Review: MUA Lip Boom in It's A Situation

I've had this product for a while now and it's taken me a ridiculously long time to get around to reviewing it! MUA is a brand that I can always rely on to make good quality products for very low prices. There are always going to be some hits and misses but I had high hopes for this little duo product because I was so in love with the colour of the lipstick! 

You'll have to excuse the grey smudges every where, the product was taped together and it's made a friggin' mess. It's such a huge turn off for me! That aside, I actually really like the packaging of this product. The cardboard sleeve is neither here nor there for me personally. Alexandra Burke doesn't impinge on my consciousness and I couldn't tell you one of her songs with a gun to my head so I'm not sure why MUA bothered to feature her. They must have had to pay her to "work" with them and I don't think they got their moneys worth. I'm sure she's a lovely person and all but she's not someone that's going to influence what make-up I purchase. Only my fellow beauty bloggers can devastate my bank account like that, and my God I love you for it.

The Lip Booms come in long tubes with a lipstick on one end and a coordinating glittery gloss on the other. I love that the name on the tube is printed in holographic letters. It's sad but it's just so pretty and I definitely wouldn't mind pulling it out of my bag for touch-ups. The rest of the packaging is typical of MUA products, sleek, simple plastic that's either black or clear. It feels really sturdy and the lipstick doesn't slip out of the casing, even when I batter it in my make-up bag. The lipstick itself is a beautiful plummy-wine colour. Very vampy and will suit all skin tones as an evening lipstick or even a deep colour for dark skin tones during the day. It claims to be matte but there's definitely a slight sheen to it. The good news about that is that it doesn't dry out your lips, the bad news is that it doesn't last as long and it transfers very easily. The gloss is a rosy pink that is chock full of glitter. Like ridiculously, massive pieces of glitter. I'll just say straight away that I didn't buy this product for the gloss and I genuinely think that glitter this size shouldn't be anywhere on your face after 2001/the age of 11. It is a pretty colour though and I quite liked the strong sweet vanilla scent though of course it won't be to everyone's taste.

The packaging claims that the product has been designed to be used four ways, as a sheer gloss, full matte colour, colour and gloss or gloss applied to the centre to give the illusion of fuller lips. I honestly think that wearing this gloss in the centre of your lips isn't going to fool anyone. It's glitter for goodness sakes, there's nothing subtle about it. The lipstick is absolutely beautiful though, really creamy and opaque. However, It does cling a little to dry patches. I applied this once and had to take it off and exfoliate my lips before trying again because it just looked awful. It does also feather slightly so it may not be a great one for mature skin without a liner or clear buffer. It lasts a good 2-3 hours or so before fading and requiring touch ups. You absolutely will need to touch up after eating though. It transfers very easily and would need powdering to set it. The gloss isn't overly sticky and doesn't actually look too bad once applied over the lipstick. The only problem is the grittiness and the fact that the glitter clings on long after the lipstick has disappeared, so you end up with a wine coloured stain and bizarre pieces of glitter stuck all over your lips. It's not a good look. I also ended up with glitter on my chin and one of my cheeks and I don't even know how it got there. This product would have been so much better if it had included a sheer gloss in the same colour as the lipstick rather than the glitter. It would have faded much more naturally and looked a heck of a lot more elegant. But, it is only £3, and it's okay for a bit of fun so I can't moan too much!

Final Verdict: A bit "meh" really. I wish MUA had brought out It's A Situation as a regular lipstick in their current line and this could have been a very different review. Nice for younger girls and would make cute party favours.

Have you tried any of the Lip Booms? What's your favourite MUA product?

Lauren

Review: Illamasqua Precision Ink in Havoc

Another lovely bargain that I picked up in the sales is the Illamasqua Precision Ink in Havoc. I love liquid liner and almost always would choose liquid over pencils (I haven't tried gel though!) because I just love the effect it gives. I've only ever worn black before and I thought that this would be a nice change. The colour is described as aubergine but it definitely leans more red than what I was imagining.

I really like the packaging. It's neat, sleek and the applicator has a nice long handle which makes it easy to manoeuvre. I love the simple, black packaging that Illamsqua use but it's a bit nondescript and I'm not sure if I'll be able to find this in my collection very quickly!

The nib is my favourite kind of liquid liner applicator. I find that brushes separate and I can't control them, but felt nibs are too hard and it takes me ages to do my eyes. This nib picks up a nice amount of product and it's flexible enough to do whatever shape you fancy.

Believe it or not this is actually dry! It dries to a high shine finish which I find rather strange. I've never seen a liquid liner dry to anything other than a matte finish. I'm not sure how I feel about it! It's certainly unique. As I said the colour is much more red than I thought it would be but I actually love the colour. It's a very safe way to wear red which can be extremely intimidating. Reds look absolutely amazing against green eyes (if in doubt, the opposite colour on the colour wheel will make your eyes pop the most. I might do a post on this in the future after some more colour research) It was really easy to use and it does live up to it's waterproof label. It stayed on all day and I didn't notice any smudging, flaking or transferral. It will require some proper make up remover to get it off. I used my No7 eye makeup remover and it came off quickly, but I used a make up wipe on my hand and it required a good scrubbing to peel it away from my skin. Just thought of doing that to my eyes made me cringe! For £5 I'm very happy with my purchase. Would I pay £17 for it? Probably not. The wet look is going to take some getting used to and it's not a colour I've ever seen before so if this looks like something you'd be interested in snap it up on the website! The sale ends at 12pm on 29th January.

Final Verdict: A truly unique look that's not for every one. Try it while it's in the sale!

What do you think to this product? Do you know of any high street brands with a wide range of liquid liner colours?

Lauren

NOTD: MUA, Plum Noir

I picked this shade up in my fairly recent Superdrug/MUA haul and it was staring at me longingly this morning. I usually try nail varnishes in the order that I buy them, so I'll always wear them at least once, but I put this one off for a bit because honestly I was worried that I would hate it and I didn't want to hate anything from MUA! Luckily this was absolutely not the case and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results!

It's a really beautiful purple magenta and just perfect for this season. I can also see it being a nice Summer colour because of how pink it leans.

£1, MUA website or Superdrug

Ignore the revolting ex-sticker patch. I toyed with trying to edit it out but I'm a complete novice and I'm certain it would have ended up looking even worse!

The thing that I was worried about most with the MUA polishes is that the brush applicator would be of a really low quality. In actual fact, this is my favourite applicator that I've ever used! It's shaped in such a way that it fans out slightly across the nail. I can paint my little finger in one stroke. The formula of this is quite nice too, I'm wearing two coats here and it's mostly opaque - one of my fingers on my right hand just would not even out, even after 3 coats, but I'm pretty sure it was down to my poor application. My only small negative is that the blocky top made it slightly difficult to manoeuvre around my nails, but this is only a little gripe. For just £1 this varnish is fantastic. I'm already on the look out for my next MUA nail purchase.

What do you think of this shade? Which MUA nail varnish should I pick up next? Suggestions please!

Lauren

P.S. Hello to all my new followers!

Review: Barry M Lip Paints: Part 2, Vicious Violet

The second lip paint that grabbed me was a seriously raunchy deep pink/purple shade called Vicious Violet. This was again part of the Ultra Moisturising range.

It's not very easy to tell from the picture but this actually has tiny pieces of bright pink shimmer running through it which just looks gorgeous. Out of all my colours this is the one that I was the most excited about trying. Just as with Flamingo Peach, Vicious Violet applied really smoothly and evenly. The colour is super pigmented but it came out quite a bit more pink than what I was expecting from the bullet.

I am seriously impressed with this colour and I feel like I'm going to get a lot of use out of it. I also feel that it made my teeth look whiter, but I think I may have just been blinded by the colour. It's definitely a great Autumn/Winter lip shade. It also made me feel super vampy!

Will you be picking up Vicious Violet any time soon?

Lauren