MUA Undress Your Skin Illuminating Foundation review

You may be able to tell by my previous MUA posts that I'm a little bit MUA obsessed! I'm a massive fan and almost everything in my make-up bag is by MUA. 

 "Covers imperfections and blemishes whilst maintaining your skins natural glow with light-diffusing particles of shimmer that creates instant radiance."
The only real down side for me is the packaging as it feels half empty and if you tip it upside down the foundation pours out without you having to squeeze it which has led to it dripping down the mirror and narrowly missing my jeans a few times but I suppose that's just my fault for never learning! :)

I purchased it in Porcelain which is the palest shade as I am so pale that usually the palest shades of foundation are too dark for me which is so frustrating however after going on two holidays in the amazing British sun that we had, this is actually too pale for me! After applying foundation, bronzer, blusher etc it's not noticeably pale and in the winter when my tans disappeared I think it will be the perfect shade for me.

As you can see it really is very shimmery although I don't think this is as noticeable when I was wearing it on my face, I hope I didn't look this shimmery anyway!! I find it gives a really good coverage and is very buildable however it's a bit difficult to blend in the tricky areas such as around the hair line and around the eyebrows but I just try to apply less in those areas. It lasts all day and doesn't feel too heavy, I hate feeling like I'm wearing a mask after I've finished doing my make-up but I really like the feel and look of this foundation. 

I have combination skin so do get an oily t-zone and on a particularly oily day this foundation can look shiny but this is easily fixed with a powder top up that turns you from from shiny to radiant! I definitely recommend this foundation, especially for the £2.50 offer price I paid! 

FashionistA The Double Collection 2 Step Mascara Review

 You may have seen in my MUA haul that one of the products I purchased from the FashionistA range that MUA recently took over was the Double Collection Mascara. The mascara has two ends, a lengthening base coat and then a black mascara wand the other end. The mascara was originally £8 but reduced to £1.50 - bargain!

Step 1 Ultra Lengthening Base Coat - the base coat is white so as you can imagine gives you really creepy looking eyelashes! My boyfriend was highly amused and said I looked like a snow fairy! I found this really easy to apply, it didn't go on too thick so was quite easy to apply the other end of the mascara over it and it dried pretty quickly. However, don't forget to leave it a minute or two to give it chance to dry otherwise you'll get white bits all over the black mascara wand. 

Step 2 Intense Colour Coverage and Volume - this end just looks like your standard mascara, with quite a thin long wand. I ordered the mascara in 'Ultra Black' however I found it looked a bluey grey colour so didn't give the dramatic impact I was after. It looks good on the lashes and like the other end isn't clumpy at all so doesn't stick your eyelashes together but because of the lack of colour it was quite difficult to cover some of the base coat. I've now started using the base coat with my Benefit They're Real mascara which gives a much more dramatic look as the mascara is a lot blacker and it also covers the base really easily, I find using this combination works better for me!

Photo on the left having used the first step, on the right having used both steps.

What do you guys think? I think it looks pretty good in the photos but you can tell that there's some base showing through and the mascara colour isn't very dark, it's definitely not what I'd call "Ultra Black" however I am really impressed with this, especially for the price. My lashes stay separated, look pretty natural and the curl lasts too! It's now got a permanent place in my make-up bag and considering the expensive mascaras I've brought that have been really crappy, I'm really pleasantly surprised by this!

MUA NOTD - U R FAB & Pistachio Ice Cream

I'm seeing my boyfriend today for the first time in what seems like forever and I'm feeling a bit soppy so here's some loved up nails for you! 

I used MUA Love Hearts nail polish in U R FAB which I love and then created hearts with MUA Pistachio Ice Cream :)

MUA Haul - Power pout & nail polishes

 

MUA is quite possibly my favourite brand! It's so affordable and they're constantly bringing out new things meaning that their big crayon like lip products were on shelves only weeks after other brands released similar products! So I ventured into Superdrug the other day and picked up a few bits. I just couldn't help picking up some of the new nail polishes, I already have quite a collection! I love the new bottles, it makes them look a lot more expensive than they are, they were only £1 each!!

 From left to right I picked up Deepest Purple, Pistachio Ice Cream and Bold Blue. I own so many purples but this one is so gorgeous, I don't have anything like the minty green colour and I've been wanting a blue like Bold Blue for absolutely ages. I'm really impressed with these new colours and the others that I didn't get chance to pick up, they're the perfect colours for spring! If they're anything like the other MUA nail polishes I already own they'll be really long lasting too. What more could you want?

 Just to confuse you all, I swatched them backwards! From left to right - Bold Blue, Pistachio Ice Cream and Deepest Purple.

I've been so excited since I heard MUA were bringing out the Power Pouts to the point where I've rambled about them so much, my boyfriend even went looking for them the other day to buy me some! I will at some point hopefully own the whole collection but for now I have Broken Hearted which is a fuschia pink. I love how moisturising these feel, it means that they apply really easily and they're all such gorgeous colours and so pigmented. I'm really crap at taking my make-up off of a night so when I went to take my make-up off this morning I was pretty amazed that I still had this on!! About 15 hours after applying it which is pretty damn good considering it was only £3, a lot cheaper to the higher end brand alternatives!

Wednesday Wishlist

1) Benefit they're real mascara - Boots £10
2) Denman dressing out brush - Boots £4.29

3) V05 strong hold weather resist hairspray - Boots £3.05 

4) MUA undress your skin highlighter - Superdrug £3

5) Soap & Glory clear here moisturiser - Boots £9

6) Nicola Roberts Dainty Doll blusher - Boots £9

7) Loreal Elvive full restore hair mask - Boots £5.09

8) Babyliss thermo ceramic rollers - Very £30

MUA Love Hearts - Kiss Me

Soooo I really hate most lip products. I've been buying more lipsticks recently but I hate how drying they are and how after a few minutes you have to start worrying about whether you've smudged it or whether the lipstick on the middle of your lips has disappeared. Lip glosses are just sticky and lip balms never usually have much colour! So usually, I just don't bother. BUT I really liked the look of the MUA Love Hearts Lip Balms and for £2 I thought I may aswell give it a go! I picked Kiss Me because it was one of the brighter shades of pink and as I have quite dark lips I thought paler colours like Sweet Kiss and Sugar Lips, although because really pretty, probably just wouldn't show up on my lips.

As you can see, it DOES give my lips colour and its quite a sweet, girly pink rather than a bright pink, almost coral colour that it looks in the pot. When the glossyness has gone the colour seems to stay and I actually don't mind reapplying it every few hours because it's not sticky or annoying, I don't even notice it's there but it instantly gives colour to my face without me having to worry about how dry my lips look! I love it and now want to own them all!

MUA nail varnish haul

MUA nail varnish shade 8, 3 and 23

I've wanted a red nail varnish for absolutely ages. I think red looks amazing on nails no matter whether it's summer or winter but I've just never got round to buying one so made sure I got one when I placed my order! I actually really like this red (shade 8). It's more of a wine red than a coral red and I can't wait to wear it. Shade 3 is a pinky purple colour and I really like the colour against my skin tone! It's very similar to the love hearts U R FAB nail varnish (see below) but £1 instead of £2 and there really is little difference. Annoyingly I actually already own this and hadn't realised even though I was actually wearing it when I ordered so now have two! (You would think it's common sense to check before you order!) Shade 23 is a really nice muted khaki green colour. I don't own anything like this and it's not something I'd usually go for but after seeing pictures of other people wearing it I just couldn't help myself! I love it!

MUA Love Hearts nail varnish in I <3 U and U R FAB

All of the love hearts nail varnishes are so cute, I wanted them all. They're quite feminine and sophisticated. I <3 U is a really nice peachy nude but being pale takes a few coats. U R FAB is very similar to the shade 3 nail varnish (above picture) which is a little annoying but this one is a bit more of a muted colour so I think I prefer it.

MUA Squiggle Effect Magnetic Nails - Mayfair

This is actually the only magnetic nail varnish I own which considering I have a crazy nail varnish obsession and magnetic ones have been around for ages is kind of stupid really! I just can't really be bothered to be hovering a magnet over my nails after I've spent forever painting them but I really liked this one so I'm just going to have to put up with the faffing that comes with it! It's a metallic blue colour and I prefer the squiggle effect to the circle effect ones that they do. The photo doesn't show up the magnetic effect too well, it looked better before it dried!

MUA nail varnishes are quite possibly my favourite. They're affordable with most being only £1, they have a massive range of colours and they last ages without chipping. I've had U R FAB on for almost a week now and it's only slightly chipped at the tips. They're definitely worth the small price tag! They have everything from fur effect nails to constellation nails. I already have a list of others that I want!!

MUA - undressed eyeshadow palette

It's supposedly a £4 dupe of Urban Decay's Naked Palette so as I don't have the naked palette I'm so excited I've got this one!! I love that unlike some of their other palettes it has matte shades in too as well as the shimmer ones so you don't have to rummage around looking for a matte black or nude whilst doing a smokey eye! The colours are really pigmented and ideal for a more natural look. I'm a little bit in love!

Swatches with flash

Without flash