Superdrug MUA Lipgloss Shade 4: Cheap and Awesome!

Superdrug MUA (the MUA stands for Makeup Artist) is a line of makeup launched by Superdrug, the eponymous drugstore line. The main attraction of the makeup line is that all its items are just £1. Yup, everything is just a quid! Of course, this means that there are hits and misses - some items are great, some are not so good. Here's one that I think is fantastic.

Introducing the Superdrug MUA Lipgloss in Shade 4. I picked up this little gloss when I stepped into Superdrug for a quick browse and got tempted. The Superdrug MUA line actually has two ranges of lipgloss, both called Lipgloss, but the colours in each line are different. The packaging is also different - one of the glosses comes in a squeeze tube, the other one, which I bought, comes in a hard plastic tube with a wand applicator.

Here's the gloss that I bought. I wasn't impressed by the other shades I swatched, but I did like Shade 4. so I ended up buying it!



Here's a swatch of the gloss. Unlike the other glosses, which were just very sheer and glitter-laden, Shade 4 actually is a colour I really like. It's a deep rosy pink with fine gold shimmer. Very wearable, and very flattering on almost all skintones! Pigmentation was also very good, unlike the rest of the Superdrug MUA lipglosses. As you can see, my skin doesn't even show through.



And here's a swatch of it on my lips. The gold shimmer doesn't really show up on my lips, but it imparts some subtlety of colour that I really like. It would be suitable even for work.



So that's my cheap and awesome find of the day! I certainy hope I'll be finding more gems like this!

Cheap Dupe: Becca Prairie Moon Eye Look with Superdrug MUA Shade 1

Becca is one of those brands you'll never have heard of unless you're a beauty addict, and even then, it usually takes a little while to get over the shock of how expensive tiny vials of makeup can be. That said, almost all their items are of very good quality - I personally am a fan of the Pressed Shimmer Powders (or PSPs if you know the lingo) and Loose Shimmer Powders (or LSPs). Every season, they also release palettes containing eyeshadows, cream blush and eyeliner that get a lot of good press. This season, they released the Prairie Moon Palette, which consisted of a lip/cheek creme, and some eyshadows.

(Picture courtesy of Northender on MUA)

As usual, I was drooling over those pictures, in particular the beautiful silvery-green eyeshadow. It's second from the right, and it looked absolutely gorgeous. I was thinking - since it was that silvery-green eyeshadow I wanted most, surely in my massive stash, there must be something similar, if not a dupe, for it?

So I rooted around in my makeup stash, and voila. This is what I found. Not a dupe, but pretty, nonetheless.



Yes, that's the £1-a-pop Superdrug MUA line. They have a series of loose eyeshadow powders, called the Eye Dusts, which I found a little bit overrated, to be honest. But for £1, what's not to like? This is Shade 1.

Shade 1 is a silvery-green with gold shimmer, much like the Becca version. I really like this colour - I think it leans cool, but the gold shimmer warms it up so that it's not unwearabble if you're a warmtoned girl. It's very pretty, and it was the colour that made me buy it in the first place.



This looks quite close to the Becca version to me, only that the Becca version isn't as glittery. I have to admit, the glitter in this one is in rather large chunks, while the Becca version isn't. Also, I think the Becca shade is a bit more brown, leaning khaki, while the Superdrug MUA shade is a more simplistic silver-grey shade, without the khaki hints. So it's not a dupe. But it's still a pretty shadow in a similar colour family.

So, with that in mind, I decided to attempt an eye look with this shade. Here is how it turned out. Firstly, you'll have to excuse the lashes - I had an incident with my eyelash curler, which chopped off a good 4-5 lashes, leaving me with a bald spot along my lashline:



Here is a breakdown of the eye look:

Superdrug MUA Eye Dust Shade 1 on lid
Urban Decay Twice Baked in crease
Milani Snow Frost on browbone
Covergirl Lashblast mascara
Urban Decay Yeyo 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in inner corner
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner Pencil in Metallic Brass in outer lower lashline

For this look, I foiled the Superdrug MUA Eye Dust. The Eye Dusts are only of medium pigmentation, so if you really want that wet look you'll have to foil them. And when you foil them, it's a good idea to use a sticky base, instead of just water like I did. These loose powders have little staying power, so a good base is necessary.

Here is a picture of the eye look with my eyes closed. You can see the Eye Dust falling off onto my lashes already without a base. You can also see the stumps of lashes where my eyelash curler brutally chopped them off:



So, was the dupe-the-look attempt successful? Not really, because the Superdrug MUA Eye Dust isn't really a dupe for the Becca eyeshadow in the palette. But I guess for £1, it's the cheapest way possible to get a similar look. So I imagine if you're on a budget, and don't mind the blingy shimmer in the Eye Dust, it would probably be worth a go for you. But if you hate big chunky shimmer, and don't want to deal with loose powder fallout, then the Becca palette will bring you much more enjoyment.

Superdrug MUA Makeup Academy Lip Gloss Swatches

So, months after the buzz about Superdrug launching its everything-is-£1 MUA Makeup Academy line, my local Superdrug has finally gotten in an MUA display stand. Or it could be that I didn't see it before. It's possible, but whatever the case, I finally managed to see the MUA line in person.

My feelings about this brand are mixed. I know everyone and their mum has been raving about this, but I didn't really find the eyeshadows or lipsticks or nail polishes that interesting colour-wise, and honestly, the eyeshadow testers were hardened on the top surface (probably due to the oils from the fingers of customers testing them out, but still...), and the lipsticks seemed a little dry (again, could be the testers drying out). I guess for a quid, you can't complain. But just as I thought I'd give the brand a pass, I saw their Lip Gloss. The MUA line actually has two types of lipgloss, both called Lip Gloss, the only difference being that one is in wand form and one is in tube form. I was drawn to the wand one, because the colours looked so pretty and interesting in the packaging.

They have five shades, numbered simply Shades 1 to 5. Shade 1 was a clear base with glitter, and Shade 5 was just a clear lipgloss, so I didn't bother to swatch either of them. But I did swatch Shades 2-4:



Shade 2 is a sheer neutral red with some shimmer (that doesn't show up in the photograph). It's a very sheer, wearable red gloss that I thought looked more interesting in the bottle.

Shade 3 is a sheer fuschia pink gloss. This one has no shimmer. Once again, it's also very sheer.

Shade 4 totally wowed me after the sheerness of Shades 2 and 3. It's a rose with warm gold shimmer. This is easily the winner of the lot, and very pigmented too!

These lipglosses actually reminded me a lot of the Revlon Super Lustrous lip glosses in terms of texture and smell and feel. If you liked the Super Lustrous glosses, you'll probably like these too. Shade 4 in particular is really pretty - I have this one, and I'll seriously need to get around to doing a proper lip swatch and review soon!