NOTD #1: MUA Nail Constellation

Today's post is a little different for me - a Nails of the Day post! Now, I'm definitely not the best at applying nail polish - as you can see from the photos. I'm a little heavy-handed and messy, especially when it comes to dark colours like today's. I used Nails Inc in shade Motcomb Street (free with December's issue of Glamour - go!) which is a dark navy. This was opaque in one coat which I found amazing, as I usually end up applying 3-4 coats with other polishes. I used two coats here.

I topped it with my favourite top coat, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri which really does what it says on the tin! The main reason I rarely paint my nails is the hassle of waiting on them to dry, as I always, without fail, manage to smudge them whilst they're drying and ruin them, so then I get frustrated and don't bother painting them again! But this wee thing is an absolute saviour for me.

Finally, the much-raved about MUA Nail Constellations... A much cheaper dupe to Ciaté's Caviar Manicure, these only cost £3 from MUA. They're basically tiny wee coloured beads which you press onto wet nail polish to give a textured effect. This was the first time I used these, and as you can see from the bottle, quite a lot are missing already and that's because they are ALL OVER MY FLOOR. I pulled the lid off and they literally flew everywhere. Even as I was pouring them on my nail through the very small funnel, they were falling all over the place and some have already begun to fall off of my nail. I set them with the Insta-Dri carefully, so I'm hoping they'll stay intact until tomorrow at least. They look super pretty, but I'm not sure I can be bothered bringing out the hoover every time I want to use them.

Have you tried Nail Constellations? Any tips for not covering my entire flat in them?!

MUA Artiste Collection Palette

Nearly everyone and their mums have heard of MUA Cosmetics by now. They're a super affordable high street make-up brand, and you can find their products online or in most Superdrug stores. Their eyeshadow palettes are hugely raved about in the blogging world, and so far they have definitely lived up to the hype for me. Their products are a little hit and miss, as I found with their lipsticks - but with prices starting from £1, you might as well give something a try!

MUA recently hit 35,000 'likes' on Facebook, and they are currently running a 35% off offer AND free delivery! So naturally, I took this as an opportunity to stock up. I bought the Artiste Collection palette which contains 6 marbled eyeshadows, 2 powder blushers, 1 bronzer and 1 highlighter. The eyeshadows look ridiculously pretty, I really didn't want to use them and ruin the marbled pattern! As with other MUA eyeshadows, they are soft, pigmented and easy to blend. The lighter shades like Mocca and Cookie are less pigmented, but they would make good base colours. They are mostly shimmer shades, which I much prefer especially for creating a dramatic smokey eye.

As for the face products, I actually really love the blush colours. I need to build them up quite a bit to get a good wash of colour, but I like that because it gives more versatility to the product, so if you just wanted a light flush of colour, you could easily get that. Pink Sparkle is a shimmery (but not overly so) coral pink colour, whilst Primrose is a slightly darker matte dusky pink. I'm not a huge fan of the bronzer because I tend to sway away from bronzers in the winter, BUT I do think that the colour of it is great because it's matte and not orange! The highlighter is also lovely, just enough shimmer to give a healthy looking glow, but not enough so that your face is a discoball.

The Artiste Collection palette costs just £6, which I think is a great price considering the amount of products in it! It's a great thing to take on-the-go, because it does contain your face essentials in one convenient palette. 

Don't forget to take advantage of the fab 35% off offer on the MUA website using code MUA35 - expires 23rd November!

MUA Lipsticks

It seems like everyone is going mad for budget beauty brand MUA recently. With most of their items priced at just £1 and receiving great reviews, it's hard to resist! I picked up a couple of their lipsticks in shade #15 Juicy and #4.

First off, the packaging doesn't excite me. The lid on shade #15 is very loose and keeps falling off - not great! They have black plastic packaging with silver writing - not the most glamorous, but what can you expect for £1? The one thing I do like about the packaging is that at the bottom there's a small pot of the lipstick which screws off, and you have a little extra product there! And it means you can see the actual lipstick colour rather than a label representation.

On to the actual product... I have to say, I'm disappointed. Maybe I hyped these up too much from reading such great reviews, but I'm really not a fan. Shade #15 is much more pigmented than #4 and it's a gorgeous colour, but the staying power isn't there for me. This barely lasts an hour for me and if I eat or drink anything - forget it. However, I do love the colour so this one is worth the constant retouching just for that.

As for #4, I'll probably never use it. The pigmentation is non-existent. It looks okay swatched on my hand, but I tried it on my lips and it just looked like a balm. I could see no colour at all on my lips which was a shame as it looked like a gorgeous colour in the tube.

I hate to write a negative review, but I really was disappointed! The difference in pigmentation between these 2 lipsticks was massive, and it does make me a little hesitant to try more of their lipsticks in case I come across another #4! I feel like I shouldn't complain because they were only £1 after all. It does have to be said that MUA have some star products like their eyeshadow palettes, and perhaps some of the lipsticks have better pigmentation than others and I just got unlucky with #4!

Have you tried any of the MUA range? What do you think?