Review | MUA 3 in 1 Contour Pens

Hey Guys! Here is my review on the MUA 3 in 1 Contour Pens!

   Shades left to right - Dark Brown, Sea Blue, Black

 

Shade - Sea Blue

 

Shade - Black

 

Shade - Dark Brown

 

Cost - £1.50 e

Shades - 8

Places to Buy - MUA Online

 

Packaging: The packaging on these liners are your typical, plastic automatic pencil style. The twisting mechanism is very sturdy and works very well. The overall feel of the casing doesn't feel cheap at all, even though it is very standard plastic. The writing on the packaging is in silver and I believe it is just printed on, however I have had these liners for a while now and they writing has not rubbed off in any way. The lid clicks onto the tube, this is handy as it means that you know the lid isn't going to pop off the top of the liner, making the liner go all over the rest of your makeup/breaking apart. The 'nib' end of the casing goes inward at the tip to allow the flat shape of the pencil to stay flat and so it can move freely through when twisting to reveal the product. I have had no problems with that casing breaking/cracking/being hard to manage. It looks very sleek and the slim design makes it easy to hold and it fits perfectly in your storage/makeup bag.

 

Texture: The texture of these liners is very soft, silky and creamy. They glide on the eye with no problems, I really like the formula. However, if you have extremely oily eye lids, you may find that you can't use these on the upper lash line without setting them/smudging them out for a smokey look - I don't have extremely oily lids, but they are oily and I have had some problems with them running down my face, however this isn't the case all the time when I use them as a liner on my lash line, it only happens on certain occasions. They are also really great for use on the water line as well, the formula allows them to glide on there without loosing pigmentation and being hard against your eye. The formula and the texture of these liners also mean that the pigmentation is very fluent and you wont find that the colour skips when applying and you will get quite full colour when you use them.

 

When Do I Apply These?: Like all eyeliners, you apply these while you are doing your eye makeup as the name would suggest. If you are applying eyeshadow, you would use these after you have completed that application so you don't loose the colour of the liner/change it. Eyeliners can also be used alone on the eye so, again, you would just use these as you are applying your eye makeup as a whole.

 

I've Applied Too Much!: When you apply too much liner, there isn't a lot you can do and the fixing of it can tend to be quite tricky. I would suggest just using a Q-tip with some eye makeup remover in it and cleaning up the line until you are happy with it, but doing this means that you run the risk of having to touch up the entirety of your makeup as it will get rid of the makeup around/on your eyes. The other option is to simply, make it work! If you've made the line a lot thicker than what you originally wanted it to be, the only real option is that you make the other side just as thick and keep it how it is.

 

Would I Recommend These?: Yes, I would recommend these eyeliners. I think that for the price they are amazing quality, the shade range is mediocre but they have a variety of different colour types so its not that bad. Like I said, if you do have really oily lids, a primer will be needed to control that oil and you may have to set the liners/smudge them for a more smokey look to your liner. The angled shape of the liners makes application even easier and it fits perfectly to the shape of your eye.

 

Hope This Helps!

xox

 

 

                                

Review | ELF Brightening Eye Color

Hey Guys! So, today I have a review of the ELF Brightening Eye Color (eyeshadow quads).

 

                                             

Shade - Drama

 

Shade - Brownstone

 

Shade - Day 2 Night

 

 

Shade - Luxe

 

Shade - Ethereal

Price - £1.50 e

Shades - 14

Places To Buy - ELF UK, ELF USA

 

 

Packaging: The packaging on these eyeshadow quads are extremely standard as far as drugstore palettes are concerned - Plastic. They are made of plastic, the bottom half is a white plastic whereas the top lid part of the palette is clear. The fact the lid is clear is extremely handy so you don't have to memorise names of you quads or open every single one until you find the one you are looking for - the clear plastic allows you to be able to see the colours that are in there, which is perfect if you have a large collection of these shadows. The writing on the front is a silver colour, however don't expect it to stay written on there as it does rub off - I assume it is just sprayed on there. The palettes do feel very cheaply made and packaged but for £1.50/$1, what more can you expect? I don't mind the slightly cheap feel of the compact as the shadows inside are, in my opinion, fantastic. There is a tiny mirror at the bottom of the inside of the compact where the shadows are, when you buy the palette brand new, a sponge tip comes supplied in there. However, I do believe the mirror is massively useless. It is far too small to be able to see what you are doing and gets really messy from the shadows anyway. The triangular shape of the shadows can cause a few problems as you may not be able to get your brush in the single shade and may get a few other shades on the brush, something to think about when buying these - you may need to invest in a smaller/slimmer shadow brush if you don't already possess one as if not you may find yourself being stuck/using your fingers to apply the shades.

 

Texture: In my personal experience, the texture of these shadows vary from quad to quad. Day 2 Night for example, the shades are very pigmented, buttery smooth, and glide on the lid without looking chalky, crumbling or flaking off your lid. However, if we take Ethereal, this is the opposite end of the scale. These shadows are not as greatly pigmented, they are not buttery smooth, still smooth though. They can flake off my lids and appear crumbly if I don't use a very good and tacky base - I particularly like the ELF Glitter Primer for this as it is very sticky and has no colour so it doesn't change the shade of the shadows. Taking Ethereal as an exception, the texture of the majority of these quads are very smooth, pigmented and glide on the lid without any problems. The finishes range from matte, satin, shimmer and glitter - something you may want to look out for when purchasing your quad as well. The texture of the glitter shades can sometimes be quite chunky based on some previous reviews I have read, however this is not the case for all of them, something you may want to read up on. In my personal experience with these shadows, the only quad I have been ever so slightly disappointed with is the quad in Ethereal, however I still like it and this it would be great for beginners as the shades are very neutral and the fact they are not massively pigmented, means they will be much more forgiving if you mess up slightly during application.

 

When do I apply these?: With eyeshadows it honestly doesn't even matter, however there are a few tips I will give you about when to apply certain shadow types/shades. 1. If you are working with very dark/shadows that tend to have a lot of fall out - make sure you do the eyeshadow step first. This is because it will prevent you from spoiling the rest of your face makeup from fall out/smudges of dark shades, and you will find its easier to work with as you can be quite messy and clean it up after you're done, as you wont run the risk of ruining the rest of you makeup. 2.If you are working with light/neutral shades with not a lot of fallout - Your options are wide open. The timing of application doesn't really matter as you will have very slight chances of ruining your makeup that you have already applied. I personally like to apply my shadows after my base makeup (foundation, concealer, powder). This is because I can then work my blush/bronzer/lips around the way I have done my eye makeup. However, you could also do it vice versa - making your eyes match everything else.

 

I've applied too much!: Don't fret! With eyeshadows the way to tone down a look that went a little heavier than expected is simply to take a fluffy brush and keep blending the shades out. This will diffuse the colour and the more you blend - the lighter and sheerer the shades the appear. Keep blending until you are finally happy with the outcome - blending is important on any shadow look anyway but is also a great fix if you have gone too heavy on a look, not just too harsh.

 

Would I recommend these?: Yes! I would recommend these shadows. However, I don't think that all the shades will please everybody and the shade range may not be the widest for some people - the shades do range from neutral, colourful and dark though so, there should be at least one quad that caters to your needs. For £1.50/$1 I honestly don't think you can go wrong, and if you do get a dud palette, it's not a massive loss like it would be if you ended up not liking a Tom Ford quad for example.

 

Hope This Helps!

xoxoxo