Trying out Makeup Academy liquid lipsticks - Review

So I don't know if anyone has heard of Makeup Academy products before but that's what I am going to be blogging about today.

I've been off from work for the past week due to having a bad back and being as bored as I have been I decided to go through my makeup because, honestly, I can't even remember half of the stuff I have.

And then I found a bunch of liquid lipsticks from the brand Makeup Academy (MUA) that I'm pretty sure I bought at some point last year and hadn't even gotten around to using. I think apart from one all were sealed so I spent some of the afternoon trying them out.

But before I start I'm just going to say a couple of things about the brand for your own information. From looking on the website it says the brand is Cruelty Free and they sell a range of makeup from lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes, highlighters, to contour kits, foundations and primers. I think they stock a bit of everything. They're incredibly cheap, like cheaper than your other common drug store brands. I think I paid roughly £3 for each of them which is probably the cheapest I have come across for any liquid lipsticks before. I don't know the exact year when they started out as a brand but I remember them as far back as 13. I know most Superdrug stores now stock MUA and they do ship worldwide on the MUA website. I'd definitely recommend checking out their site on international shipping because some countries they don't ship to. They also have a FAQ page you can check out which answers more questions on shipping, returns, placing orders, etc.

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So I bought ten liquid lipsticks which come under their Luxe range on the website. The shade ranges I got were....

1. Potency
2. Tranquillity
3. Symphonic
4. Kooky
5. Unity
6. Reckless
7. Moxie
8. Vivacity
9. Zest
10. Funk

The first thing I'm going to mention straight away are the smell of the lipsticks. They have a really sweet smell, almost like strawberries. I don't mind products that have a fragrance smell (Hello Mac lipsticks that smell like vanilla) but these have quite an aroma that may bother some people. I found it didn't bother me and as soon as I had applied the formula to my lips the smell went pretty quickly.

Onto the application, I felt the formula had quite a thin consistency but when it came to applying on the lips a little went a long way. I know I only had to put the wand in once for enough to cover the lips and it looked nice and pigmented on. The wand is a really good quality and that might not be so much of an issue for others but it's important to me. Another brand of liquid lipsticks I have used are really amazing but the wand is honestly so bad that I ended up using my own lip brush and though that can be a no problem issue for others, it bugged the hell out of me.

It lasted a really long time and even through drinking and eating it didn't wear off one bit. I was really impressed by that because some of the higher end liquid lipsticks I had tried didn't have that good of  a coverage and long lasting.

There's not much else to say on the products apart from the biggest issue I had which was how the product itself felt after application. And I gotta say it's really awful. It's super drying and my lips felt really awful dry and sticky for as long as I was wearing it. I can say as well that I had tried them with balm and a lip concealer and then without and it still felt the same regardless. This was really off putting and really is the biggest let down of the product.

If this hadn't been an issue I would have honestly given these liquid lipsticks a 8/10 but because of how the formula feels upon application I've dropped it to a 6/10

I still feel like they're definitely worth the £3 and the quality beats some liquid lipsticks for over double the price and that have much more popularity.

I definitely think the feel of the lipsticks would be the biggest problem for most people and the smell could also be an issue for those who have a problem with chemically smelling products. However, the longevity of the product and how well it stays on is pretty good for such an affordable liquid lipstick.

I have take some swatches of the lipsticks. Going from left (Black) being 1. and so forth.

For anyone else who has tried Makeup Academy before, let me know what you think of the brand.

Glossybox unboxing - November 2017 UK box (And my first post)

Hey everyone,

Welcome to my blog and what will actually be my first blog post.

The previous blog I had somehow got deleted and I wasn't able to retrieve anything from it at all. Sucks. I'm going to be blogging about the same things I did on my previous blog which are makeup, fashion and some home living so you may see cooking recipes, projects I am doing around the home, and some home decor posts mixed in with my own reviews on fashion pieces and beauty items.

Anyway....

So Glossybox is actually my first beauty box I have subscribed to and the November box is my first unboxing as well. Looking on the Glossybox website, I saw the previous boxes had some kind of theme for each of the months. November is back to their normal boxing it seems so there wasn't really any clues or ideas as to what would be in the box.

First off, I love the box. I know that sounds kind of sad but, yeah, I do. It's a pretty pink colour, looks really fancy and feels a good quality box as well. Meaning, I can use this box for other stuff if I want to. I have a feeling it could last awhile. I'm not one for wastage.

One thing that I didn't like (but this is probably me just being picky) was the rose based smell of the tissue paper. I just can't stand rose smelling products of literally anything. It really causes a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach so I wasn't a fan of that at all. But I think it could easily be ignored with future boxes.

The box comes with a little card and explains what each of the products are and gives you the cost of each of the item as well. It also gave you a sneak peak into one of the products featured in the December box too.

There are a total of five products with four being full sized. The November box featured two skin care products, two makeup products, and one makeup tool. I felt it was a good diversity of items and I probably love skin care products equally to makeup so this was good for me.

The first skincare product was a face mask from Boots. It is a Charcoal and Willow bark sheet mask. I dig this because I love face masks. They're a new thing for me and seeing the huge range of face masks out there I don't mind having one picked out for me to try. And I've never tried any face masks from Boots before either so I felt this was a win win.

The second skincare product to be featured was a body wash from the brand Greenfrog Botanic. I haven't heard of this brand before and I have to admit I am not a huge fan of how it smells (Which is Geranium and Peppermint by the way) but am equally looking forward to trying it just because it's a body wash and I love them. It says it's made in the UK, is suitable for Vegans, and is good for those with dry and sensitive skin. It really seems like one of those wake you up kind of body washes so probably a good thing to try out during a morning shower maybe.

Onto the makeup products, there is a moisturising lip balm by the brand Sportfx. It says it's a candyfloss flavoured lip balm and is infused with SPF15, vitamins, and antioxidants which helps to soften and sooth dry and cracked lips. I absolutely love the smell of this product which smells more like vanilla than anything else and doesn't have much of a colour to the product as well which I like for a balm. My lips have been really dry lately because of the weather change so I am definitely going to try this out.

The second makeup product in the box is a define and perfect eyebrow powder from the brand Collection Cosmetics and I got the shade Brunette. To be honest I'm not the best when it comes to eyebrows and it's still a learning curve for me. My hair is quite a dark brown so I don't know if this will be a bit too light but it's something I can use to practice with at least.

The last product to be featured in the box is a Contour/Powder Brush from Beauty UK Cosmetics. It says it can be used for highlighting as well. The bristles are super soft but from feeling it it doesn't seem to be to flimsy. I am definitely excited to try this out just because you can never have enough makeup brushes.

That's the end of the products featured in the box. For my first beauty box I am definitely not left feeling disappointed and am looking forward to trying each of these products out to get a proper feeling for them. I would probably say I am most excited to try out the face mask and contour/highlight brush and am looking forward to trying out the other products too.

So coming to an end, here is the five products and the price if you were to buy separately.

1. Contour/powder brush by Beauty UK Cosmetics. Price £6.99 (Full size)

2. Candy Floss Moisturising Lip Balm by Sportfx. Price £4.99 (Full size)

3. Define & Perfect eyebrow powder by Collection Cosmetics Price £4.19 (Full size)

4. Charcoal and Willow bark sheet mask by Boots. Price £2.50 (Full size)

5. Natural bodywash Relaxing Geranium & Peppermint. Price £8.95 (Travel size)

The Glossybox is £10 with £3.25 postage and there are different subscriptions you can choose from. You always get five products, with four at least being full sized and they are always worth more than what you pay for the box.

Here is a link to Glossybox for anyone interested and wants to find out more. https://www.glossybox.co.uk/

I am definitely going to be getting December's box and will be sure to blog about it.

For anyone who might be reading let me know what you think about Glossybox and November's unboxing if you, too, got this box as well.