MUA Swatches

I was in Dublin on Thursday for the Best in Beaut.ie Awards (more on that later) and I found a bit of time to go shopping while I was there. Of course I had to head out to Superdrug and pick up some MUA cosmetics. I really wish somewhere in Galway would stock MUA, their products are fantastic and so, so cheap. 

My haul :D 

As always, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger

This is the MUA Professional Palette in Heaven and Earth. It's one of the most versatile palettes I've ever bought. Every eyeshadow in there can be matched with another one to create a full look. It's got lid shades, crease shades and, unlike many palettes, highlight shades. 

Costing a super reasonable €4.75, this palette can easily fit most budgets. I will be stocking up on these next time I'm in a Superdrug, so a warning to my friends: You're all getting these as birthday presents.

Of course I managed to swatch everything upside down. Top row in the palette is the bottom  row of swatches and vice versa. Eyeshadows are swatched over UDPP

I also got the Starry Night palette. I own very few grey eyeshadows, so this is perfect to fill that gap. I can't see myself getting much wear from the pinks and purples in this palette, as they're a little too cool-toned for me, but I love the greys and the shimmery black. 

The colours are a bit more vibrant than this IRL, my flash washed them out a little. 

Superdrug didn't have a great selection of single eyeshadows when I was there, they were sold out of most of them. Therefore the only single I picked up was Shade 8- Pearl. 

The single eyeshadows are €1.05 iirc.

Swatched upside-down again, oops. Shade 8 is tacked on there at the end. 

I'd never tried MUA's lipsticks before so I grabbed a few of those too. 

I think the lipsticks were also €1.05, but I've lost my receipt so I'm probably wrong. 

L-R: Shade 11, Shade 1, Shade 8. 

Lipsticks are swatched over Urban Decays Lip Primer 

Shade 11 is a lovely, creamy nude. I've been looking for a shade like this for ages so I'm glad to have found one, especially one that's so cheap

My lip piercing looks super crooked in these photos. It's not, I just have wonky lips and the bar is too long. 

Shade one is a quite glossy red. I can see this being my go-to red this Autumn

Shade 8 is the final colour I bought. It's a sheer red with gold glitter.

When I swatched this in Superdrug I thought it would be my favourite, but on my lips it doesn't really work at all. The other two applied perfectly, but this one was a pain. It went on patchily and bled a little at the edges of my lips. I'll get some wear out of it, but I won't be reaching for it as often as the others. 

What's everyone else's thoughts on MUA?

Can anyone recommend me any other products to try from them? 

FOTD: contrasting colours are my favourites

Orange and blue are my favourite set of contrasting colours, so I've been wearing a lot of orange since I dyed my hair. 

Face: 

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

Almay Nearly Naked Makeup

Urban Decay CIA Concealer Pencil

E.L.F. Complexion Perfection Powder

MAC Hipness Blush

MAC MSFN Medium

Bourjois Highlighter

MAC Fix+

Eyes:

UDPP

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Fyrinnae Chlorophyll e/s (inner lid)

Fyrinnae Electro Koi (outer 2/3 of lid)

MAC Evening Aura e/s (between Chlorophyll and Electro Koi)

MAC Brash e/s (crease and outer v)

MUA 18 e/s (browbone) 

MAC Shroom e/s (brow highlight)

GOSH Bananas Velvet Touch liner (inner corner and inner half of bottom lid)

MAC X e/s (over Bananas)

UD Flipside 24/7 liner (outer half of bottom lid) 

Fyrinnae Digital Faerie e/s (over Flipside)

MAC Spiced Chocolate e/s (brows)

Barry M Iridescent liquid liner (upper lashline)

Collection 2000 Big Fake mascara

I'm wearing a t-shirt that I really really love from Qwertee in these photos. 

You can see a less crap photo of it here :D I'm a big Pokémon fan so I was so excited when I saw this t-shirt! It's not available anymore but there's some really great t-shirts that will hopefully be on sale soon, like this Pokémon one and this Hitchhikers Guide one. Check them out! 

Disclaimer: I'm not be paid or anything to promote Qwertee, I just really like their t-shirts. 

MUA, Urban Decay, Barry M and Penney's GILT swatches

Today I swatched the makeup I got in Dublin along with some things I got from Barry M recently. It was starting to get dark as I was doing these, so they're not as good as I'd like, but most of them are quite true to life. 

Oh, also I got my hair cut last week. In these pictures it isn't styled or anything so it looks a bit crap, but maybe tomorrow I'll stick up some pictures of it when it's looking nice. I'm pretty happy with it, I think it suits me better than my long hair and it's much easier to deal with. I can even comb it now! I haven't been able to comb my hair (without losing half the teeth on the comb) in a long time. The left side needs a bit more shaping, and it's a little too long so once I figure out what I want done over there I'll go and get that fixed up. Best of all, my haircut only cost a tenner (!). I went to the Connacht School of Hairdressing in Galway.

First up are the Barry M swatches. I bought Lip Paint in Marshmallow (lp101) and Glitter Eye Crayon in Black (gc6) along with the Crackle Polish I've already blogged about. I got these on 3 for 2 in Boots. They were €6/€7 each. 

I've worn them both and I'm not too impressed to be honest. The eye crayon looks nice but it doesn't wear well, it goes very smudgy and the glitter really spreads around your face. However I've been wearing it as an eyeshadow base under glittery eyeshadows and it works really well like that.

The lipstick isn't really the right colour for me, but it could suit some people. It's very white and pink toned. The texture is ok, but it's a little drying. I'd recommend wearing it over a lipbalm or moisturising primer. It wears fairly well but you will need to reapply after eating or drinking as it fades out in the middle quite easily. 

I'd say I'll get a bit of wear out of this, sheered out a little it doesn't look so harsh. Also I think it would be nice under a coloured lipgloss. 

Next are the Urban Decay products I got in the discount cosmetics shop on O'Connell st and my new eyeliner from Debenhams. 

I wrote the other day about how I couldn't find an Urban Decay counter in Dublin and therefore couldn't buy a new Bourbon liner. (Btw, I'm impressed people actually managed to get through that whole ramble) My mum was in Dublin at the weekend and she was kind enough to pick one up for me. Bourbon is probably my favourite liner ever. Most days when I can't be bothered spending lots of time on my makeup but still want to look presentable I just smudge a little of this around my eyes, throw on a bit of foundation, blusher and mascara and I'm good to go. 

It's the perfect colour for my warm toned skin and sets off my eyes nicely. This liner is available from Debenhams and some Boots and it costs around €15. It's also available in mini form in some of the liner sets.

I had never used an Urban Decay mascara or lipstick before so I was excited to try these. The lipstick is a pinkish red sheen called Gravity. I haven't worn this out yet so I can't speak for the staying power but it applies nicely. In the pictures below it's applied straight from the tube, with no care taken so it does look nicer when applied with a lip brush and blotted. I would recommend a lip liner with this one, I noticed some feathering when I put it on for the swatch. 

The lipstick has a caramel scent which I really like but I'm sure some people will find it overpowering. I like the packaging, it's heavy and feels sturdy. This is on the UD website so I assume it's widely available.

 The mascara is Big Fatty Coloured Mascara in Black Cherry

-The tv's on in the background while I'm writing this, and the Coca Cola Christmas ad just came on! It's the first time I've seen it this year so EXCITEMENT! I'm taking that as a sign that I can now get into the Christmas spirit. Now back to what I was saying...-

Weirdly the mascara and the lipstick are nearly the exact same colour. I've always like the idea of coloured mascaras, but they've never lived up to my expectations. Either they're too pigmented and make me look like I have an eye infection (Barry M Shocking Pink coloured mascara, I'm talking to you) or they're barely pigmented enough to show on my dark lashes. This one hits are fairly good balance. I like it, it shows up as just a hint of a dark cherry colour on the lashes. Only problem with it is it's not a good mascara. Unless you have wonderlashes you will need to wear another mascara under this as it gives no curl or length and only a tiny bit of volume. 

I paid €10 for the two of these, or they're €6 each from the shop I mentioned. 

The M.U.A. products I bought in Superdrug. These are seriously cheap, I think I paid €1.05 per item. I haven't actually used most of these yet so this will be quick. I've also thrown in the GILT eyeshadow I got in Penney's.

I bought three eyeshadows; Shade 18 which is a Matt pink-white, Shade 10 which is a purple Pearl and Shade 12 which is a green-brown Pearl. 

Shade 18 I bought in the hopes it could replace MAC Orb as my eyeshadow for blending out. I use Orb as it's a similar colour to my skin but I've hit the pan on it and would like to find a cheaper alternative. This seems like it will do the job, you can't actually see it in the swatch pictures because it's so similar to the colour of my skin. It's more pink than Orb and I don't know yet how it applied seeing as I haven't worn it yet. The texture seems nice and smooth though. 

Shade 12 is a dark shimmery bluish purple. It's nice, and doesn't seem similar to any other colours I have.

Shade 12 is green with a brown base. This would be a good dupe for MAC Club I think.

Top half of the swatch is over UDPP, bottom half is over Pixie Epoxy.

L-R: Shade 18, 10, 12. You can't see shade 18 due to it being so close to my skincolour

The Penneys GILT Liquid Gold Metallic Cream is the first of the Penneys cosmetics I've tried. I wore it a few days ago and I didn't like it very much. It doesn't show up well on the skin and it doesn't last very long. As an eyeshadow base it works ok but it's not going to become my preferred gold eyeshadow base. It smells plasticy and cheap. It's a pity because I like the packaging and was hoping I'd like the product too. 

I bought the MUA blusher in Shade 3. I haven't worn this yet but it's a good coral colour and the colour payoff seems good. It has a little bit of shimmer so this might have to be a nighttime blusher, I don't like being too much of a glitterbomb in the daylight!

Lastly I got the MUA Liquid Liner in Shade 4, a metallic grey. I love the brush on this, as you can see in the picture it's very thin at the end so it can make a very precise line. I've worn this once and it seems good, it applies smoothly and the colour is nice against my green eyes. It flakes a little if you rub at it.

Ignore the brown line under the liquid liner, it's just the UD liner that I couldn't wipe off

Wait, I lied, that wasn't the last thing. I bought one more product from MUA, the clear mascara. I didn't own clear mascara prior to this so I thought I'd try it since it was so cheap. I've been using it to keep my brows in shape and it's working a treat. Wouldn't advise using it as actual mascara though, it doesn't appear to do anything when I apply it to my lashes.

I think that's everything, I hope this was helpful to someone. Let me know if any of you have tried to products featured here, what did you think of them? Is there any other MUA products I should try? 

Shopping Trip

I think Google Reader enjoys messing with my head. 

Logged on today and there wer 989(!) unread items in there. I clicked on one, read it, and now there's only 787 unread items. The hell, google?

I've been trying to watch The Runaways for 4 days now. That movie hates me too. Got 45 minutes in 4 days ago and the sound went. Streamed it the next night and when I brought my laptop to bed to watch it, it turned out to be in black and white. Last night I got to the final 20 minutes and my battery died. Grr. Actually does anyone know if it's out on DVD yet in Ireland? I always like to buy DVDs when I like the movie, rather than watching them online.

In other news I went to Dublin for a shopping trip yesterday. It was fun, I got some nice new clothes and had a yummy dinner. 

So I got to Dublin on the early (7:05, it was horrible) train. I had read online that Superdrug in Tallaght had Sleek so I got the Luas out there to try and get my hands on the new palettes.

Because I was still half asleep, I wandered around for 10 minutes looking for the shopping centre. Of course it turned out to be literally right across the road from the Luas stop. Typical. 

So I finally found the Superdrug and went in all excited. Had a look around and saw no Sleek stand. Assuming my lack of sleep was making me stupid I found a sales assistant. "Hi, I'm wondering where you keep the Sleek cosmetics" "That what?" "The Sleek, you know... the cosmetics brand" She turns to another SA, "Hey, do you know anything about this... Sleek?"

It turns out she did, and what she knew was that they don't stock it in that Superdrug. Feeling so not impressed, I had a bit of a look around and managed to come across some M.U.A. things I liked, which were super cheap (€1.05 each I think). I'll swatch them and do a review once I've worn them, but I picked up a silver liquid liner, a blush, a clear mascara, the MAC Club dupe, a pale nude colour, which I'm thinking could be a dupe for my beloved MAC Orb and a purple. 

At least it wasn't a complete waste of a trip. 

I got the Luas back into town and rather annoyingly I finished my book halfway through the journey. I was reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and it was supposed to last me for the journey home too. I quite enjoyed it though. 

So I got off at Jervis st and went into the Jervis Centre. Annoyingly, Forever 21 is opening there on Saturday, so I missed it. I was starving by the time I got there so I popped into Boots for a sandwich. Why doesn't Boots in Galway do food?? Seriously, it was the best value lunch ever. For €3.99 I got a mexican bean wrap, a chocolate brownie (it was nom) and an Innocent strawberry and banana smoothie. Since the smoothies alone are usually the best part of €3 I thought that was super cheap for all three. 

I had a look in the new New Look and was seriously underwhelmed. Sure, it's big. Yay. It doesn't really have much more in it that New Look here though, everything is just far more spaced out. I had to leave because the OMGBRIGHT lights and super shiny things everywhere were hurting my head. I went upstairs and bought a mustard yellow vest top in Stradivarius and a t-shirt in Bershka. Then I grabbed a coffee from Costa (mega expensive, but so frothy it was worth it) and off I hopped. 

Check shirt- H&M, t-shirt-Bershka, mustard vest- Stradivarius

I went on a bit of a wander while I was drinking my coffee and I came across a Penney's. I didn't get much of a chance to look around, but I did notice some nice brogue-ish shoes. They looked cute in the small sizes on display, I'm sure on my size 8 feet they'd just look like I'd stolen a man's shoes. I picked up a few things from the Catrice stand in there, including a yellow glitter nailpolish, and I got a Penney's GILT gold gel liner which looks very promising. I've never tried Penney's cosmetics before, I often see nice looking bits reviewed on blogs, but the store in Galway doesn't seem to get the good things in.

The Ilac centre is one of those kind of forgotten shopping centres, isn't it. It's the one that misses out on all the cool shops. That being said, they do have the best H&M. I picked up a check shirt in H&M. I know for a lot of people these have become a staple, but I've never worn one before so I bought this one. I wasn't too impressed by what H&M had to offer to be honest, I usually like their jewellery and accessories but I didn't see anything that caught my eye. 

My sister had told me about a shop on O'Connell st, beside Kylemore, that was selling cheap Urban Decay. I picked up a lipstick and the cherry big fatty mascara in there. A lot of the stuff they had in the shop I already own, but I tried to buy a surreal skin foundation, only to be told at the till it was twice the price I thought it was (apparently it was on the €8 shelf and should have been on the €16 one). I left it because there was no tester and while I don't mind spending €8 on a foundation that isn't a great match, €16 is too much to waste.

After getting my Urban Decay I headed over towards Temple Bar and had a bit of a look in Urban Outfitters. I was disappointed with UO, I usually want to take the whole shop home with me, but this time the only thing that grabbed me was a brown satchel, which I didn't end up buying. I really like it though, so maybe if they still have it next time I'm there. 

Pic from UrbanOutfitters.co.uk

American Apparel was up next and I had printed an email for 20% off in there so I bought some green high-waisted jeans and a blue hoodie. It's so hard to find high-waisted jeans so whenever I do, I have to buy them. The jeans I got can be found here, although they don't have the colour I got on the website. I bought this hoody in Mermaid Green. It's the most comfortable hoody ever.

I have a question- Where exactly sells Urban Decay in Dublin? I was told that all the big boots stores sold it, and I checked every single one I saw but found no Urban Decay. It's really annoying because I need a new Bourbon eyeliner, all of mine are so small they can't be sharpened. Actually, has anyone else noticed that the silver bit on the end of 24/7 liners twists? So when the pencil begins to get small it becomes a total pain to sharpen and you have to abandon the last inch or two. Sneaky...

I took a bit of a wander around Grafton St without being amazed by anything and by then I was starving so I decided to head on over to Yamamori for a late lunch/early dinner. I had the lunch bento box (€9.95) and a Mojito (€5.50). It was lovely, and so filling I couldn't finish it all. In the bento I got 2 pieces of tempura fish, a brown rice ball, miso soup, salmon nigiri, prawn nigiri and a lamb and potato curry. The tempura fish was amazing, I think it had some pickled ginger in it and the batter was perfect. I didn't think I'd like the curry much when it arrived, it didn't look like the kind of thing I'd enjoy. Luckily I was proven wrong, it was great. I was a bit let down by the sushi, but maybe it's just what I got as I often hear people rave about their sushi. My prawn nigiri was ok, fairly tasteless but not awful and the salmon was clammy and seemed like it could have been fresher. 

Oh, I forgot about my charity shop finds. In Enable Ireland I found these two great dresses. The gold and black one is from Warehouse originally and was €9 and the polka dot one was €15. I've always wanted a poofy polka dot dress, and now I have one! 

After my dinner I went for a bit of a wander around. I was looking to find a second hand bookshop to get something to read on the bus but I couldn't see one anywhere and none of the charity shops I checked had anything decent. In the end I bought the new issue of Elle and, realising I'd just missed a bus, I popped into a cocktail bar to wait for the next one. I think it was called Morgans, it was around Temple Bar anyway. I had an amazing Raspberry Mojito, made with Bacardi Oro, mint, lime, fresh raspberries and raspberry liqueur. 

It was niiice.