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!

So, nearly a term into the new school year, I finally emerge from behind my humungous pile of AS textbooks to say hi. Huge apologies for the lack of warning before I suddenly stopped updating. The step up in workload from GCSE to AS is insane and far more than I'd expected, especially with Physics amongst those subjects (thinking about taking Physics? Don't take Physics. So much effort.) coupled with the fact that I'd also got a new job and suddenly my school got all these new, attractive people (hot boys in my Science classes, was I really meant to be concentrating on molecules?) and my days turned into incessent studying at home, socialising at school (yes, these two should be the other way around) and going out pretty much every Friday night before work on Saturday and a frantic homework catchup on Sunday. Once again, huge apologies.

Stuff I've missed, apparantly, and am looking forward to:


The Magnetic Nail Polish Trend

Apparantly 17 have just brought out/are bringing out a set of magnetic nail polishes for only six quid or so, compared to Nails Inc's price tag of like twelve (plus the colours are pretty much the same) so I'll be looking out for reviews on those.

MUA's Eye Primer

Finally, I can buy eye primer at Superdrug...

Winter Nail Colours

Maybe it was the grotesque lack of summer experienced in this country this year, but I'm really in the mood for some dark, brooding winter nail colours, especially with the upcoming metallic/foiled finishes that seem to be in season. My collection is mostly cremes and jellys so I'm up for the opportunity to expand somewhat.

High Street BB Creams

Garnier started it, 17 have bought one out (that I'm ignoring as it only has two very light shades) and MUA are planning to release one later on. Please bring out some darker shades, please.


Inglot's Online UK Store

This was LONG overdue but I'm so psyched about it I can overlook the fact that we were basically the last people to get anything along those lines. I can continue to put off that trip to Westfield and order online - as soon as I get paid. I'm planning to /splurge/.

Hot Science Class Boys

Did I mention that we finally have some attractive people in my little old Catholic school. HELL TO THE YEAH

A few months ago when I commented on a post by the lovely Beauty's Bad Habit about the Fairy Hobmother, I was more than a little sceptical...who gives out things for free nowadays? No one.

Imagine my surprise when I was contacted recently by the mythical godmother herself. I recieved a very nice Amazon gift voucher (ironically, on the same day we bought and recieved a new washing machine from Appliances Online) and subsequently forgot to post about it, because I'm cool like that. Fail...in my defence, school has been all over the place.

Better late than never, right? So if you comment below, there is a chance that the Fairy Hobmother might grant you a wish, too!

I have a confession to make...when I first applied this, I was slightly - unexplicably - disappointed. From the bottle, I'd been expecting this rich purple colour with some silver flash and all that, but in my artificially lit study, with the glow of my laptop screen as extra, I was just seeing three coats of a mauve polish with lots of pink, orange and a little green glitter in it. Nice - very nice, as it were - just not what I was expecting.

Viewing this baby in natural light, not to talk of sunlight, changed my mind completely.



Prettyyyyy.



Kiko, why you no name your polishes? Why you no readily available in the UK? Why you so pretty?



It's pretty opaque after three coats, but one thin one would do well as a coloured topcoat over a dark colour.



The name is Kiko. Kiko...262. Sounds like a prison number or something.


I didn't even have to colour-adjust for the purple to appear true to life. I'm pretty satisfied with this polish.

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.

Do you see what I did there with the title? DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?

If not, you need to follow me on Twitter. @SeptemberLena

So today is (just about) the first of September, 2011. All through the summer, even though I've had awesome nail polishes to wear, my peeling, soft, and weak nails are continually spoiling the fun. I refuse to take any more of this.

Behold:



For the month of September (all 30 days of it) I will religiously apply these two products. Every. single. day. The short, slightly ominious looking blue one says to only apply two/three times a week, but I'm living on the edge. Every day. Under polish, most likely. Lol. Old habits die hard etc etc.

It'll be my first experience with Mavala...aside from a nail varnish drying spray and a set of nail files, I haven't really experimented much with them, and especially not with their new, revamped image. I'm hoping this nail serum and hardener set will help my nails. That and obviously eating healthier but that's so much effort, yano?

Also, seeing as it's the whole 'going back to school' period of time, I was floating the idea of starting a fashion/outfit blog, to blog the outfits I wear to sixth form (no more uniform. SCORE.) Would that be something anyone is interested in? *is nervous*

Anyone else making 'resolutions' this September? I have an excuse, you see. It's the start of the school year!