Thursday 13 June 2013

MUA Sheer Finish Lipgloss Swatches

MUA is one of my favourite brands for their great value for money selection. In one of their recent sales they were selling their Sheer Finish Lipgloss for just 50p each – what’s not to love about a shiny candy scented lipgloss with a hint of colour for just 50p?? I went a bit crazy and bought another three which, although it only cost me £1.50, means I now have a ridculous amount of lipgloss to use up ha ha. Since I have so many now I thought I would just do a quick post to show you swatches on my arm.

IMG_4925

IMG_4934

The swatches are the same order as the glosses in the top picture.

Left to right: Cute Talk, Lets Meet, Happy Days, Too Much Fun, Can’t Stop

As you can see, they’re just quite basic, sheer, shiny glosses. I’d recommend them if you like your glosses simple (these won’t add much colour to lips, mainly shine) or if you’re looking to stock up on some cheap products to take travelling/on holiday. They can be bought in selected Superdrugs or ordered online from the MUA store.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

MAC in Extra Dimension Summer 2013

This collection came out in the UK last month and featured a ton of products in MAC’s special “Extra Dimension” finish, which is meant to be a hybrid cream/powder product. I’ve got a few Extra Dimension products from previous launches and I quite like them so I picked up just a few pieces from this collection.

I got eyeshadows (£16.50) in Zestful (light, shiny golden white green) and Smokey Mauve (metallic plum) and a blush (£19) in Flaming Cheek (fuschia).

IMG_4856

I’m not sure how clear it is from the photo above but I hope that you can see that the blush developed a weird waxy “crust” the first few times I swatched the surface, and I basically had to jab it off with a slightly stiff blusher brush before I could get any decent colour pay off from the product. For £19, you can bet I wasn’t impressed! Once the crust was gone the colour payoff was fine.

The eyeshadows apply slightly differently to how they appear in the pan as they are slightly sheer – but I quite like this as I find it lends them an ethereal quality. Zestful looks great as an all over wash of colour or highlighter on the inner corner of the eye, and Smokey Mauve is just a nice, easy everyday metallic to wear all over the lid.

IMG_4864

Flaming Cheek, despite looking a bit scarily bright in the pan, is actually very easy to wear as it goes on quite sheer but can be built up. However, check out how my product looked after just one week of use – it looks like I’ve used a massive amount of product already! I think I’ll stick to MAC’s normal powder blush formula from now on.

IMG_5200

IMG_5203

Sunday 9 June 2013

Sleek Candy Collection

IMG_5216-001

Sleek Makeup have just released a limited edition summer collection called the Candy Collection which consists of a 12-shade eyeshadow palette (i-Candy, £7.99), pout paint (Lol-Lip-Pop, £4.99) and blush-by-three blush trio (Sweet Cheeks).

I did hesitate for a while over whether to buy the entire collection or not. The products aren’t exactly expensive, but they’re not really what you could call cheap either. What I would say though is that Sleek are a great value-for-money brand when you consider the price-to-quality ratio. In the end, I decided to buy them all instead of any other make-up this month.

The products come in cardboard packaging featuring a mouth-watering cupcake and sweets design. I wish they could print these designs onto the make-up packaging itself which is the same slick black packaging as normal.

2013-06-091

I have to say that while the blushes and pout paint definitely remind me of candy floss and iced cakes, the eyeshadow shades don’t exactly scream “candy” to me. I think this might have been more suitable as the palette in the Aqua Collection while the Lagoon palette would have been more suitable as a candy palette. Here are the two side by side for a quick comparison (Lagoon palette on top):

IMG_5240

First up, here are swatches of the blushes and Pout Paint.

From left to right: Cupcake (creme), Dolly Mix (matte), Candy Floss (satin); Lol-Lip-Pop pout paint.

IMG_5246

I was super-excited about this blush-trio and originally this was the only product from the collection that I was going to buy. However, I wasn’t too impressed when the creme blush left staining on my arm when I removed it with my normal make-up remover so it does make me think that these might be just a bit too pigmented for blushes. I’m not too keen on the formula of these.

I have been enjoying the Pout Paint more than I thought that I would though. There’s a whole range of different Pout Paint shades available and they’re designed to be easy to mix up to allow you to create your own custom colours. This one is no different to the others in the range - it offers fantastic pigmentation and opacity, the texture is creamy and very comfortable on the lips, and the product lasts a respectable 3-4h on me. The main disadvantage for me is the packaging, which I find a bit difficult to work with. Pout Paints aren’t the easiest to top up on the go due to the fine nozzle and I always apply them with a lip brush to get a sharp line.

IMG_5271

Below, the eyeshadows swatched.

Left to right: Strawberry Sherbet, Bon Bon, Parma Violet, Apple Sour, Pear Drop, Flump, Liquorice, Blue Fizzle, Aniseed, Bubble Gum, Mint Cream, Cream Soda

IMG_5272

The quality of this palette is excellent. I think this is one of the best quality Sleek palettes that I own. The pigmentation of Parma Violet in particular is unbelievable – it’s definitely the most intense violet eyeshadow I own. While I think that the colour scheme is a bit incoherent, you can definitely mix-and-match up some fun bright looks with this palette.

To conclude, this collection is brilliant if you love bright colours, but definitely one to steer clear of if you prefer your neutrals. In the pic below I’m wearing Apple Sour, Pear Drop and Flump eyeshadows (along with some purple eyeliner and mascara too), a mixture of the two powder blushes and Lol-Lip-Pop pout paint.

IMG_5253

2013-06-09