I got this free with the purchase of other items in the range, and wouldn't pay for it out of my own pocket to be honest. While the shimmers are pigmented, the mattes are by and large awful and the colour selection seems almost as rushed and mismatched as this post, lol.



Happy last few hours of February the 29th!

I'm well aware we're nearly finishing February :(



Johnson's Face Cream - already repurchased because it's classy and has SPF in it and it's also very cheap and I like all of those things.

Barry M Base Coat - may repurchased, may not, I liked the fact that I could use it right down to the very last drop and it didn't thicken or anything, but it wasn't great at stopping chips. I'll shop around, see if there is anything better at a similar price point because again, this is very cheap.

MUA Pro 3 in 1 Eye Liner - I used this as a quick and easy eyebrow fill, but don't really like it as an eyeliner - far too soft, and not black enough. Wouldn't spend money on it.

Recently, I've bought an incredible amount of MUA's Pro range, and just haven't blogged about it. I'm not sure why.

yes




 

After my disastrous first experience with their Pro mascara, I returned to it a month or so later to find it had improved in formula considerably - much thicker and easy to work with. It delivered the promised volume, too (not much in length, but hey) so I take back some of my previous upset with it. I maintain a mascara should work well straight out of the tube, though, and not have to ferment like yeast or something before it's effective.




 
I also purchased the MUA Pro Lip Balms, which you can read about here.

You know when a product gets so many things right, yet so many things wrong?

This is one of those products.



Before I launch into my review, firstly I am very sorry about not blogging recently - between school and work and everything, I really haven't had enough time :( I want GCSEs back!

Right, so from a totally objective point of view, the design of this mascara makes it look more expensive than it is. The huge, chunky black tube brings back memories of Elizabeth Arden's Natural Volume Mascara, though it's less weighty than its high end counterpart. Again, the brush is similar - chunky, unwieldy, hard to use and really messy (for me at least). The formula is wet. Very wet. Those that are fans of multiple coats may like that - I, pioneer of the 'wave it in the general direction of your eyes and go' technique, am not. It ruins my eyeshadow and gets all underneath my bottom eyelashes, ironically, just like the far more expensive but equally annoying Natural Volume mascara.

Does it supply volume to my lashes? I find this hard to judge, as the mascara is so hard to use anywhere near the base of my lashes that it's impossible to judge simply from application to the middle and the tips. It doesn't have much of a lengthening effect, but does make them blacker and thicker. Not by an incredible amount, but you can tell the difference.

This would have ended up being a 'so so' review if not for a serious incident on Saturday. If you've been reading long enough to remember this, my chief complaint with the Elizabeth Arden mascara:

The final, unforgiveable act of this mascara is that it left me weeping and broken on the floor of my bedroom. No lies. I was applying it and somehow managed to get it in my eye (who knows how? I don't) and within seconds I was a sobbing, mascara covered mess. Oh God, the burn. THE BURN. It hurts so much. It was like napalm in the eye. NAPALM, I TELL THEE.

How history repeats itself.
On Saturday, I was happily lifeguarding, wearing a couple of coats of the MUA Pro 'Extreme Volume' mascara for the first time. Up on the flume towers, happily watching ten year olds scream like they were at Thorpe Park while riding the tamest water slide to ever exist...when suddenly, disaster struck. Some combination of the moist, chlorine tinged air and the heat must have led to some of the mascara entering my eye, and I felt the most hideous, burning pain one could imagine in beauty terms. Worse than having your favourite lipstick being ground into the carpet by an unruly three year old niece or nephew. Worse than your pressed powder breaking inside your bag and spreading all over your homework due in for next period. WORSE THAN NAPALM IN THE EYE

Weeping, sobbing and getting looks from concerned customers, I bravely tried to fight it out for all of three minutes before breaking down and waving blindly at a collegue to cover me for five minutes so I could hose the offending substance out of my eye. After that experience, no. Just no.

While I know the vast majority of the human race beauty blogging world seem to consider 'Heaven and Earth' as the standout palette from the MUA Pro range, I personally think this little beauty more than gives it a run for its' money. Perhaps it's the oversaturation talking (after the first TOWIB everyone seemed to have got one for free, subsequently blogged about it stating it's awesome, and I did get more than sick of hearing about it) and I know that obviously with something as personal as a palette, personal preferences as to eyeshadow combinations come into play, but I still think, as objectively as I can do (not very, fyi), that this is a damn good investment too, if not more so than the Heaven and Earth palette.



MUA have really played to their strengths here - although I feel that's something that can be said for the majority of the Pro line, perhaps excluding their Pretty Pastels palette - in that they've collated a good mix of neutral, smoky, and highlight colours (with the odd bright or two to add interest) using their signature shimmer formula. I think MUA shimmer eyeshadow colours really are a love or hate thing - you're either like myself, and adore the fact that they're so pigmented yet cheap, as well as being easy to apply and layer, or you belong to the 'hate' camp, who dislikes their somewhat unique 'oily' texture (I suspect mineral oil is involved in their formulation, somewhere) and finds them difficult to blend and prone to creasing.  If you were a fan of the core line eyeshadows, you'll like these - the formula is very similar, but the oil content seems to be slightly toned down (a good thing.)




All are shimmer finishes, with a few of the darker shades having some added glitter. The colours are actually far more complex than my camera is giving them credit for - with every shift of the light, even the neutrals change in inensity and tone slightly - so I tried to capture two of the main colour phases in the swatches. Not entirely convinced that I did a great job...



I think I have the dark purple colour in this palette as a single eyeshadow (Shade 13, I believe) but I'm not complaining that I now have a backup. I use it often enough that soon I'll be able to see the pan, anyway. Even hardcore MUA collectors will have a hard time duplicating every shadow in this palette using the shadows in the core line, so I feel they've provided enough variety in the shade selection to keep most of us happy. Thoughts on their pro line of palettes?

 Similar to my Summer Nail Trends post, I selected a few (well, eleven) shades from my collection that I felt best represented what the early autumn landscape looks like, nail wise. Though I've been rather out of the loop, blogging wise, I kept up with reading my favourite blogs and from these, I formed an idea of what the current trends are (going to be? I don't know. I'm probably totally wrong, lol).



Yes, I photographed these over my Physics textbook, for I am a hardcore nerd.



Companies seem to be bringing out the foiled, irridescent colour shifting polishes at the moment in gorgeous antique colours (I'm seeing lots of old golds and greens) such as the Model's Own Beetlejuice collection (sourced from Vampy Varnish)...the Inheritance fan in me hopes that this is a sort of nail polish celebration of the release of the last in the series but somehow I really doubt that. What? The strong duochromes remind me of dragon scales, OK?

Geekery aside, the other new fad seems to be magnetic nail varnish, which I think is lining up to replace the mighty crackle. The colours of the polishes again fit the model of the 'autumn trend' - that is, they're darker and shimmery, but I'm wondering if it's going to catch on like the crackle trend simply because including a magnet with your nail polish is going to make it more expensive, and there isn't really a way to get past that. While the cheapest crackle polishes retail for about £6, you can buy a crackle for £1.99 from W7, or just a pound more from the MUA Pro range.

Finally, I've seen loads of lilac around recently. This may just be where I live, but pastel lilac nails seem to be really popular over here...so I bought two new ones, one from No7 and one from MUA, so I could be a sheep and take part in this new and fascinating obsession with the lilac colour. *shrugs* Purple in general seems to be a huge thing at the moment, both in clothes and in cosmetics. Perhaps it's something to do with the recession? Isn't purple linked to royalty? Maybe there's some sort of subconscious thing going on there.

Onto the photographs...


Right hand (from left to right):
Nails Inc 'Lowndes Square'
MUA Shade '23'
No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Vivid Violet' (I think. I 'borrowed' this one off my Mum to swatch, and she's asleep as I'm writing this post so I can't sneak into her room and double check!)
Funky Fingers 'Snakeskin'
Barry M 'Dusky Mauve'

I'm fully aware the Dusky Mauve phase has gone and passed, OK? But I included it as an example of a subtler colour shift. I do think the neutrals/mannequin hands trend is slowly passing right now, very few brands have included neutral colours in their line up.




Left hand (from left to right):
American Apparel 'Passport Blue'
No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Lucky Lilac'
Barry M Nail Paint in 'Indigo'
No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in 'Beautifully Black'
Kiko Makeup Milano '262'

Bonus polish, for sitting through all of that so nicely:


A gorgeously sparkling Kiko topcoat, to help add that bright, otherworldly look to the polishes in your collection - cheaper than buying loads more soley for the sake of the trend, in all honesty. I'm really up for buying all of that Beetlejuice collection, personally, but for now I'll make do with this to paint over my darker nail colours. It's beautiful in it's own right, really. I don't have nearly enough coloured/glittery topcoats.








Thoughts on the trends for Autumn? Do you like them, or are you staying away? If you do like them, which companies do you feel interpreted them best? I personally want to say Models Own, but 17 have really stepped up their game with their releases recently (I'm thinking about the BB Cream as well, even though the shade range is pants) so perhaps they deserve the crown.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure I got my hands mixed up and left is right and vice versa. I get so confused with these things, sorry!

I found these beauties in Superdrug, and seeing as I've never seen them before I assumed they were new. Aside from the huge 'NEW' sticker that they're wearing...



First up, this gorgeous orange/red/coral mixture. This applied REALLY well, even for an MUA polish (which, even when you don't take the price into consideration, apply fantastically) and the colour would make a good pedicure colour for the summer. Which is sadly over (or never began, whichever way you want to look at it) but that doesn't stop me from wearing it.




Another gorgeous, bright shade that applied well...I'm convinced MUA have tweaked their formula to make it even more lush to apply, because I don't remember them being this great. They dry well between coats, don't bubble and don't chip badly until a few days in. My one bugbear with this is that the writing on the sticker wore off in record time, which just makes the bottle look tacky.




The purple heart of love is there to protect your eyes from that gross hangnail (sorry Loodie!) Moisturise, people. Don't be like me.





The last polish that I'm going to show you is this kkakhi coloured one. It's like an avocado green with a bit of sage and then lots of grey...very on trend. I didn't really expect to see something like this from a budget brand, so I'm pleasantly surpised. It wasn't as dreamy to apply as the previous two but it was still above average, so no complaints there.

I noticed one more autumn release on the shelves, so picked it up - it was a very light lilac polish. Took it home, opened it up to find gunked up polish all around the screws on the bottle. I really, really hate it when people test polish in store that isn't a tester, so will be returning that bottle to Superdrug. Pissed off.

I may or may not have gone a leeetle crazy once I got my GCSE money and erm, yeah. See for yourself. In my defense, I've been broke all summer!



These should have set me back £20, even with the promotion, but because I used a Superdrug voucher during the transaction, I only spent about £15 (WINNING).
On the release date of these, some bloggers had reported that the tubes felt crunchy when they felt them in the stores. I found that 'crunchy' sensation happened to almost every tube that I picked up. I suggest you go out and experience it yourself, because it's so odd - almost as if the tube was filled with little sugar crystals rather than highly pigmented lip related goodness. After comparing the feel of the testers to the actual product, I decided to bite the bullet and buy them anyway, correctly guessing that it was just the packaging - getting home and trying them out, they're as expected as soon as the packaging is removed. Yey.



A quick trip to Wilkos revealed a huge jar of petroleum jelly for just 50p (for making tinted lipbalms) three tubed lip balms in cute flavours, and then I went back to Superdrugs for the wax strips and asprin. I'm planning to do an asprin mask with the asprin, so that's why I included it. Lol.





Finally, I had no idea that MUA Cosmetics had new colours out? I picked up these gorgeous three on a whim. Two bright, almost-neon summery colour (a hot pink and a hot orangey-red) and then this gorgeous khaki shade for that painful transition to autumn. Well. It'd be painful if we'd actually had any sunshine this year...regardless, the dirty green shade is a really unusual addition to a budget cosmetics line. Hoping it performs...

Out of MUA's Pro range, I was most excited about the crackles, but my (old) local Superdrug was dragging it's feet about getting them in. As soon as they did - nearly a month after launch, naturally - I quickly dashed in there and snapped up two colours - a silver named 'Shattered Ice' and a dark, indigo blue called 'Quiver'.



I was geniunely up for buying the whole range (minus the black, as I already own a black shatter) but yeah, lack of funds killed that idea dead. Ah well. The salmon one is MINE at some unspecified point in the future.



 This is the silver shatter over Barry M's 'Raspberry'. I like the contrast - the light metallic silver against a dark background makes it pretty striking.

On my middle finger, I cocked it up a little - that was the one I painted first, and the coat I did was far too thin to effectively crackle properly. To achieve the effect I like, I do thick coats. The formula is runnier than other crackles that I've tried, which is good in the sense that it won't turn into thick, unusable tar after three weeks but does mean  you have to put a little extra work in to get it to crackle evenly. Plus, the brush is thinner than normal (thinner than the normal MUA range, as well) so I do have to be quite precise with how I'm applying the product. I'm willing to put in the effort, though, as we haven't seen this wide a shade range in the UK.



'Quiver' really reminds me of a post I saw by ChaosButterfly on the Sally Hansen nail crackles - it's the same jelly-like, not quite opaque finish.



I'm planning on doing a proper post when I've collected more, but for now I just included some quick photos. This is 'Quiver' over Nails Inc's, 'Atomic'.

Tell me I'm not alone in coveting the salmon one?

The NPLQ is the qualification you need to lifeguard in a pool in the UK, and it's a week long course that I've just completed. Basically, they teach you how to save someone in the water, CPR, First Aid and all the sorts of things you'd need to know to do your job effectively. And we were in the water for hourssss each day (OK, perhaps not 9 and a 1/2. But a LONG TIME.) Naturally, I couldn't NOT wear makeup where other people were around...but I had to improvise.

Behold:



We have an Active Cosmetics Eye/Lip palette, a Barry M 3 in 1 (supposedly) Nail Strenghthener, Base Coat and Top Coat, an MUA nail polish in 'Shade 9', a NYC top coat, an Urban Decay 'Zero' eyeliner and an MUA Pro twist up eyeliner. Apologies for the somewhat natural background, as we've moved house I'm yet to find another suitably brightly lit, flat white surface to photograph products on. Until I construct a light box (or miraculously locate such a surface) photos will be taken outside...



The soft texture of the MUA pencil makes it easy to blend, which is why I use it primarily for filling in my eyebrows. It's not the blackest black, which means that I can overapply a little and I don't look scary/angry. It's slightly oily texture means that it holds up decently in the water, as long as it's not rubbed, and I was too busy desperately trying to follow instructions and swim while dragging big heavy teenage boys to the other side of the pool to start fiddling with my eyebrows, yo. The two lines underneath are the MUA pencil. The big 'UD' is the Urban Decay one...sensible to wear a waterproof pencil in the water, no?



I was planning to have painted nails all week, but these were my hands by the end of the first day - not great! I remember the teacher trying to teach us how to do a spinal board (google, because it's too long to explain here) and we had to support the casualty with our palms facing down. I was staring at my hideously chipped nails as opposed to worrying about the 'casualty' with a potential spinal injury...

At first, I suspected it was merely the brand (even though I'd had no problems with chippping using MUA polishes in the past) so I then painted them with a Barry M polish the next day (same thing) and finally a Nails Inc one (not even a freebie, a genuine, £11 bottle of Nails Inc polish) and the exact same thing happen. Clearly, no brand is immune to prolonged immersion in the toxic soup of chlorine, baby vomit and piss that constitutes poolwater.



Please excuse my photographing of hideously used and abused makeup (I guess that vouches for it's effectiveness? Lol...) but we've misplaced the baby wipes in the move so it's not even like I could clear this up. Regardless, I used one of the lip colours as a blush and a lip tint in the pool, because it's waxy texture meant that it's somewhat water resistant.


A tiny dab like that, mixed with a little moisturiser on the palm of the hand, then BLEND BLEND BLEND like it's the UN truck out of a war zone once applied to the cheek. Then you're good to go. Apply to the lips as normal, though I think I stopped bothering with lip colour after the second day.


 I never had it quite that bright, though...


 This cloud is a seven.

It was actually rather pleasant taking photos and blogging outside. Might become a regular thing!


The mini trampoline which I was lazing around on while taking photographs.


 New garden!



I stumbled upon some rare, highly sought after blue grass. It doesn't look at all like it's been painted with MUA's Shade 9...