Shopping The Stash #1

Following my recent haul and the fact that I'm saving for a holiday, I've installed a bit of a spending ban upon myself. I've been avoiding Boots and Superdrug like the plague and so have found another way to evoke that new-product excitement: raiding the hidden depths of my beauty drawers. Of course a lip balm had to be involved in this rotation: I have so many that I do need to remind myself to use them. The pleasant oiliness of the Maybelline Baby Lips is a long-term favourite of mine, but one that has been neglected. Another lip product is my Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub. I can't believe I forgot about this, but it's nearing it's use-by date and I want to make sure I make full use of it before it needs to be disposed of. Next we have a Natural Collection eye shadow, a lovely chocolatey brown that I've been using in my eyebrows in the place of a pencil. Finally, I picked up the Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam mascara from my big box of mascaras and swapped it for what I'd been using previously. Welcome to the make-up bag.

xx



Review: MUA Heaven & Earth Palette

 

 

Sorting through my beauty stash the other day, I realised something: I don't own many nudey eye shades. I was quite surprised by this, simply because it seemed like such an obvious thing to own. The subtle glam that a simple, soft brown smokey eye can bring to any day or night look is something that I'm personally a fan of so I honestly didn't expect to be lacking these shades in my collection. Naturally, the only plausible thing to do would be to go out and buy said shades, which is exactly what I did: enter MUA's Heaven & Earth Palette.

 

 

This 12 shadow palette contains a variety of brown tones, ranging from dark chocolate to buttery cream. All colours are 'shimmer' but not in a glittery or gaudy way - they're more luminous than anything. They're lovely to apply and very blendable, with very little fall out.

 

 

As they don't have shade names I'll brand them with numbers 1 - 12, starting from the top left and finishing at the bottom right. My most used colours are 4, 9, 10 and 12 - number 4 as a base and highlight, 9 and 10 for creating the smokey line and number 12 as a sort of eye liner along my eyelash line. Pigmentation for these shadows are great and they last all day.

 

 

Shades 1 - 6 (top row)

 

Shades 7 - 12 (bottom row)

 

Avaliable for £4 from Superdrug or the MUA Online store, this palette is a must-have for nude eye lovers or even for younger girls who are beginning to build their own make-up collection. A perfect stocking filler, too!

 

xx



Budget Brand Focus: Boots Natural Collection

 

 

Personally, when I think of certain brands I have a certain product of theirs in mind. Collection: concealer. Rimmel: lipstick and foundation. Revlon: nail varnish. They all have their own sensational hits or depressing misses with products that are widely appreciated across the blogging world, so I thought I'd do a little 'Brand Focus' series here on Mega Beauty to show you guys my likes and dislikes with certain brands.

 

I thought I'd kick off with one of my favourite budget brands, Natural Collection. A baby of the Boots brand, Natural Collection's products are all Dermatologically Tested and Fragrance Free so they're perfect for even the most sensitive skins! The price range of this brand is fantastic, ranging from £1.79 - £1.99 per item or rather often they feature a '3 for £5' deal that I regularly take advantage of. The product range itself is rather good, they have all the normal products you would expect such as mascara, eyeliner, lipsticks and nail varnishes as well as blushers, foundations, concealers and bronzing pearls. However the shade ranges are lacking in some areas such as the blushers and eye shadow duos where-as the lipstick and nail varnish range is full of lovely shades.

 

So without further ado, I'll show you my little collection of their products and my thoughts!

 

 

I currently own one Blushed Cheeks Blusher in Pink Cloud, one Eye Shadow Duo in Mink/Sable and three Moisture Shine Lipsticks in Berry Blush (top), Raspberry (left) and Pink Mallow (right).

 

As you can see, the packing of these products are fairly simple and straight-forward: white plastic containers with clear screw-on lids for the potted products and a simple white lipstick lid for the lipsticks (obviously). The brand logo is written in a simple brown on the side/top. I personally like the packaging aesthetically, it's very simple and the clean white shade makes the colour of the products pop. The practicality of the packaging is awful though - the pans all fall out of the pots but it's nothing a little super glue wont fix.

 

Now onto the products themselves.

 

I've done a full review on the Blusher here so if you want the full info on this product plus swatches then go and take a look, but for now I'll just give you the basics. The pigment of this is literally incredible, you hardly need any on your brush and it does require quite a light hand as it's so packed full of colour so it means the little pot will last a long time! It sits very nicely upon the skin and lasts a fair amount of time. This is the only shade I have from this range as the others are more bronzy/peachy and they're not really my thing. This blush was £1.99.

 

The Eyeshadow Duo is my newest purchase, I got this when I went on a 'neutral eye' shopping spree (I also picked up a Heaven & Earth MUA Palette, review coming soon!) and have been using it regularly since. The shades I chose are Mink/Sable, a lovely light chocolatey brown and a slightly shimmery cream. Both of these shades are quite matte and yet at the same time have a slight luminosity to them that make them very flattering. The pigment isn't amazing, but that might just be because of how light the shades are themselves but they do last a long time. I wear these together, with a darker shade from the MUA Palette to accentuate the crease a little more. The other shades in the collection are quite nice but I think these are the only neutrals. This duo was £1.99.

 

Finally, the lipsticks.  My three shades are Berry Blush, a deep purple/red/pink shade that's packed with subtle sparkle, Raspberry, a pretty red/pink shade and my favourite, Pink Mallow, a gorgeous dusty pink shade that I can't stop wearing. The consistency of these lipsticks is really nice and buttery but despite being part of the 'Moisture Shine' range they're not particularly moisurising, a lip balm is definitely needed. The staying power is okay, but if you're planning on wearing it for an all-day-out kind of day, you'll definitely need to take it with you! The shade range is quite nice, a mix of nudes, reds and pinks but there's not really any darker shades. These lipsticks were £1.99 each.

 

 

So there you have it!

 

Overall, I do love this brand. There's a few gems within the product line-up but they also have their faults with shade ranges, so I'd say it's a mixed bag. The price definitely makes up for it though!

 

xx