A Change of Heart: MUA

I've been pretty bad at updating this blog lately thanks to one of the most time consuming activities on the planet - job hunting (thankfully I'm now soon to be employed, woohoo!) so there are a few posts I'm hoping to write up in the next few days.

Today I thought I'd have a little bit of a moan, and unfortunately retract some of the positive things I've said on this blog about one of my ex-favourite brands, MUA. I've mentioned quite a few of their products, but over time I've been finding one recurring problem that has really put me off of buying anything more from the brand - the packaging of nearly every product I've bought has broken within a few days/weeks.

The first breakage came immediately after buying one of their lipsticks last year. Each lipstick is meant to have a little bit at the bottom that shows the shade of the product, but this part of the packaging snapped off almost immediately once I got the lipstick home. No big loss as I wasn't too sold on the shade anyway.

I wrote a rave review of MUA's Undress Me eyeshadow palette back in November, and I remain impressed with the product quality to this day. The packaging was never anything special, but this didn't bother me - until the lid broke a couple of months ago. I'm now left with a pretty useless palette that I can't carry around or keep in my makeup box without making a massive mess.

I recently wrote a post about the combination of MUA's Undress Me Highlighter and Bronzed Perfection bronzer, both £3. I loved both of the products and found that they worked really well together, and couldn't beleive that they were such a brilliant bargain. Unfortunately, the reason the products retail so cheaply seems once again to be due to cutting corners on packaging - the lids of BOTH of these products have for some time now been broken. As with the eyeshadow palette, this renders them pretty useless - I can't take them anywhere and have to keep them seperately to the rest of my makeup.

 I'm absolutely gutted to think that such lovely products are rendered unusable by such a stupid detail as shoddy packaging. Just to be clear, I do look after my makeup - I don't keep products loose in my bag and store them in a box and home. It's only my MUA products that I've had any trouble with - I recently tweeted the company about this issue, but sadly got no response.

In future I will probably avoid MUA, and stick to my other budget favourites such as Sleek and e.l.f. Shame.

MUA Bronzed Perfection Bronzer & Undress Me Highlighter

Apologies for the lack of posts recently; I have just got back from holiday with my uni girls. The holiday was the perfect way to end a beaut 3 years at Reading Uni, and I'm pretty gutted to be back in the grey UK!

Whilst on holiday, I suffered that age old problem - I didn't want to put my head in the sun whilst sunbathing because I was trying to read my Kindle, but didn't want to end up with a tanned body and white face. In the end I gave up and surrendered to the inevitable two-tone bod, and decided to rely on makeup to even out my skin tone.

My weapon of choice was MUA's new Bronzed Perfection Bronzer, which will set you back a mere £3. I decided to purchase this product after reading several positive reviews on the Bloggersphere, plus I needed a new bronzer anyway. The other thing that drew me towards this MUA offering was its matte finish - although I'm not opposed to a shimmer bronzer, I usually find that cheaper products tend to contain primary school style chunks of glitter that are far from flattering. Here's what the product looks like...

I've been using this bronzer alongside MUA's Undress Me Highlighter, £3, another lovely product that I mentioned in my Five Under a Fiver post a couple of months back. I use this highlighter sparingly, just brushing a small amount of powder above my cheekbones. Here's what it looks like...

I was not disappointed by either product. My first impressions were that, like many MUA products, both the bronzer and highlighter are huge, making them very good value for money. The bronzer only comes in one shade, but I imagine this will be a pretty universally flattering shade for Caucasian skin.
When using a brush to pick up the bronzer I did find that particles did fly all over the place, although this is fairly easily remedied by passing the brush very lightly across the product, and blowing gently on the brush before applying to the face.

The bronzer comes out a lovely shade on my skin, is easy to blend and is build-able. I've been applying it first of all to my cheekbones, jawline and temples, then a thin dusting over the remainder of my face to match the tan on the rest of my body. Here are some close ups and swatches of the products...

My main concern with both of these products is that, like several MUA products I already own, the packaging feels fairly flimsy. My favourite MUA Eyeshadow Palette, Undress Me, has been rendered difficult to use now that the lid has broken at the hinges, and the tube of one of my MUA lipsticks has also broken. Although I am beyond impressed at the amount and quality of the product you get for your money with both the bronzer and highlighter, I worry that the packaging will break before I'm able to use them up.

Both products score 4/5

Five under a Fiver

Hello! I thought I'd do a quick post to share my five favourite products of the moment that cost under £5, so here they are:

Top row: Superdrug Coconut oil - Nivea Express Hydration Primer - St. Moritz Tanning Mousse. Bottom row: Model's Own Kohl Eyeliner Pencil - MUA Shimmer Highlighter

I know I keep bannging on about the Superdrug Coconut oil so I'm not going to waffle on about it agian here, but if you want to know more about my current favourite beauty bargain then you can read my original review here. As for the other four.....

Nivea Express Hydration Primer, £4.99

I love this primer,  and it's a brilliant steal at £4.99. It creates a lovely smooth base for your makeup, and if you have normal to dry skin then it will provide a lovely burst of moisture too. The only thing I would say about this product is to wait a minute or two after applying it before adding foundation on top, or it may start to peel and it won't be attractive.

Model's Own Kohn Eyeliner Pencil, £4

These pencils are great because they glide on smoothly, are easily smudgable (is smudgable even a word? If not then it is now) with the attached tool at the end of the pencil, and last throughout the entire day. It also comes with a sharpener built into the lid which you may not be able to see too clearly in this picture, but it works perfectly and means that you will always have a beautifully sharp pencil. Also available in white, pink, blue and brown. 

MUA 'Undress Your Skin' Shimmer Highlighter, £3

This is an ideal budget highlighter. The picture doesn't really do justice to how big it is, so you're getting plenty of product for not a lot of money. Sweep a little product across the top of your cheekbones or smudge a teeny bit into the corners of your eyes for a fresh-faced look.









St. Moritz Instant Self Tanning Mousse, £2.99

This fake tan is probably one of the worst kept secrets in beauty, but since we've actually had a little taster of summer this week with some sunnier weather I thought it was definitely worth a mention to refresh your memories. St. Moritz is a brilliant dupe for St. Tropez tanning mousse, and at a tiny wee fraction of the price - what's not to love? Wait for the tan to dry and then whack a small amount of Coconut oil on top for lovely supple-looking legs.





Have you tried any of these products? Or are there any bargains you think I should have included on this list? Let me know! :) xx