Showing posts with label shipjeom manjeom shipjeom (ten out of ten points). Show all posts

9comments
,

MUA Extreme Metallic Eye Quads

OK, these are amazing.

SAM_8853

SAM_8855

SAM_8856

SAM_8857

I have four out of the six in the range here for you today...'Show Stopper' 'Glammed Up' 'Starstruck' and 'Smokin'.

SAM_8858
'Starstruck' and 'Show Stopper'

SAM_8859
'Glammed Up' and 'Smokin'

SAM_8884

SAM_8869
SAM_8888

'Show Stopper' reminds me of a sort of beach theme - a yellow gold, warm brown-pink with a copper hint, silvery seafoam blue and a a dark, ocean blue just scream, 'Beach!' at me. Very summery. As the name suggests, these are all highly shimmery with a metallic finish. Fans of MUA's £1 core line eyeshadows will find the same texture in these as in the regular line - highly pigmented and creamy to apply, these won't disappoint.



SAM_8883

SAM_8868
SAM_8890
'Starstruck' is rather versatile in my opinion - the rose gold shade can be used as a shimmery blush (I've tried this applied to the cheeks with a finger and then attacked with a blush brush, and it blends out rather nicely) and the neutral caramel makes a nice body/tear duct highlight for me. The dark brown at the end would look good as a crease shade on those with lighter skin, but I've worn this all over the lid and it's great for daytime where I don't want to scare everyone with bright pink eyelids. I don't know why the pink and the caramel shade have appeared so light in my photo, as in real life they are darker. *shrug*

SAM_8882

SAM_8876

SAM_8894

'Glammed Up' is the only quad I've got here that contains glitter rather than shimmer, which is why I wouldn't use the pink as a blush, but they'd make cute eye highlight colours. The first shade is more peach than the yellow gold of the 'Starstruck' quad but they're still close in that you wouldn't need both. Out of all of the quads, this is the one I'll be reaching for least simply because the only colour I'd regularly wear would be the last one. It's this gorgeous gunmetal with silver sparkles. I'm imagining the looks I'm going to create with it already...that's another thing I was meaning to ask. More EOTD's, yes/no? My technique is pretty poor and I can't photograph my eyes for toffee...anyone got any tips?

SAM_8885

SAM_8879

SAM_8896

Lastly 'Smokin' is basically your portable smoky eye. Highlight, crease shade and lid shade all in one. MUA's famous matte black is included in this, but the standout shade for me is the third one along from the left. It's a silver with a hint of blue...reminds me of one of the shades in the ever famous Sleek 'Graphite' palette. If MUA did this one in gold, I'd buy it too and then make the two have sultry metallic babies. If I had one gripe, it'd be that the names are a tad cheesy...next time, get us beauty bloggers to name them :P I still demand my 'Arctic' themed palette.

When I first saw these, I thought 'Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks' instantly, but these are clearly meant to be used as eyeshadows rather than...whatever the Shimmer Bricks are for (I've never been clear on the purpose of those, aside from looking pretty). I wondered how the brush would be able to get in between each shade (as they're not clearly divided) but there's ample space for even a large brush, so that's not a concern. The new sturdy packaging means I can comfortably chuck this into my bag and not worry about it exploding all over my mobile phone...all in all, these are pretty decent. Ten out of ten for MUA.

5comments
, ,

BeautyUK Metallic Eye Sparks Review - Complete Range

I wrote my original BeautyUK review not so long ago (on the Eye Sparks. I'd reviewed one of their nail polishes previously). It was ultimately positive but I did point out areas of possible improvement. Then I forgot about it.

SAM_7570

Two or three days later I received a Twitter message – from BeautyUK. They’d read my review, and wanted my email address to address some concerns.
I was seriously taken aback. I hadn’t contacted them in any way (which means that the company have been making good use of Google Alerts) and a little snooping on my part revealed that they’ve recently been making good use of various social networking mediums to reach out to bloggers and YouTube gurus, something I always applaud.

SAM_7573

I was emailed by Sara at BeautyUK and she explained that the Sellotape around the products was applied by Superdrug – “I would love to send you free replacements of these pencils – you’ll be pleased to know there is no tape wrapped around the lids of these ones either! We’ve asked Superdrug not to do that as it looks awful – but once they buy the products off of us it’s technically theirs so it’s up to them." and even offered a suitable suggestion for a sharpener for the pencils "With regards to sharpening – I use a boots own brand sharpener (which has a large and small sharpen section) and it seems to work fine.... just for future sharpening." She then asked for my postal address so as to send some replacement products. Incredible.

SAM_7572

Naturally, I then went to Superdrug (a different one, this time) and proceeded to drop more coin on BeautyUK. Call me easily impressed – “Lena, you’re easily impressed!” – but I’m far more inclined to purchase from a company that clearly cares about their customers than one that acts like it does not. Unfortunately, this particular stand in this particular Superdrug had been abused. It looked like one of those really sad monkeys that you get on those animal rights ads. Seriously.

SAM_7574

The three pencils that I managed to grab were almost the only ones left. There were no more gold pencils, a couple of greens and one more blue. The few that remained had the gems at the bottom callously removed by some bitchy pre-teen. For some reason, that really pissed me off. Don’t you have better things to do than to pick gems off makeup products? Go back to school. Hurray for no tape, however.

SAM_7576

I would have bought the Bright palette, because that’s been piquing my interest for quite a while now, but I had no more moolah. Boo.

SAM_7578

I’m digging this company, big time. Look at the pretty swatches!

SAM_7579

The colours are gorgeously unique. I rarely use these without an eyeshadow over the top anyway but the fact is that the pretty remains if you have drier eyelids than me. I like using the silver and the purple near the tear duct, as a quick highlight. All of the pencils fare well as lower lash line liners, as well – because the lower lash line is less mobile than the eyelid, these don’t crease as easily. It makes for a great pop of colour, especially as these shades are pretty special. I love the “lit from within” look that the purple/red and the blue have!

SAM_7580
So creamy! Wonder what my teachers would think if I submitted my coursework written in gold eye pencil...

These are easy to sharpen with the correct sharpener. I’ve sharpened the silver since it’s last outing. It now works well but the formulation is a lot softer than the other four colours – it’s easy to apply too much. Shame, because it looks really good on the eyelid. 

Where these excel, in my opinion, is as a base for matte eyeshadows. I have a TON of mattes that are basically pigmentless (which is why I need to get my ass down to Inglot, quick sharp) unless you layer them 2838319 times. This is hard to do over a conventional primer as you just end up wiping away the previous layers when you try to apply more. With this baby underneath, that doesn't happen. It grabs onto and intensifies the pigment of your eyeshadow. Love. Amor. Sarang. Adore <3 Us UK girls don't have as many options as the US girls when it comes to finding bases at drugstore prices, so this is really useful.
I find these easily last the school day with only minimal creasing on myself, sans primer underneath, and after that they fade rather than crease.

The price is great, the company is wonderful and they perform well. Ten out of ten points.

Powered by Blogger.

Living Legends