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!
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