MUA | Vanity Claire

ClaireFebruary 25, 2014

Makeup Fisticuffs: The Best Pink Lipstick

Well, we may as well end this review here and now because it’s quite clear which pink lipstick I can’t stop wearing (I’d give you a prize but all I have is half a slice of toast and I am not giving that up for love or money).

Like any girl on the planet (and even the universe), I love a pink lipstick. Nothing says “look at me, I am a girl” by a nice pink lippy and the days I’m looking somewhat manly are always rectified by slapping some pink on my face.

When I decided to put this post together, I spent approximately 3 and a half minutes whittling down my collection to my top seven (if 7 is good enough for Voldemort’s souls, it is good enough for me). I can tell you here and now that I wear all of these on a regular basis, but there is one or two that really stand out for me. Without further ado, let the makeup fisticuffs commence. Let’s hope things don’t turn into a fracas. Or god forbid, a ruckus.

(with flash/without flash)

(from right to left)

Collection Deluxe in Tallulah – £3.99

This is one of my favourite everyday lipsticks, the perfect subtle pink that looks magnifico for a casual daytime face.

Pigment: Fabulous, it’s a lovely colourful shade that doesn’t look wishy washy at all.
Staying Power: Pretty good – it lasts for about 3-4 hours if you’re not scoffing cakes like I usually am.
Price: Grand and spiffy.

Kate Moss for Rimmel in 16 – £5.49

This is the lipstick that is permanently on my face. I love it.

Pigment: Amazing, one of the best pigmented lipstick I’ve used in my tiny little life.
Staying Power: Really good. This will last you a night out with no drams.
Price: You can buy a lipstick for the same price as a bottle of wine. Need I say more?

Clinique High Impact in Extreme Pink – £17.00

This is a stunning golden rose pink that is another daytime favourite for me. It’s so moisturising and really lovely.

Pigment: Not heavily pigmented but one coat is enough.
Staying Power: It’s a moisturising lipstick, so wipes off quite easily but if you’re not eating or drinking, it’s fab. It fades well too.
Price: Best to force rich strangers to buy this for you.

MUA in Lipstick Shade 4 – £1.oo

Not the best lipstick, but nice enough to put on if it’s the only thing you can find.

Pigment: Frankly, a puddle of water is more pigmented than this lipstick.
Staying Power: Less than Britney’s husbands.
Price: Amazing. Worth it just so you can tell people you own a lipstick that cost £1.

(from right to left)

The Body Shop Colourglide Lipstick in Shade 58 – £6.00

The Body Shop makeup is something that I continue to be impressed with, and this vibrant lipstick is fabulous.

Pigment: Brilliant, top marks BS. These are sheerer lipsticks, but the pigmentation is still excellent.
Staying Power: Grand – the Colourglide lipsticks are quite ‘waxy’ so they stay on very well and are quite waterproof.
Price: Very, very reasonable for The Body Shop!

MUA in Lipstick Shade 3 – £1.00

This lipstick is much better than Shade 4. If you invest your pound before payday in anything, it should be this lipstick.

Pigment: Fantastic, considering it is one Great British Pound.
Staying Power: Also good, although it is quite a drying lipstick so it does get stuck in the cracks of your lips.
Price: One pound. (?!?!)

The Body Shop Colourglide Lipstick in Shade 57 – £6.00

Another Body Shop favourite, the Colourglide lipsticks are really really vonderful.

Pigment: Really good – less vibrant than Shade 58 but really feminine and pretty.
Staying Power: As good as Shade 58 – it also fades just as well and my lips feel nourished and marv when I wear it.
Price: Worth it.

But who wins the title of Pink Lipstick Overlord? Obvs, Kate Moss for Rimmel in Shade 16. It’s incredible and rules my life in every way.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 8, 2014

From Bag to Bin: 4 Make-Up Products You Should Avoid

Hello there, one and all. Now, if you read us regularly then you’ll know that one thing we really hate is writing negative reviews.

Oops, my bad, I just fell off my chair laughing.

Who am I kidding, we actually never fail to dish the dirt on products that we’re not fans of. Some people don’t like to do this as they think it’s too negative, but we think our reviews come from a place of love. We love our money – what little of it we have, that is – and so we don’t really like parting with it for sub-standard products. And we don’t want you to either, which is why we like to give our honest thoughts.

Of course, with makeup it’s often a case of ‘one man’s treasure is another man’s big pile of poo’ and so what we hate, you may love. With that disclaimer out of the way, here is a little run down of four products we’ve bought in recent months that have left us disappointed. As you can see, some of these have been used a LOT, so we really have persevered with the little bundles of rubbish.

1. Maybelline Eye Studio Master Shape Brow Pencil: Review

After lightening my eyebrows a couple of months ago, I needed to invest a new eyebrow pencil in a lighter shade. I don’t use many Maybelline products but definitely trust them as a reliable, established brand, so figured I was playing it safe when I picked up the Master Shape Brow Pencil in Dark Blonde. It’s a wax formula pencil with a wand on the opposite end to brush through your brows with, and the pencil promises to create fine ‘hair-like’ lines for added definition.

However, for me this just did not work. Pigmentation is horrendously poor. I know that it’s not meant to be like other pencils that can be used to literally draw your eyebrows on, but getting any sort of colour payoff on the sparse parts of my eyebrows that needed a bit of filling was almost impossible. The wax formula also means that it’s incredibly greasy and slips easily, so attempting to tidy up the ends of your eyebrows is also really difficult, as it smudges so easily. On top of these problems, you then have the added nightmare of how quickly the pencil itself wears down. Even using the lightest of strokes, it’s still reduced to a stump after just a few applications. If you look at how much of the pencil I’ve sharpened and only after using it a handful of times, you can see that it really wouldn’t last you very long.

The only way that I can see this pencil being of use is if you’ve already got near-perfect eyebrows and just want a product to essentially set them. This, it does – though it leaves a noticeably slick look that I’m not a fan of.

2. Natural Collection Lipstick: Review

I have to confess, Natural Collection is a brand that I’ve never been too inspired by. The packaging is a little meh, the products all look a little meh, even the name is a little meh (definitely lost us at ‘Natural’ I’m afraid, eww). However after reading a sparkling review of their lipsticks on another blog, I started to think maybe there was something not-meh about them after all. I love nudes and pale pinks, and Natural Collection is full of them, so for only £2, I was willing to give one a go.

I can’t even tell you what shade this is, possibly ‘pale meh’ or ‘meh blossom’ or ‘candy meh’. Whatever the heck it is, it’s thoroughly useless for me. Pigmentation is weak, staying power is weak, oh and the lipstick actually broke in half – making it physically weak too. Perhaps there are other shades in the range that are better, but personally nothing about this lipstick has made me intrigued to try any more of them. I’d consider it giving it to my 6 year old niece as something to play with, but I think even she’d ask me where my head was buying this.

3. Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Holidays Mascara: Review

This cosmetic complaint comes courtesy of Lauren. The Borjois Paris Volume Glamour Max Holiday mascara (jeez, want to get any more pointless words in there?) promises 10 times more volume and 24 hours of waterproof joy, perfect for holidaying and hobnobbing about. Unfortunately Lauren found it to be a bit of a dud. The wand is clumpy and fails to separate or define lashes, while the formula is actually very thin and so doesn’t deliver on the volumising promise either. While it doesn’t leave a horrible effect on the lashes or create any problems with flaking or smudging, it’s generally just not very good either.

Considering this came free in a gift set after spending over £15 on Bourjois products, Lauren doesn’t see it is a product she particularly hates – but those who pay the full £5.99 may be a little more disappointed.

4. MUA Pro-Brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit

Lauren is somewhat of an expert when it comes to eyebrow kits, and this one has just failed to live up to her high standards (women, eh). Initially she actually did like it – you can read her review here – but after a longer while of using it, the cons of the product started to show up more starkly.

As Lauren already explained in her review, the highlighter , gel and brush were all difficult to work with. On top of this, she soon started to notice that the powder itself wasn’t as good as she initially thought, with it smudging easily or completely disappearing if anything else came into contact with it. Being left with no eyebrows because you accidentally touch your face isn’t really what you want to happen during your day. The pro of this kit remains the tweezers, which are apparently very good quality – however, the rest leaves a lot to be desired. It looks as if the product might actually have been discontinued now, and to that I think we all say GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD BROWS.

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think of them?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireNovember 15, 2013

MUA Pro-Brow Eyebrow Kit | Review

‘Ello chaps!

If you read our MUA haul post (can we call it a haul? We probably spent less than £20 between us…), you might have noticed that I picked up their Pro-Brow Eyebrow Kit.

Eyebrows are a big part of my life. I probably spend more time drawing my eyebrows on in the morning than doing anything else and nothing distresses me more than a wonky brow (apart from you know, war and running out of hair bobbles). I have paley-paley eyebrows, which means I look like a lunatic without eyebrow makeup- particularly after dying my hair brown. I’m a big fan of eyebow kits as opposed to eyebrow pencils, mostly because I think you have a lot more freedom in terms of shape. Pencils also don’t give the same finish as powders and wax, so I say yay to eyebrow kits and nay to nasty pencils.

My all-time favourite kit in the history of the world ever is the Sleek Brow Kit (which I reviewed here), but I thought that I’d give this MUA one a whirl – mostly because it is just £3.50. You heard it here first guys, this is cheaper than a cheap thing on wheels.

MUA have called it (nice and succinctly), the Pro-Brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit, All-in-One Shape, Shade and Highlight. For all you Benefit fans, this is somewhat similar to the Brow Zings eyebrow kit or the Brows-a-Gogo eyebrow kit. I say this mostly because MUA have included a mini pair of tweezers, a brush, two main brow shades, a highlighter (we’ll get to this…) and an eyebrow gel.

In a bit more detail, the Pro-Brow Kit has two brow shades: a deep chocolate brown and a paler more tan coloured brown. These are both powders and quite obviously, designed to fill in your eyebrows and I have no complaints really. They’re fairly pigmented and buildable – I’ve found that I do a couple of layers of the deep brown for my scousebrows. I don’t have much use for the lighter colour, but it may come in handy if I ever go lighter with my hair. The powder is quite loose as you can probably tell from the swatches, so beware of fallout chums!

The highligher I have beef with. It’s in no way light enough to be a highlighter in the way I know highlighters. For my browbone, I tend to use a very light shimmery colour and this bizarre tan colour is far too dark. I tried to give it a go but I just looked mad.

The gel is fine, it took a bit of getting used to after using a lot of waxes in the past, but it keeps my eyebrow hairs in place and is most excellent for neatening things up a bit.

The brush is another part of the kit I didn’t get on with at all. As it is such a cheap eyebrow kit, it’s not really a big surprise that it isn’t great quality although I was a bit disappointed. The brush has really thick, firm plastic bristles that are impossible to work with – I wasn’t able to draw on my eyebrow shape accurately and it just made the powder go all over the place. Thankfully, I had my Sleek brush to hand and that worked perfectly. If you do plan on purchasing this bad boy, make sure you have a back up brush!

Overall, I really like the kit. I’m aware that I sound like a terribly Negative Nancy about it, but on the whole it is a great eyebrow kit. Some things leave a bit to be desired (what even is the highlighter?) but it’s doing to job of giving me eyebrows when there used to be none. HUZZAH AND THANKS TO ~~MERRY ENGLAND~~ MUA.

Has anyone else used this little kit? What do you reckon?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireNovember 12, 2013

November Make-Up Haul: MUA

Hello one and all! So the other day I decided that I really needed to replace my eyebrow brush that had gone walkabouts, and then the next thing you know all of this had jumped into my online basket. Weird how that happens isn’t it? In my defence though, two of the items were Lauren’s. And even further in my defence – it’s MUA, the cheapest brand possibly ever.

It was my first time ordering from the MUA website, and I was happy with the layout of the site and the delivery time (around 3 days after ordering). Here’s a little rundown of what we picked up:

E2 Eyeshadow Contour Brush / E7 Eyebrow Brush / L1 Lip Brush

I’ve heard some quite good things about MUA brushes so was intrigued to give them a try – and at the ridiculously cheap prices, it was too easy to add a couple more in on top of the brow brush that I wanted. The E7 and L1 were both just £1.50, while the E2 contour brush was £1.95. I’ve used both of the eye brushes this morning and on first impressions, they seem pretty good! Not the softest brushes in the world, but they seem firm and sturdy enough to last. The lip brush, though I haven’t tried it yet, is retractable, so will be SUPER useful for my handbag.

Matte Perfect Loose Translucent Powder / Matte Perfect Shine Control Foundation

I eventually begrudgingly had to admit that my previous MUA powder, which I praised highly in my £1 MUA post, actually wasn’t doing the job properly. I’ve always said that I don’t care about powder and they all do the same job, but I did begin to notice that the MUA pressed powder barely lasted at all on my skin and I was having to powder my nose so much more throughout the day. Either my nose had suddenly got extra oily, or the powder was simply a bit wubbish – and considering it cost a quid, I was forced to lean in the direction of MUA blame. So I decided to crank my budget up to the ludicrously high £2.30 and try out the loose powder from the new Matte Perfect range. I’ve only used this for the first time this morning, but will report back on how controlling this promised ‘shine control’ really is.

Lauren also decided to purchase the foundation from the range out of the morbid curiosity of it being only £2. Yes: £2. They only have 2 shades available at the moment: Fair, and the somewhat weirdly named Almond. Lauren opted for Fair, and I eagerly await her opinions on this cheap little product.

Pro-Brow Eyebrow Kit

As we all know, Lauren is a girl who likes an eyebrow. Or two, usually two. After finishing her beloved Sleek brow kit, she’s been using, in her own words, ‘a weird array of pencils and foolish things’ and so decided to give this eyebrow kit a whirl. For £3.50, who can blame her? It contains three shades of powder and a fixing gel, plus a handy little pair of tweezers and a mirror in the compact. She’ll be reviewing this soon so wait til then to cast your eyes on the product in all its glory.

Out There Plumping Lip Gloss in ‘Candy Pink’

I know it’s very 2007 of me, but I still find that a good pink lip gloss is my ultimate go-to everyday lip product. I decided to try this plumping lip gloss from MUA in the shade ‘Candy Pink’ for just £2.

I’m a big fan of the colour, and the pigmentation is quite nice too. In terms of lasting time, don’t expect much – I find that I re-apply this quite frequently throughout the day, though that’s usually the case with cheap glosses. The ‘plumping’ aspect of the gloss can be felt when you apply it, as for a few minutes you’re left with a tingly feeling on your lips. Does it visibly plump them though? Of course it doesn’t. I have yet to find a plumping lip product that delivers on that promise. Overall though, as an everyday lip gloss this gets the job done fine and I’m sure I’ll find myself reaching for it most days.

What do you think of this mini MUA makeup haul? Have you tried any of these products?

ClaireOctober 14, 2013

The Best Deep Red Lipstick: MUA vs Sleek

IN THE RED CORNER… we have MUA in shade 1 (don’t stretch your creative brains too much MUA, they might explode). AND IN THE, ER, OTHER RED CORNER… we have Sleek in shade ‘Cherry’. These are two different lipsticks from two different brands, but they’re practically identical in shade. So – which is better?

First Impressions

MUA’s shade 1 retails for just £1. This is in itself completely ridiculous. How can a lipstick cost you just a quid? You go into Poundland and pick up a pack of Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers for a pound and you’re happy to have got those that cheap; never mind a WHOLE lipstick that you can use time and again (unlike the Cadbury’s Fingers, which usually last for approximately one cup of tea). Cherry by Sleek costs the much more sensible price of £4.99, which is still extremely reasonable even for a high street lipstick.

In terms of packaging, MUA has its usual black casing, with the really nifty little pot at the end containing an extra bit of product. Although I know that this is a cool feature, I’m not 100% sure what its actual purpose is. Sleek also has black packaging, though the matte makes it look (correctly) a little more expensive. It’s very small for a lipstick, and actually only has 3.5g of product compared to MUA’s 3.8g. I don’t think that 0.3 of a gram is really going to ruin your life, but it’s worth mentioning – yes, mainly because I’m proud of myself for bothering to look at this detail, and now feel really maths-y like Carol Vorderman. Anyway, moving on…

Swatches

As you can see, the shades looks practically identical both within the packaging and when swatched on the hand. The only difference in the swatches is that Sleek seems to have a slight edge when it comes to pigmentation, though MUA is still extremely vibrant. Ain’t nobody accusing MUA of being wishy washy.

On the lips, again both shades look practically identical. They both apply nicely, have a very smooth finish and appear very vibrant after only one layer. Ignore the pinky tones in these pictures – both actually appear much deeper than this in real life, and I can confirm they’re BOTH that dark red shade that is so perfect in autumn/winter for vamping up a daytime look or for a glamorous finish on nights out (whatever they are). Both feel very hydrating on the lips and not at all cakey. Of course, a lot of things in life that seem great at first can quickly turn awful – certain men, BBC sitcoms, etc – so the proof with a good lipstick is always in the…

Staying Power

I wore the Sleek lipstick out for my birthday ‘meal and drinks’ shindig last weekend and can confirm that it is a BEAST. After several cocktails and a lasagne, I popped to the toilet to re-apply my lipstick and found that I didn’t even have to. It. Had. Not. Budged. Nor had it started to go cakey; it was just as much of a satin dream as it was when I first applied it. I think I only touched up once or twice throughout the rest of the night (memory gets a little hazy, damn fishbowls) and it never felt at all dragging upon re-application as some lipsticks can. A HUGE thumbs up from moi.

Determined to test the MUA lipsticks under the same circumstances, I FORCED myself, in the interest of RESEARCH, to head out on Saturday night for another couple of cocktails. You have to test things in the same conditions; that is just a fact I learned in Science GCSE. Although the colour stayed vibrant and looked okay overall, I did notice that after a couple of drinks the colour had began to come away from the inner part of my lip and needed touching up. Again though, it re-applied very well so wasn’t really a huge drama.

The Conclusion of the Matter

So here we have two insanely similar lipsticks, both extremely good value for money and very good quality. I think Sleek has a slight edge on MUA in this instance, due to being a bit more pigmented and longer lasting. MUA is only one pound and so a complete bargain, but then I also think £5 for a lipstick is really reasonable so can’t fault Sleek for pricing either. This was my first lipstick from both brands, and I’m happy to report that I’ve been left with a great impression of them both and will definitely be stocking up on more of them in the future!

Me wearing MUA 1

What do you all think of MUA and Sleek?

|| Also, don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 9, 2013

Beauty Haul: 23rd Birthday Box!

Ladies, I make no attempt at humbleness today – I am bragging and want you all to prepare yourself to be jealous. You ready? Let’s go.

I’ve documented my relationships with beauty boxes in quite a lot of detail on this blog, with Glossybox and (the artist formally known as) Beauteco both eventually disappointing me and being unsubscribed from. Imagine my absolute sheer delight then, when Lauren presented me with my bithday present from her and the rest of my friends and it was my VERY OWN PERSONAL BIRTHDAY BEAUTY BOX.

So, what goodies was my box jam packed with?

Real Techniques Powder Brush
Superdrug Face Masks x 3
John Frieda Luxurious Volume Root Booster
Lee Stafford Spray Shine
Charles Worthington Colour Shield Spray
Seventeen CC Cream
Barry M Nail Varnishes x 3
Soap & Glory Flake Away
Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
MUA Lipstick
Boots Vitamin E Eye Cream
Tresemme Platinum Strength 60 Second Treatment Shot

How lucky am I?! I was particularly amazed by the Real Techniques brushes (am I a real blogger now..?) but am so excited to try everything out. A huge thank you to my chums for giving me this amazing present, and for putting up with me for yet another year despite my endless foolish behaviour and hair shedding.

Have you tried any of these products, or have you ever had a present like this yourself?

ClaireOctober 3, 2013

MUA’s £1 Wonders: Blush & Powder | Review

I used to be the most loyal customer of Boots in the entire world. I was an absolute Boots wifey, and the very thought of going to Superdrug made my lip curl in disdain. Why would I go to Superdrug when I can collect millions of points on my Boots card? Why would I go to Superdrug when Boots have such a superb Meal Deal? Why would I go to Superdrug when at Boots I can be served by people wearing those funny tunics that make me feel like I’m some sort of beauty professional?

Well, ladies and gents, I am quite the changed woman these days and I regularly cheat on Boots by going into Superdrug too – sometimes I even go to them both in the same day, which just makes me a proper shopping sket. There is one brand in particular to be blamed for my infidelity: the Superdrug-exclusive MUA.

MUA has only really been on my radar for around a year and at first I dismissed the brand as simply too cheap to be any good. Then Lauren raved about their £1 lipsticks, and I discovered for myself the wonder that is the Undress Me Too palette, and then it was safe to say MUA had creeped its way up my favourite brands list.

I picked up both of these items in the last couple of weeks and both amazingly cost me just £1. There isn’t a huge amount to say about the powder – is there ever? It’s translucent and stops people being able to check their reflection in my nose, which is all I can ask for really. The range of blushers is much more interesting. According to the Superdrug website, there are six shades available in the £1 range (you can see them all here): Bon Bon, Cupcake, Lolly, Marshmallow, Candyfloss and Bubblegum. Completely sickening names aside, the colour range is nice, ranging from pale peach through to bright purpley-pink.

The shade that I picked up was Candyfloss, a rather cool-toned pastel dusky pink:

(On a side note, am I the only one quite impressed that they bother with the MUA imprint inside the compact? If I was selling something for only a quid I’d probably just put the powder loose in a little sandwich bag and throw it at customers.)

It’s a really nice colour which seems pretty perfect for winter, and is also a nice match on my new ~~pasty, corpse-like~~ pale skin. My only real bug bear is the flecks of glitter running through it – how hard is it for brands just to make matte blushers, I ask you? Pigmentation wise, though, it’s really impressive. A little goes a long way, to the extent that when I put a bit on without using a mirror while sitting at my desk at work the other day, it wasn’t until I went into the toilet that I realised I had accidentally made myself look like a clown (thanks for the heads up Lauren, you twit).

Overall I’m really pleased with these cheap and cheerful MUA products. The packaging is simple, but all that’s needed – and perfect considering these are the types of products you’re likely to carry around in your handbag anyway so don’t want to worry about having to keep pretty. I’m particularly impressed with the blusher, and think I’ll definitely be ‘investing’ (giggle, giggle – no really, I’m skint, that pound will be an investment) in another couple of shades for my makeup bag.

What do you all think of MUA? Have you tried either of these products?

ClaireAugust 7, 2013

MUA ‘Undress Me Too’ Eyeshadow Palette: Review & Swatches

Good evening lovers! Over these past couple of weeks, I definitely went on a bit of a beauty buying binge and one of my favourite new products is this oh-so-popular MUA eyeshadow palette, Undress Me Too. This retails at £4, however it was nowhere to be seen in my local Superdrug and was out of stock on both Superdrug and MUA‘s websites. For some reason though, I got obsessed with the idea of owning it one day and so ended up ordering one from an eBay seller who was selling them for about £7 – I KNOW that this is ridiculous, but Lauren was in Scotland and I had nobody to wrestle the laptop away from me.

Even though I did pay almost twice the RRP, I was still super excited when it plopped through my letterbox. Along with its predecessor, the ‘Undressed’ palette, ‘Undress Me Too’ is practically famous in the UK beauty blogging world. Both are known for being dupes of Urban Decay’s ‘Naked’ and ‘Naked 2’ palettes respectively – an association that I’m sure MUA were in no way advocating when they came up with their product names, of course..!

Now, I don’t own the Naked 2 palette so can’t comment on how much of a successful dupe it is; all I can safely say is that what we have here is a very nice little eyeshadow palette that’s pretty brilliant value for money (and even better value for money if you can buy it for RRP and not get swindled by eBay sellers). I’m not really an avid user of eyeshadows but am thinking this could be the product that changes this for me.

Naked / Devotion / Shy / Fiery / Lavish / Dreamy

Tranquil / Exposed / Reveal / Wink / Obsessed / Corrupt

As a huge fan of neutrals in everything, the shades are right up my street. There’s also a nice mixture of shimmer and matte shades in the palette, so you can create a variety of looks for different occasions. The pigmentation seems pretty good to me, and on first use there doesn’t seem to be a big problem with fall-out. The brush that comes with the palette is very basic and the packaging could be a little more inspired, but they’re really the only things to pick fault with so far. I’m very much looking forward to trying this out properly over the next couple of weeks and can see it becoming a staple part of my makeup bag.

Have any of you tried MUA‘s ‘Undress Me Too’ Palette? How do you think it matches up to Urban Decay’s ‘Naked 2’?

ClaireJune 10, 2013

One Month Birthday Giveaway!

Good morning chicas! That might have been a bit enthusiastic for a Monday morning, sorry – but I am enthused! This is because, to celebrate Stylingo officially being up and running for almost a month now, Lauren and I have decided to launch our first giveaway. We’re still very much in the early stages of blogging life (although it has already taken over our minds enough that we now justify all of our purchases with ‘well, at least we can blog about it’) but would like to say a huge thanks to any readers we currently have and anybody following and showing support on Twitter. It can be hard just starting out blogging, as you put so much effort and time into posts and then wonder whether anyone is reading, or if you’re the blogging equivalent of one of those people you see talking to themselves at the bus stop in town.

So, for our little giveaway we are offering:

Eylure False Lashes
We’ve long been fans of false eyelashes and know there aren’t many girls who don’t swear by these for a night out. Eylure are definitely our first choice when it comes to getting a new pair, so we’re giving away this gorgeous set. We’re HUGE lovers of Sex and the City, so chose lashes from this range to also celebrate the fact that the show was fifteen years old last week (where oh where would we be without it?) This is the ‘Carrie’-inspired pair; whether that means that you will wear them and automatically start being the most selfish member of your friendship group, spouting things in a witty tone that actually don’t make any sense, and cheat on a beautiful reliable man such as Aiden with an awful old geezer called Big I DO NOT KNOW. But. They are very pretty, right?

MUA nail varnishes
MUA is a big hit with the blogging community right now due to their extremely purse-friendly prices and pleasantly surprising good quality. We thought we’d throw in a few bits from this brand, starting with these two gorgeous nail polishes. They’re in shades ‘Bold Blue’ and ‘Moody Mink’ – they’re actually a bit lighter than these pictures show, and the blue in particular will be gorgeous for summer nails.

MUA Sheer Finish lipgloss
Originally I wanted to get some of those famous £1 lipsticks for the giveaway, but alas, they are so famous that the stock was seriously low at Superdrug. So instead I chose this bright and cheerful Sheer Finish lipgloss in the ‘Happy Days’ shade (one criticism for MUA – who on earth names the shades?).

As well as the lashes and makeup, we’ve also noticed that a lot of you bloggers are far too skinny, and we are jealous and want to sabotage you. So we’re also throwing in some chocolate, including a bar of the new Marvellous Creations from Cadburys (we have tried it and confirm its marvelousness).

To win…

We thought we would keep the giveaway nice and simple, and so to be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is follow us on Twitter – find us at @StylingoUK – and retweet the tweet about the giveaway (of which I’m sure there will be many over the coming days). The winner will be chosen by some random method that we haven’t decided on yet – probably write a list of everyone entered and get a snail to crawl across the page and stop on one – forever glamorous.

To make things SUPER easy, here is the tweet that can you retweet – remember you need to be following us too!

GIVEAWAY! To win everything in this photo, simply follow us and RT 🙂 #fbloggers #bbloggers stylingo.co.uk/one-month-birt… twitter.com/StylingoUK/sta…

— Stylingo (@StylingoUK) June 10, 2013

(We’re afraid that the giveaway will be only be open to UK residents, sorry international chums!)

ClaireJune 9, 2013

My Wild Sunday Face of the Day

This week has been a bit manic for Claire and I. From an epic Ikea shop (is it appropriate to do an Ikea haul post??) to having lots of big jobs to do at work, I’ve not had a huge amount of time to do my face properly. Claire did an Everyday Makeup post (it’s really fascinating I’ve heard) a few weeks ago and that pretty much sums up my makeup during the week too. A quick bit of foundation, powder, blusher and mascara and I’m done. We get up at 6am during the week and leave the house at 7, so it doesn’t leave a huge amount of time to be faffing with foundation brushes, contouring and any sort of blending hoo-hah.

ANYWAY I DIGRESS. I woke up ridiculously early this morning (tried to get up at 4 and got a stern “If you get up now I will punch you in the tit” in return. Bit rude) so decided to get up at 7ish, fix up my face and spend AGES doing it. Yes. Hello stippling brush, it’s been a while. Missed you.

Most people who know me will agree that I’m a big fan of shoving a huge amount of makeup on my face. I don’t feel like this is a problem and I definitely don’t follow the general rule of “if you’ve got lots of eye makeup on, then go for a nude lip.” With this in mind, my Sunday face of the day might be a bit much for you lucky gals who can pop a bit of tinted moisturiser on and look all fresh faced and lovely (DARN YOU ALL TO HELL). But ya know, it’s Sunday and I have tomorrow off work, so I figured it was the best time to be a bit jazzy and have a great face.

The general process goes as follows:

Moisturise. I’m using a cheap moisturiser from Tesco’s new range of skincare. It’s not the best thing I’ve used and is a bit heavy for my oily/combination skin. I’ve nearly finished using it now so will be on the hunt for a better one soon. My standard used to be Olay and I do love their moisturisers, so there is a good chance I will just go back to that!

Stipple on my foundation. My favourite foundation for the past few years has been Rimmel’s 25 Hour Lasting Finish foundation. It’s a heavy coverage, oil based liquid foundation and not for everyone, but I love it. It goes on smoothly and has been one of the best heavy coverage liquid foundations I’ve used (I think it’s quite a good replacement for Mac’s Studio Sculpt). The shade I used is 303 in True Nude, which is quite orange but I’m also usually quite orange so it works.

Stippled on concealer. I use concealer under my eyes (where did these dark circles come from) and on whatever blemishes I have. I’m using a TERRIBLE stick concealer from Collection 2000 and I don’t recommend it at all, but it’s better than nothing. My usual fave is their Illuminating Touch liquid concealer, it’s amazing. I stipple using the Real Techniques stippling brush.

Puff on powder. I’ve used a big range of powders in my wise and fulfilled years of makeup wear and I will keep coming back to the £2.99 Collection compressed powder. It does what it says on the tin, smells nice and goes on really well. What more could you want really? I’m using it in the shade Tender Touch 02 at the moment.

Contour. For nights out, I’ll go the whole hog and contour everything on my face, although I tend to prefer doing this by using two different colours of foundation. I’ll then do a very light bit of shading on my nose, forehead, cheekbones and chin. For daywear, I just do a bit of shading on my cheekbones. I have a bit of a strange process, but I mix face powder with a dark brown eyeshadow – it’s the perfect colour for those of us who have orange faces (…when bronzer doesn’t show up, sob). I used a Look Statement Eyes shadow and my trusty Collection powder.

Blush. I tend to use whatever blusher I find knocking around in my makeup bag. I usually buy the exact same shades of warm pink so I’m pretty non-adventurous in this respect. Today I used a Seventeen blusher pot.

Eyebrows. Read my eyebrow post here, but I use the Sleek Brow Kit in dark.

Eyeshadow. I like neutral colours for eyeshadows so use a combination of tans and light browns with a highlighter on my browbone. I used a well-used and nearly finished Rimmel palette today.

Eyeliner. I use liquid and pencil. Pencil on my water line and then a winged liquid eyeliner on my lid.

Mascara. I’m not too fussy when it comes to mascara because my eyelashes are blonde. Anything that goes on black and makes me look less like a baldy is fine by me. Claire is more of the mascara expert, so read her post about her quest for the perfect mascara here! I used a Collection 2000 one in black/brown today!

Lips. I popped on one of my new MUA lipsticks, which I reviewed over here. I used the light pink shade in an attempt to look less like a prostitute.

And there you have it. My Sunday FOTD. Now I just need something to do today and ignore the fact it’s 9am and I have a full face of makeup. Hmm.

P.s. You might have seen on Twitter that me and Claire are in the process of kitting out our front room as a work space/blogging area (which is marginally better than the Gym Disco room we had initially planned..). This is our new desk area, which I LOVE. What do you all think??