A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Moving on from the Eyeko pastels I was playing with earlier in the month…

The new Eyeko range features 5 new shades from sheer pink through to this rather gothic black with red glitter called Vampira.

As with all Eyeko polishes I’ve tried, the first coat applies streaky… my trick to achieving a good finish with these polishes is a thin first coat, followed by subsequent thicker coats.  Don’t worry how crap that first coat looks… just get some product onto the nails and map out the shape you want.  If you start thick then it’s gonna take longer to dry and will be more likely to drag at the cuticles when you lay down that 2nd or 3rd coat.

You can see that I got decent coverage with 2 coats following my method above.  Unfortunately I then needed to add a couple of coats of top coat to smooth out the rough, gritty surface thanks to the glitter.  This fnish might not bother everyone, but it kinda sets my teeth on edge.

Wear has been fine with no chipping (though I never seem to have a problem with chipping and I know other people do), average tip wear and when I did finally remove it (after 3 days) it didn’t give me a TOTAL nightmare considering how packed full of glitter it is.

Overall it’s not my favourite Eyeko polish I’ve tried… the black/red glitter mix is kinda chunky.  Still pretty good value for £3.50 though.

More NOTDS to come from the range soon…

Just a few of the products so you can see how they look applied (badly as always!)

Face

~ MUA Blusher – Shade 3
~ MUA Pressed Powder (used as contour) – Shade 4

Eyes

~ MUA Eyeshadow Shade 9 (on the lid and under the lower lashline)
~ MUA Eyeshadow Shade 4 (blended into and sligtly above the crease)

Lips

~ MUA Lipstick Shade 5

Do you think you’ll be picking anything up?  Or if you already have, what did you buy?

So the new MUA £1 range has been out in stores for almost a week and I’ve been playing with a couple of items that I was sent.  It’s quite hard to review such bargainous products… it’s difficult to decide whether I cut them a break on the quality front because afterall.. they’re a £1 each… or do I just review them based on whether or not I’d use them again?  I vote in favour of the second option… hard luck MUA.

I’ll start with some of the face products…

The MUA bronzer (I have shade 1) is a sparkle fest, and as a result… quite gritty in texture.  It’s definitely more bronze toned than golden and if shade 1 is the lightest I can’t see it suiting pale tones too well.  I have tried it lightly brushed across my cheeks, but the glitter fall out has left me cold and I won’t be reaching for this again.

A staple for any cosmetic line up is a pressed powder.  I have shade 4, which on my skintone… actually makes a fairly decent matte contour shade.  It’s quite silky to the touch in an old-fashioned Cornsilk kinda way.  It’s also highly scented… powdery, like an old pharmacy.  When I brush over the surface…. a lot of the product is kicked up and sits ontop of the pan which means you need to give your brush a bit of a shake before lifting it to your face to avoid fall out.  It blends quite smoothly though, I’ll certainly be putting this aside for another play next time I can be bothered to contour.

Ahhhh blusher… such a great product for a quick skin pick-me-up.  The best way to describe this is… draw a line between the bronzer and the pressed powder… the blusher lies halfway.  It has the sparkle and the silkiness.  Unfortunately this stuff really flakes when you brush at the surface… I had more product sitting ontop of the pan than ever I did on the brush.  It also suffers a bit when blending, it has a tendency to blend away to nothing if you’re not careful.  The 4 available shades are really rather pretty though.

It’s worth noting that none of the face products contain mirrors in the packaging, I’m sure for obvious cost cutting reasons.  No applicators are included either, which I totally welcome with the eye shadows, but you’d be hard pressd (no pun intended) to achieve much with a pressed powder on the go without a little puff or mirror.

Talking of eyeshadows…

I was sent two of the pearl eyeshadow shades.  One a duochrome purple/blue and the other a pink/lavender shade.  You get a generous 2g of product for your money and these two shades look particularly stunning in the pan.

They’re soft, smooth and well pigmented.  The packaging is cute (prefer these to the face products packaging) and in my opinion a must have if you’re thinking of checking out the range.  I’ve already used the darker shade a few times this week and it’s lovely blended along the lower lashline for a pop of colour.  Thankfully, these don’t appear to be fragranced either.

See that duochrome effect in Shade 9?  Lovely!  I will say that I find these shadows don’t pick up too well with a natural haired brush… so I’ve been using my Aurifere or E.L.F synthetic concealer brushes to apply!

The lipstick packaging remind me a little of the NYX Round Lipsticks with it’s transparent bases… unfortunately, that’s kinda where the similarities end.  These feel greasier and just not as comfortable on the lips.  Shade 1 is a stonking confident creme shade but it wears very unevenly so a lip liner as a base is a must.  Shade 5 is promising in the tube, but delivers very little on the lips.  It’s frosty, but also contains glitter particles… I guess it might work quite nicely as a layering product to take a nude lip from daytime to night time.  Other than that, these are a pass for me.

Ok, what next…

Eyeliner… a beautiful, vibrant blue, almost metallic in appearance.  The applicator is too stiff and scratchy with very little flexibility.  This means that as you’re drawing the line, the product is only really applying at the edges of the applicator… multiple passes are necessary to achieve full opacity.

Once dry, a gentle swipe of my finger lifts great flakes of product from my skin and if that weren’t bad enough… underneath the line?  I’m left with stained skin.  This is a poor product and such a shame because that colour is so pretty and summery.  Let me know if you make this work for you but I’m sure there are much better alternatives on the high street for not much more money.

After those damning comments, I’ll finish with my favourite…

The Eye Dust.  I have Shade 5, which I’ve artfully typo-ed.  First things first, these aren’t going to last longer than 46 seconds on your eyelids without a base of some sort, and you better make it a good one.

But look, how beautiful is this shade?

Combine this with a slick of UDPP or a coloured cream shadow base and you’re gonna get great payoff and a beautifully shimmering neutral shade.  Packaging is irritating, but I’m not gonna let that overshadow what is a lovely eye dust for the money.

Overall, the new MUA range is a bit of a mixed bag… pretty much what I expected it to be.  My tip though?  Go and check out the eyeshadows and eye dusts, I’m delighted with them!

I’m such a dumbass, it took me ages to get the Oh Tiff reference!

Oh Tiff! is a beautiful “Tiffany Blue”… at least as close as you can get to it without infringing their colour trademark (yes, really!)

For me, it’s a 3 coater… 2 just doesn’t quite give that smooth clean finish that you need to achieve with creme polishes.  It applies well with only a touch of drag and wears even better! 3 days before I even noticed tip wear, that’s impressive.

I buy my Diamond Cosmetics polishes from Flashy Nails and they range in price from £2 to £3.50 depending on whether or not they’re in the sale.  If you’re interested in buying any shades, don’t delay too long as I heard that Jenny (the owner) may be thinking of shutting up shop soon to have her baby!

Do you like this one?

Shade 1…. catchy…

Naming them must have ran the risk of breaking the budget for this new £1 line of makeup from Superdrug

Ok, enough sarcasm…

Shade 1 is a blackened blue.  The best way to describe it is opalescent… a darker-than-navy base with royal blue glitter particles.  The glitter isn’t chunky and a top coat isn’t necessary to smooth the finish.  I had to go and stand in direct sunlight to capture the sparkles for the photo which is why you can see my conservatory roof reflected in my tips!

For a £1 polish it’s a good looking finish.  Formula isn’t the best… it dragged at the cuticles and if I look carefully there’s still a couple of streaks visible after two coats.  However, it’s not horribly gloopy or difficult to actually paint with which is an irritation I often experience with high street polishes.  Yes, I’m a nail polish snob I know (bar Asda!) *hangs head*

Ohh that’s a good comparison actually…. I’ve tried two from the MUA line so far and quality isn’t as good as the George formula.  The MUA polishes that I’ve tried have a denser, thicker formula, but they are fairly quick-drying.

Tip wear is a little worse than average, not by too much though and I haven’t experienced any chipping after 2 days, so I’m very pleased with that.

I think I’ve covered most things… for a £1, you know you’re not gonna get OPI quality… but I think this is a stonking shade and if you like your blues, definitely check it out next time you’re passing Superdrug!  Alternatively, the entire range is now available to purchase from the website.

Do you like it?

Ringing up the till at £3.99, one of Sleek MakeUP‘s latest product releases is the Kajal.  A deeply pigmented eyeliner made with smudgy smoky looks in mind.

Based on the traditional Southern Asian kohl… Sleek MakeUP’s kajal is a much waxier, crayony affair.  It’s an eyeliner that never needs sharpening and is ready to go with a quick twist of the tube.  Compared to PURE’s now discontinued version, I find Sleek MakeUP’s version a little waxier… not quite so soft to apply but perhaps a touch more waterproof as a result.

I was sent the version in matte Black (Nocturnal).  The Kajal is also available in purple (Odyssey).

As already mentioned, the eyeliner twists up to reveal it’s full length.  It tapers to a smooth point, which is great for applying along the waterline and depending on how you angle the eyeliner during application… you can achieve different effects and amounts of ‘smokiness’.

The swatch on the left shows the Kajal applied directly from the tube, whilst on the right… I’ve smudged the line.  It smudges readily and thus I would only recommend this eyeliner for when precision is not important.  I don’t have particularly watery eyes and found that the Kajal remained happily on my waterline for many hours.

If you’re wanting something soft, easy to apply and richly pigmented for a ‘rock chick’ look (I hate that expression)… then beat your way down to your local Superdrug and pick one of these babies up!

I hear that the new Superdrug MUA £1 range *should* be landing in around 80 of Superdrug’s brick and mortar stores on Thursday, I’m not sure which ones will be getting stock… but if you’re passing, pop in and let me know if yours is one of the lucky ones!

Mine doesn’t even have a Sleek MakeUP stand, so I’m not gonna hold my breath!

Also… the entire MUA range will be available to purchase online from Superdrug.com, perhaps this means that they will start adding the full ranges from other brands to the website… I live in hope!

Touted as the best priced cosmetics collection available in the country, Makeup Academy is set to launch exclusively at Superdrug this month!

The range includes lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadows, mascaras, eye liners, blush, powder and nail polish in shades from neutrals to brights and every shade in between.

I’m really excited to head down to Superdrug and pick some bits up… anything in the promo images caught your eye?

If I said I didn’t like this polish very much… I’d be being kind.

I actually don’t usually dislike polishes, I can make most formulas work for me with a bit of adjustment in how I paint… either that or the colour is so lovely that it redeems itself once on my nails.

I’ve fallen out with this Eyeko Purple polish and no amount of chocolates or flowers is gonna smooth over the cracks in our relationship.  So what’s wrong with it?

It drags at the cuticles quite heavily… it’s painfully slow drying… it’s gloopy gloop city… it bubbled on the second coat and after all that, the colour is blah and easily dupable in a better formula.

Actually, this feels like Eyeko polishes of old… if I were you, I’d stick to the pastels.

Ever since reading a recommendation by the lovely MakeupByKaty, I’ve been intrigued by these little pots of shimmering shadows.

Bourjois have always been my favourite high street brand and I knew that as soon as I’d read about them… I was going to be parting with some of my hard earned cash at the very next opportunity!

I picked up three shades for around £6 each:

#31 Molecule D’or – A true gold

#37 Blanc Chrome – Iridescent White with pink reflects

#35 Gris Platine – A dark steel grey

I’m not much of a fan of the applicator, it’s quite tricky to wield and apply with any precision… but it’ll do in a pinch, otherise I recommend swiping some of the product onto the back of your hand before using a brush to transfer onto your eyelids.

The product dries very quickly to a budge-proof finish, so you need to work quickly… I haven’t managed any great successes with using this anywhere other than on the lids for a metallic look.  If I try to blend the shades out into the crease, I find the overall effect to be a bit patchy.  Probably because of that fast drying time the product ends up setting more opaque in the areas I’m slower at reaching.  Does that make sense?

Overall, I do love these… and I have my eye on two more… I can’t remember the names, but one is more chocolate-y and the other is what looks like it would be a lovely beige lid wash (especially if I can sheer it out quickly!).

Have you tried these and do you have a favourite high street brand?

Available until midnight tonight, Nails Inc. are offering a lucky dip.  5 polishes for £15, that works out at £3 a polish!

I’m very tempted, but a bit worried about getting a envelope full of ‘wine’ coloured polishes… I don’t like maroony, clarety shades.

Are you tempted?  The 4 year old in me loves lucky dips!

Some of you eagle eyed ladies spotted my nails in yesterday’s Shu Uemura kit review and asked what I was wearing, well shush!  You’re ruining my next NOTD!

Haha, not really, but here it is:

Eyeko Vintage (£3.50) is a pale green… to my eye it’s not quite pastel (especially after 3 coats as shown).

I had to laugh as I was checking out the Rouge Cocos today, the SA on counter asked if it was one of theirs (we all know what she was referring to right?).  In all honesty, I haven’t got a clue if it looks anything like the Chanel Jade… it’s just a nice green that makes a statement without being too “in your face”.

Again, it was streaky… The Eyeko Lilac is still the best formula polish of the ones I’ve been sent, and like the others… drying time = slow.  Speed dry topcoat = necessity.

I’ve got one more Eyeko to show you, it’s a punky purple which will be a bit of a change after all these more spring-like shades.

Hope you’ve been enjoying my Eyeko mini-series!