronzer for £1.00 – it is quite ridiculous really. I now really want to try the Mosaic bronzer – it just looks so pretty.
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| Pink & Coral blusher swatches |
Blusher
So the blushers, were kind of the icing on the cake for me. I am a MASSIVE Nars blusher fan. I adore the pigments, the colours and the scandalous names. So for me to like the MUA Cosmetics blushers – which I do – is kind of a big deal. As you can see from the photos above, I bought a Candy pink shade and the Coral. They are a soft, powder pigment on application, and for £1, I cannot really fault this blusher. The pink goes on quite sheer but is easily buildable (for fellow Nars lovers, this is a very similar shade to Desire) and the Coral the splash of colour was instant. I personally could not choose between these shades as I really warm to them both. I cannot wait to grab the rest of the shades for my kit. . . and yes.. again only one pound. Bargain.
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| Swatch test |
Trio Eyeshadow in Innocence
You can see from the photograph, I have used this bad boy more so than the other products. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE PRODUCT so far tested from the MUA Cosmetics range. I love Trio Eyeshadow palettes – they are my lazy go to products, when I cannot be bothered doing anything creative and just want to throw on a simple look. Three shades, all the hardwork of finding eyeshadows that blend well together, kapoosh, gone. I trialed this first, not on myself in fact, I was working at The Powder Room in Liverpool and a young girl came in asking for a smokey eye. She then went onto show me a picture of Kim Kardashian (of all people) and explained she wanted it exactly like that. To my disappointment, it was just a matte black eye. I really do not like just sticking on a black eyeshadow, blending a bit and calling it a smokey eye. I LOVE TEXTURE. So I persuaded the girl to let me try out my new Innocence palette.
See the darker colour in the palette photograph above, well I used a fluffy eyeshadow blush to buff this all over the eye socket, I then used a flat eyeshadow brush to pack in some more colour just over the lid. I then took a matte black eyeshadow, and blended from the outer crease and just above the lash line. I took both colours along the lower lash line, added some liner and mascara.. and wah lah! The gorgeous coppery, plumy brown came through underneath the black and added so much more depth and fun to the finished eye look. I then went to do that same look on my sister later that evening.
In fact, now I have just described it, I may do a video tutorial on this look. What do you think guys?
£2.50… I know, I am still recovering from the shock.
Lipgloss Tubes
Again, only a squid, you cannot complain. These tubes come in a variety of great shades, I bought these two gorgeous, candy pink colours for my kit. I go through so much pink lip gloss working with glamour models, you seriously would not believe it. I tweeted about an alternative to M.A.C Dazzle glass lipglosses and a lovely girl called Hannah told me to try these. So I did. As well as being the perfect texture for gloss – not too sticky or gloopy – they smell amazing too!
Waterproof Mascara
Now, being honest, I actually haven’t tried this yet. I bought it as I hate the thought of running out of waterproof mascaras. They are a must for working in hot, humid conditions like here in Mallorca or for bridal make-up. So, being £1.00 I just picked it up and put it in my basket. I am sure it is wonderful, just like the rest of the range.
Eyeliner and Eyebrow Pencil
Last, but not least. I bought this Jet black eyeliner because I am always losing the black eyeliner pencils from my kit. I have no idea why, but I can never seem to find one. So again, being £1.00 I just picked one up and put it in my basket. I tried this out and was very surprised to see how easily it went on the waterline – some eyeliner pencils can be a pain and you have to go over and over, and over the waterline before you see the true pigment. This just glides on and stays on. As for the eyebrow pencil, I have not used it on myself, or at all for that matter, another one for the kit. I definitely recommend these intense colour pencils for every make-up artist. Such a bargain.
So there you have it, my review on MUA Cosmetics.
I am thoroughly impressed and will no doubt be buying more in the very near future.
Hope you enjoyed this little post guys, and remember if you want to see a tutorial with the Trio eyeshadow look I created then please let me know.
See you soon,
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MUA Cosmetics Haul… – Zoe Newlove
[…] box and I shall see what I can do. If you want to see a past MUA Cosmetics haul click HERE where I have reviewed more of their range. See you soon. Share this post on: Tags: Beauty […]