MUA Makeup Haul- The New Nail Polish and Lipstick Collection

Hi Lovelies,

I hope you have had an amazing weekend. Mine was particularly amazing especially with attending the African Fashion Week London on Friday. Pictures and blog post will be up soon. Towards the end of July, I popped into Superdrug for some essential toiletries and I found myself sidetracking to the makeup section. It happens all the time, although, I don't always buy anything, I just love to look at pretty makeup products. 



I spied on the MUA (MakeUp Academy) stand and discovered they had revamped their nail polish collections and its new bottle reminded me of Essie Nail polishes (naughty, naughty MUA!). Plus, the colors looked really cute and perfect for Summer. Costing only £1 per item meant there were no excuses left for me so I picked up a few items(6 products to be precise) and I was so happy and almost leaped home to try them out. I picked 3 nail polishes all in shades of pink or coral: Bright Coral, Bright Pink and Amaretto Crush. I also picked up 3 new lipsticks: Shade 11(my all time favourite; this was my backup), Juicy(Shade 15) and Nectar(Shade 16) which I believe may be new shades or I may be wrong; it doesn't matter because they are pretty. Let's get into the nitty gritty details of these products, shall we?

Note: I tried my best to get the true colours of these MUA products but it was really difficult as I had crappy light so bear with me...:-)))

                                                                     Nail Polishes

Generally, I like the packaging of all MUA nail polishes because they are really small and dainty with a good formulation. However, I always feel let down by the quality and shape of the nail polish brushes as they are not the best for application and can, sometimes, cause streakiness. For others,it may be fine but I am not sure how beginners can manage with this brush. Asides that, I think MUA nail polishes are really great with bright colors which flatter many skin tones. I don't think I have much to complain for £1.

Amaretto Crush: I had to start with this as it is my new favourite. I love how it applies despite the small brush and the formula is really good. You can actually get away with one coat but I used two coats. I would describe it as a lilac-ish pink colour and I love how it borderlines pink/lilac. I would say this is perfect for summer if you don't want any OTT bright colours but you want something playful in a classy way. I have been wearing this almost all week. It does chip after a few days if you love to wash your hands or plates regularly like me but you can reduce these chances by applying a good quality base coat and nail coat. I use the Lancome Cristal Quartz in 010 which has been reviewed here. 

Bright Coral: Next to Amaretto Crush, this is my second favorite from this collection. I love how bright this coral is and is the perfect transition from Spring to Summer although we are already well into summer now. It is a little bit comparable to my all time favorite Lancome Rouge in Love (reviewed here) but it is a little brighter. I would describe it like a bright coral leaning into the orange-reddish hue. It was really difficult to photograph this as I wanted to get the true colour but I didn't really succeed. 

Bright Pink: As the name suggests, it is a really bright pink, In fact, almost Neon Pink like my Illamasqua's Collide which I got from the Illamasqua's Alter Ego Mystery Collection reviewed here. For some reason, this always applies streaky on my fingers. I am not sure who or what the culprit is as it could be just my nail polish application skill, the formula or the brush or a combination. It just does not look great on my nails. The sad thing is I really love the color but it always looks streaky and unflattering. When I use one coat,it does not appear streaky but the formula seems watery and when I apply the second coat, it just goes cray cray. So, it is definitely my least favorite of the lot.

This is the most accurate photo of how it looks on me in real life :-)))

          This was the closest I could get to the true colour.   L-R Juicy(Shade 15), Shade 11 and Nectar (Shade 16)                                                                   

                                                                          MUA Lipsticks

I love MUA lipsticks because they are affordable and fairly pigmented although you may need to reapply if you eat, drink, kiss (teeheehee),etc. I love the finish of their lipsticks as they are creamy with a slight lustre to it which means you can skip lip gloss which I do when wearing them and it still looks great. I think with their new additional pieces to their lipstick collection; they have added real names alongside the number of the lipstick which I think is really great. Before now, they just called them Shade 10 or 11 but now it's Shade 16 "Nectar" or Shade 15" Juicy"and I love that.

This photo does not do it justice at all :-((

Shade 11: This has to be my favorite lipstick of all time apart from MAC Hug Me reviewed here. This is my usual go to lipstick and one of the first lipsticks I am repurchasing. It is flesh tone pink lipstick which can be worn as an everyday lippie. I wear this to work because it could almost pass for nude because of its natural tones. The formula and finish is great and I love its classy black packaging.

Shade 16 "Nectar": This is my new fav for bright lipsticks because it is perfect for my complexion. Although, I love pink lipsticks, I tend to go for the almost nude or fairly bright ones as the really bright or duller/pale ones look either ashy or unflattering for me. This strikes the right balance for me. This would be my new  weekend lipstick. I would describe it as a coral pink with a tinge of peach in it. As you can tell, I am quite rubbish in describing colours and I hope the swatch at the end of the post does the talking for me.

The lighting was a bit off as its actual colour is a pale pink

Shade 15 Juicy: For me, this did not live up to its juicy claims. Hahaha, I am kidding. However, it is not flattering on me at all. Unfortunately, I was unable to swatch this before buying and it turns out it does not look anything near how the bottom swatch(the colour peeking out at the bottom). It falls under the category of pale pink/baby pink and looks a tad ashy on me. I guess the only way I can pull this off is mixing or manipulating the colour with another lippie. Of course, i am not too bothered because it cost only a quid so no stress.

Again, apologies for the lighting

I hope you have enjoyed this post and you can check out the new MUA collection whenever you are in either Boots or SuperDrug. See you in my next post and have a lovely week ahead...toodles...xxx