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Saturday 31 March 2012

MUA: Make Up Academy Professional Eye Palette Heaven & Earth

MUA Palette

Make Up Academy Professional Eye Palette Heaven & Earth

This palette from Superdrug's MUA (Make Up Academy) Professional line has fast become one of my go-to palettes as it contains a decent set of nude shades. 

There are six palettes in total; each contains twelve shades and at £4 each, this palette provides excellent vaule for money! 
Swatch woc MUA
MUA Heaven  Earth (lightly swatched)
Some of the shades are hit and miss on my skin tone but will serve anyone NW/ NC 47 and lighter well. To counter this I recommend that you use a primer and a base to help boost the colours, UDPP and NYX's Jumbo Pens have served me well. That said, MUA haven't compromised on the pigmentation of the shades despite being in a smaller pan. I note that the pan is gaining in popularity and so staying true to this blog's mission statement I have taken the liberty of posting some swatches for your perusal. 




woc MUA

Make Up Academy Eye Palette Heaven & Earth close up


One minor issue it the case the palette comes in, I have chipped a lot of nail polish on this sucker. If anyone from MUA / Superdrug is reading please could you resolve this. 


Love and peace to you all, 

BML xx

Friday 30 March 2012

Product Rave: No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser

Boots No7 Cleanser
Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser
The gel formula makes it easy to manage. I use a cotton pad and a light hand to remove even the best waterproof mascara. The moisture the gel produces upon contact with my skin is the real reason why I love this product as I have eczema and so my skin needs moisture. I usually skip cleansers altogether as I find them abrasive; this cleanser was the exact opposite, leaving a comfortable oiled residue on my skin.

How I use it: 
Taking a cotton pad I wipe off my makeup and let the oil soak into my skin for a while, rinsing off the product when I have a shower later. I should mention that this is not how it is supposed to be used but it works for me; checking out the reviews on Boot's website I'm not alone in disregarding the instructions.

Product pros: 
  • 5/5 for makeup removal 
  • Love the smell - it doesn't irritate me
  • Gel formula - prevents waste of product 
Negatives:
  • Price (we are in a recession Boots!)
  • Texture when water is applied, feel like you loose all cleansing benefits of product, hence the need to use dry.
I would recommend this product to all and sundry!


Below is information from Boots website: 
The first step to beautiful skin is effective cleansing. Specially formulated to effectively clear away dirt and impurities, No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser leaves dry complexions feeling as soft and supple as normal skin.
The gel develops into a non-drying oil to protect the skin’s natural moisture levels and hydrate dry areas at the same time. It then changes into a light milk formula for easier rinsing, so skin is left residue-free and totally refreshed. What’s more, it’s enriched with rosehip oil to really lock in moisture and offer a fuss-free approach to truly tailored skincare.
In trials, 85% of women agreed their skin looked healthier and 86% reported a more radiant complexion* after using the gel cleanser.
* Boots user trial results, March 2011
“A clever gel that transforms as you massage into the skin. Effectively removes make-up and impurities while being gentle and non-drying on the skin.” Dr Mike Bell, Boots Scientific skincare advisor


WetnWild Colour Icon- Pride


This is the second palette I ordered from eBay. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been converting this palette for a long while and finally ordered it three weeks ago.I love the blue / green colours in this palette. The dark blue is similar to one of the blue's in one of the many Sleek palettes I own (will post a swatch when I next come across it).

On Sunday the clocks went forward so I can officially say Spring is upon us and thus, I will be wearing these colours a liners and with my new love, Revlon's Peach lipstick.

Hopefully the pictures will enable anyone who, like me, was sitting on the fence about buying this palette make an informed choice.

Stay safe

BMLxx

Thursday 29 March 2012

Revlon Colourburst Lipstick: Peach



I had previously ignored Revlon in favour of my beloved Sleek and Rimmel lipsticks. However, I have recently started using their nail colours and so thought I might give the lipsticks a try. For the last month Superdrug and Boots have run a two for £9.99/ £10 campaign on all Revlon lip products, so it seemed like the perfect time to try out their lipstick line. Realising that Fuchsia Fusion, a dupe for MAC's Girl About Town in the UK, wasn't sold in the UK I quickly settled on this shade. 


Peach lipstick woc

I found the colour needed to be built up on my lips as it was quite sheer, I pared it with NYX's Nutmeg lip liner and wore Sleek's Pumpkin blush with a winged out black liner and it looks soooooo good. 

Will definitely be recycling this look again and aim to post a picture of the completed look. For now I have posted a swatch above, I would love to know what thoughts you might have over possible colour combinations. 

Drop me a line below....

Wednesday 28 March 2012

WetnWild Colour Icon - Vanity

Wetnwild Vanity


WetnWild is a US cosmetic brand that used to be sold in the UK and was pretty much ignored by most as it was sold in places like Tesco's, a supermarket not renown for selling cosmetics.

Two years ago the brand was pulled and those of us in the UK who watch YouTube began to notice the most curious rebrand of this over look line; all of a sudden we started to see our American vloggers raving about a brand that was affordable but made extremely pigmented products. We watched, drooling over our keyboards as bloggers blogged, vloggers included this brand repeatedly in their favourites and forums buzzed over this brand and it's amazing Colour Icon collection a set of four palettes: Pride / Vanity / Greed / Lust, each containing six pans of extremely pigmented shadows (half matt, the other shimmer). 

 I searched high and low for good quality swatches, anxious to make a purchase via ebay, but waiting for the inflated prices to be corrected and find a seller worthy of my money to buy from. Finally I plucked up the courage to order Pride and Vanity, the two palettes I had been dying to try and placed my order. After three weeks I managed to get my hands on these long awaited products and was glad I did. 

It is at this point that I should mention that this experience was nearly tainted for me as I had to wait three weeks and came so close to putting a claim in with PayPal as I cold not understand why it was taking so long. As I live in the UK (London) I cannot accept that it takes three weeks for any product to arrive from the US, if I lived in the outer herberdies I might have. Also, having placed several orders with eBay sellers in the US and received the majority of products within a week or so, I am dubious as to the 'professionalism' of the seller and so will refrain from recommending them here. 

The Palette: 

Pros
  • Nice size, handbag portable 
  • Pigmented colours and thus woc friendly.
  • Well thought out palette, each shade is complemented by the others. 
  • Mac dupes galore: Bisque/ Mulch/ Nylon/ Embark/ Cork /Wedge/ Gorgeous Gold are just a few of the shades mentioned by others.

Negatives
  • Not readily available for UK purchase * note to WnW - Superdrug / Boots would be a far better choice than Tesco's!
  • Products have been discontinued. 
  • When swatching I noticed that the colours in the pan appeared to be quite loose- be wary of excess bleeding into other pans. 
Negatives but not linked to WnW:
  • Price- as I ordered via eBay I lost the affordability of the product due to shipping costs. 
  • Delay in receiving product by eBay seller, fix up! When money is exchanged on time and without any delays, a certain level of expediency is expected on your part too.  

Overall I am glad I finally decided to purchase the palettes. Hopefully this post will allow other UK based makeup fans to see the colours and make and informed decision as to whether or not to buy it.