NOTD: Makeup Academy MUA Nail Polish Shade 1

I love blues. That's really an understatment.  I remember back in 1998 wearing blue, and people calling me "goth". Oh how little they knew haha, but yes that's how much I love blue.  I tend to love a mysterious deep night blue with hidden shimmers.  And...that is exactly what I felt like wearing today.  

I believe that Shade 1 is THE BEST poilish from the MUA line.  It has dimensions in it that no other polish.  Now I'm talking just purely based on colour here.  But it is by far the most intricate and complicated of all the colours.  It has a dark blue (without looking black) with cobalt blue micro glitters.  it displays a duochrome electric purple in the sun, but doesn't translate to the nails.  I believe this hidden duochrome purple helps this polish remain blue and not black when you start layering the coats.

For £1, I can see why they had to skimp on the packaging and the brush.  The brush is horrible.  it winds outwards like a "skirt", and makes control of the polish difficult, but for this gorgeous colour, it is well worth it.  This colour looks far more expensive than £1 and that's a great thing for a cheap high street beauty product to do.

 

It is a nice and gloomy day today haha so the shimmer is definitely hidden, but it is there my friends. So next time you're in superdrugs, and if you are looking for a rich blue, definitely grab this one. 

My Swap Haul For June

My DH is looking at me and giving me this face, because he thinks that the products surrounding me are products that I purchased.  I quickly put him out of his misery and told him that they were all swaps, so he leaves the room.  Why do men not understand our obsession? Well I guess it's in the same manner that I don't understand his electronics or dvd obsession.  I can't begin to tell you how happy I am about swapping again.  It's been way too long, and it really has saved me so much money, and I will continue to swap until I have swapped out everything on my swaplist.  For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm talking about makeupalley right now.  I've also met a lot of nice English girls on there as well, so overall it's been a great experience.  Now onto the haul reveal!

* Mac false eyelashes - These are the older packaging, but since it's not makeup, it doesn't matter.  I love falsies for when I go out, so I can never get enough

* Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 11 -

 Ok, I am a freaking idiot. When I agreed to swap for this, I must have looked at the wrong swatch, because I thought it would be my colour, obviously it is not.  It is for dark skinned girls, so that was clearly a dumb mistake on my part, but I did find a very clever way to use this.  I have placed 2 drops in my face lotion and have created a tinted moisturizer out of it, so this won't go to complete waste.

* Armani Fluid Sheer 13

This is a meant for an all over face colour, but clearly it is too dark, it is like a dark Burgundy tone which I plan to use mixed with some other cheek blush and blended, or even to use as a contour

Both formulas ARE amazing, and it just solidified in my head that I need an Armani foundation (in my shade lol) in my life.

* Bare Minerals - medium beige

This is my favourite mineral foundation, so I jumped on the swap when it was in my colour.  I love how it gives a great luminous day time look without looking cakey or overly done.  Sure you'll need a concealer for any blemishes, but this is quick and effective.  I just hate their infomercials so much though lol

LIPPIES GALORE

* YSL - Rouge Pure Shine Sheer Lipstick 1

* Guerlain Matte kiss kiss lipgloss in 03

* Clinique superbalm moisturizing gloss in 10 Grapefruit

* Chanel Glossimer in 117

* Edward Bess lipstick in Night Orchid

* 17 - Shine on lipstick in Flirty

YSL, Guerlain, Clinique, Chanel, 17, Edward Bess

Out of all of these, I am so excited to have the Edward Bess lipstick. I am definitely obsessing hardcore over all his stuff at the moment, 

I'm quite pleased with all of them, but the one that shocked me the most was the 17 lipstick. I did not expect it to be that nice and creamy. Wow! I'm a fan now.

* Rimmel - Lash Maxxx mascara

Something about the brush won me over. I heard this doesn't last long, but I'll be holding onto the brush for sure.

* Barry M - Glitter lashes

A little litter on the lashes - sounded too fun to turn away

It's actually not a mascara, but looks like a lipgloss and you just brush it onto your lashes.

* No 7 Amazing Eye Pencil in 05 Black

I can't say no to black eyeliners, and since I have never tried no 7 eyeliners, this was a great chance for me to try it out 

I will not need bath products for the next month.

I got 3 huge and i mean HUGE products to try

* FCUK Whipped Body Cream - 300 ml

* Sanctuary Body Milk Spray - 250ml

* Sanctuary Bath relaxer oil - 250ml

Let's see what all this Sanctuary hoopla is all about shall we....

Overall, great big items to last me this month :)

* Gosh stippling brush

I haven't used this yet, and quite impressed by the size. I'll have to give it a go and report back to you on how I feel about it.  I love collecting brushes hahaha, so glad to have swapped for this.

* MUA eyeshadow in shade 16 - Matt

So I have gone on and on about MUA eyeshadows only being £1 and being a good bargain, so I wanted to give another colour a chance. So far so good. 

* Chantecaille La Baleine Bleue

Eyeshadow Palette

OK....I never in my wildest dream would think I'd own a chantecaille limited edition item.

First, because they cost way too much.

We're looking at $95 in the states, and £85 in the UK

Who can pay that?!?! OK, I guess lots of people could, but not this person right here haha

So when the chance came to be able to swap for this, I did all I could to make it happen.

This is a gorgeous trio meant for a soft and subtle look, and that's what it delivers.

The shadow feels like SILK!!!! I think Dior just lost to the softest eyeshadows out there.

I'll do a separate post on this for sure, but I also love that 5% of the proceeds do go to the wild life foundation to help the animals that are featured in the palettes.

I love this so much.

* The Dior Travel palette (on the left) 

is gorgeous and you can find my review I did here

I have reached for this so many times this month and I just wish I had another one of this.

and last but definitely not least. 

* CHANTECAILLE BENGALI PALETTE

Coming in at a whopping $117/£110

I was floored to have made this swap happen.

I am in love with the size of this palette and the texture of the eyeshadows and blush.

They are just out of this world.  I know a lot of people probably didn't buy this due to the heavy sticker price, but if you did have the money to buy it, you won't be disappointed.  it is just so smooth, and with zero fall out, and it is honestly the best eyeshadow that I have ever tried.   I will be doing a separate post on this with better more accurate pictures, but just wanted to show you guys what was in the palette.

So that was my June swap.  I'll be doing this monthly to show you all can get some great items during a swap.  Why not right? Give away something that didn't work for you, in exchange for something that would work for you.  One gal's trash is another gal's treasure right?  Do you swap? What do you love or hate about it?






COME AND ENTER MY FIRST GIVEAWAY HERE!!

My Top 10 Favourite Products for June

I can't believe it, another month is gone.  I will now have been in this country for close to 3 months and it feels like I've been here all my life...it's a strange feeling.  I don't feel quite like a foreigner, especially since I know the language lol and been here many times before, but I always felt like this was my home, from my very first visit in 2005.  I'm having so much fun trying all the new products however. It's all so new to me and it's just a lot of fun!  June has been a good month as far as products go.  Lots of promotions, events, and swapping has really made this month full of new products.  So I gathered together my top 10 products for this month.

1. Chanel - Bronze Universel/Bronzing Makeup Base

Review can be found here

2. Amazing Cosmetics - concealer in Light Golden

A little bit goes a really really long way with this concealer.

I have been suffering from some major acne this month, and thank god for this concealer, nobody ever has to know.

3. Chanel - Lift Lumiere Smoothing and Rejuvenating Eye Contour Concealer - 30 Abricot Lumiere (why talk about a long title). 

I love this eye concealer, enough to have recommended it to other people and they love it as well.  It is a very smooth formula for around your eyes and gives you enough coverage without looking cakey.  Where has this been all my life?!

I do believe however, I'll need a shade lighter, since I'm not getting much sun living here.

4. No 7 eyeshadow in Wheatsheaf

Click here to see the review

5. Makeup Academy (MUA) eyeshadow in 

Click here to see the review 

Both were very very cheap and gave me a great neutral shimmer that I need for my day-time look. I am so pleased with these two cheapies :)

6. Guerlain Terra Inca Sublime Radiant Powder for Face & Body 

I still love this, I'm still pulling it out to smell the wonderful fragrance, and to see the beautiful and intricate design.

Click here to see what I thought about this.

7. Poshe - Super fast drying top coat

They were not kidding, less than 1 minute, your nails are dried and you can go about your day.  I honestly can not live without this topcoat.

8.  Illamasqua nail varnish - Raindrops

I do not regret buying this polish at all, despite all the rumours about it being so sheer.  Mine was not sheer at all, 2 coats were enough for a complete opaque polish.  This is my go to summer polish! I love the formula, the colour, and the best part is just how long Illamasqua's varnishes last on me.

9.  Burberry lipstick - No 2 Cameo

I've had this lipstick for almost a year now and I never really gave it a chance, but this summer, I find that I keep reaching for this lipstick.

You can't go wrong with this adorable and sturdy packaging, but the colour wears well on my cool-toned skin.  It is just the equal amount of pink and beige mixture with a hint of coral for summer.

10.  Clinique - Redness Solution Powder

This is another product that I never gave a fair chance too, and this month I tried it again and I could really tell how much redness this powder covers up.  I lightly dust this on after my moisturizer and I see a significant coverage on my cheeks, around my chin and around my nose.  This has become a staple now.

So I was very happy about the 10 items that I choose that I am constantly reaching for this month and then it dawned on me that I forgot the number 1 most important item in my stash that I have been reaching for.

MY Skin79 BB Cream!!!!!!

Looks like whipped concealer and a bit thick and gooey

But it applies like a dream and blends so well

I could not live without my BB cream now.  It is my June top 10 and probably for the rest of next month as well.

I purchased majority of these items (except for the Poshe which was a gift) for below retail or during a promotion, so they were all at a discounted rate. So I felt that I did very well keeping to a tight budget.  Although the Guerlain did blow that budget out of the water, I love it so much, and I will have it for many many months and years to come. 

Now only if I didn't have a budget, I would have bought 2.

So here are my June's top 11

Have any of you guys tried any of these products?

Do you love? hate?

COME AND ENTER MY FIRST GIVEAWAY HERE

MUA (Makeup Academy) Shade 1 Nail Polish

I can't believe I'm going to attempt to write a post on 2.5 hours of sleep, but here I am up at 9am writing a post.  So if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, or just incoherent babble, then you know why :)

Superdrugs is so less superior to me than Boots on so many levels: store appearance, customer service, variety of products...the list goes on and on, but they have MUA (Makeup Academy).  It is an affordable (really affordable at a £1 each) makeup range that really doesn't impress you at first glance, but is quite understated considering what you get.

I purchased Shade 1 thinking it was going to be like China Glaze's Midnight Mission. In hindsight, I have NO idea why. They are completely different as you can see from the pictures below lol!

The micro glitters are completely different. 

But then I realised why I liked Shade 1 so much!

AHA! It reminded me of my favourite Chanel Nail polish (sans glitter) - BLUE SATIN!!!

Chanel Blue Satin, MUA Shade 1, China Glaze Midnight Mission

I absolutely adore Blue satin, and you know I love you all, because I use this polish so sparingly and I still swatched it for you xx

I am so happy to have found a polish for only £1 that gives me a Blue Satin but with a subtle glitter in the sunlight.

As for formula, this is the best formula I have tried within the high street range. It was smooth, easy to apply and dried pretty quickly.  I couldn't have asked for anymore from something that I spent only £1.  I am tempted to pick up other colours at this point, but none of the other colours jumped out at me to be honest.  I hope MUA will start to broaden their colour range and provide more unique colours.

OH and don't forget to enter my giveaway

http://tokkiandoliver.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-first-ever-giveaway.html

Review: Makeup Academy (MUA) - Shade 1 Pearl

I went to Superdrug to pick up their free magazine and after reading so much about MUA, I decided to try it.  The whole concept of this brand is affordable makeup at £1 each.  This reminds me of how much N.Y.C and Wet N Wild cost in the states, so I decided to give it a try.  I've heard nothing but excellent reviews about this product, so was it that good?

I know MUA is very active on facebook and I know they send a lot of their products out for review to certain bloggers.  I'm always weary of hearing that, but I trust that these bloggers are giving honest opinions, otherwise they will lose trust from their readers.

I was not given this, but I got this with my own money, so I'm going to give you the low down on their eyeshadows.

I tested every single colour at the store and my hand and arm looked ridiculous when I walked out lol

For £1, I honestly wasn't expecting much, but was very surprised.

A lot of women won't purchase this, because they will think it's cheap, while a lot of women will purchase it because it's cheap.

So for those who spend more money on eyeshadows, here's where it breaks down.

If you are completely spoiled by Dior, Inglot, Chanel, Suqqu, Guerlain eyeshadows, then yes this will fall slightly short of expectation.

HOWEVER...

If you are buying Bourjois, Revlon, Max Factor, No 7 and other high street products, you definitely definitely want to stop spending £5+ on eyeshadows and pick yourself up one of these.

PROS

* Good colour pay off

* Soft texture

CONS

* Weak packaging (what do you expect for £1)

* Fall out

I really don't want to criticise this eyeshadow so much, because in life sometimes you get what you pay for, so for £1, I think these are great travel shadows and especially the one that I got, it makes a great base colour or highlighter.

I personally didn't like the other colours, but this neutral was great for my brow bone highlighting, and it wore quite well for a few hours (with primer of course).

Honestly, if you want to experiment with colour, pick yourself up some MUA to experiment with.  You won't cry if you don't like it for £1.